“I’ve never gotten over what they call stagefright. I go through it every show. I’m pretty concerned, I’m pretty much thinking about the show. I never get completely comfortable with it, and I don’t let the people around me get comfortable with it, in that I remind them that it’s a new crowd out there, it’s a new audience, and they haven’t seen us before. So it’s got to be like the first time we go on. [snip]
The first time that I appeared on stage, it scared me to death. I really didn’t know what all the yelling was about. I didn’t realize that my body was moving. It’s a natural thing to me. So to the manager backstage I said, ‘What’d I do? What’d I do?’ And he said 'Whatever it is, go back and do it again.'” - - Elvis Presley, dubbed the "King of Rock and Roll," from a 1972 taped interview used in MGM’s documentary "Elvis on Tour." Today is the 88th (!) anniversary of Presley's birth.
That combination of singing, movement and personality made Presley perhaps the most influential rock and roll figure of the 20th century. Presley owed so much to the musical influences of African American rhythm and blues artists that he listened to, and fused it with gospel, folk and rock. The advice that his manager gave him to "go back and do it again" was simply advice that Presley continue to be himself on stage, which caused a concerned stir among adults at the time (and a stir among his legion of female fans in a different way). It's hard to imagine an individual in these times having a similar impact on their culture that Presley did in his.
(photo: Bettman Archives / Getty Images)
