Tag: Elvis Presley

My Visit To Memphis-PartII-If I Can Dream

Our tour bus parked on a side street. We got off the bus and headed up the hill, The Lorraine Motel sign as our beacon.

Side of Lorraine Motel
Motel Sign With Words “I Have A Dream”

I got to the top of the slope and looked to my right. The sudden view of the hotel balcony was like a gentle gut punch. In my mind’s eye I could see the iconic image of Reverend Martin Luther King lying dead on the balcony, one man kneeling at his side and others pointing across the street.

Balcony of the Lorraine Motel-White Wreath in Front of Area MLK Was Murdered

I began to sob. I don’t like people seeing me cry and moved away a bit from our group and guide, my husband comforting me. I put my camera between me and the scene before me. I recorded the building and the bricks below my feet.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered April 4th, 1968.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was murdered two months later on June 6th, 1968.

Elvis Presley was preparing to film his Comeback Special for NBC in June of 1968. Since it would air in December of that year there was some suggestion of the special being a Christmas special and that the final song would be a Christmas song. Elvis was upset enough about the murders of MLK and RFK that he asked one of his writers, Walter Earl Brown to write a song. He patterned it on MLK’s I Have A Dream speech and it was titled If I Can Dream. It was the last song in the Comeback Special. Over 40 million people watched the special.

Background for Comeback Special (aired December 1968)

Link to You Tube video of Elvis singing “If I Can Dream”:

https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0TEmriK8wTEk2YPQSyUxTyFRITsxTSClKTcxVSM0pyywGANcUC_U&q=if+i+can+dream+elvis&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS886US886&oq=if+i&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqDAgBEC4YQxiABBiKBTIGCAAQRRg7MgwIARAuGEMYgAQYigUyCggCEC4YsQMYgAQyBggDEEUYQDIOCAQQRRgnGDsYgAQYigUyBggFEEUYPDIGCAYQRRg8MgYIBxBFGDzSAQgzNjA5ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e0365a52,vid:xA142IsjQiE,st:0

(If link does not work, the video can be found by searching for Elvis If I Can Dream)

Link to article about Elvis supposed Racism:

https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/question/2006/march.htm

Other Sources: Wikipedia.org, Graceland.com, youtube.com

Photos by B. McCreary

My Visit To Memphis-Part I-Graceland

“There’s some part of me wants to see Graceland”-line from Paul Simon’s Graceland.

Graceland has not been on my bucket list, nor has Memphis, Tennessee. Not that I had anything against the city or the home. I always enjoyed Elvis as a singer and entertainer, but did not really appreciate him until I was an adult. I remember as a kid looking for something to watch on t.v. and when one of the few channels we got was showing an Elvis movie, we were not too happy. We did watch them, but I remember most of them being not very good, if mildly entertaining.

But, when my husband and I found ourselves in Memphis for a few days in early March, we saw the sights. And there must have been a little part of me that had always wanted to go to Graceland, because I enjoyed the whole Elvis experience.

First we toured the large museum devoted to all things Elvis. One room had his cars. One room had info on his Army years. Other rooms covered his first records, his movie career, his outfits, and the other singers that influenced him and those that he influenced.

Elvis Car

Elvis Outfits

Then we visited Graceland across the street from the museum. The furnishings in each room were amazing. He seemed to have a t.v. in every room.

Livingroom at Graceland

And we walked the grounds. There are 3 horses there (said to be rescue horses). It had been raining earlier and we didn’t see the horses at first. But, then they must have been released from the barn and we got to see them (all with braided manes).

Horse on Grounds at Graceland
Visitors Have Left Their Mark On Wall In Front Of Graceland

Almost a month later I still hear snippets of Elvis songs in my head.

The next day we took a bus tour of Memphis with several stops: Sun Recording studio where Elvis and others recorded their early records; The Memphis Welcome Center that has statues of both B. B. King (the King of the Blues) and Elvis (the King of Rock and Roll) and exhibits on other entertainers with a Memphis connection; the Peabody Hotel where live ducks parade in and swim in the lobby pond twice a day; and the Lorraine Motel where the Reverend Martin Luther King was murdered. It is 7. 6 miles from Graceland.

Statue of B. B. King
Exhibit In Memphis Welcome Center

Photos by B. McCreary