Elvis Presley citations

Elvis Aaron Presley est un chanteur et acteur américain né le 8 janvier 1935 à Tupelo, dans le Mississippi, et mort le 16 août 1977 à Memphis, dans le Tennessee. Surnommé The King , il est l'une des icônes culturelles majeures du XXe siècle.

Presley commence sa carrière musicale en 1954 chez Sun Records. Accompagné du guitariste Scotty Moore et du bassiste Bill Black, il contribue à populariser le genre naissant du rockabilly, un mélange énergique de musique country et de rhythm and blues. En 1956, son contrat est racheté par RCA Victor et il décroche son premier no 1 avec le single Heartbreak Hotel. Il enchaîne dès lors les apparitions télévisées et les singles à succès. Son talent de chanteur et sa gestuelle jugée provocatrice et indécente par « l'Amérique puritaine », font de lui une figure de proue du rock 'n' roll, mais aussi un sujet de controverses.

Après deux ans de service militaire, Presley reprend sa carrière de chanteur en 1960, mais il se consacre de plus en plus au cinéma. Il passe la majeure partie des années 1960 à tourner des films dont la qualité va décroissant, tout comme celle de leurs bandes originales. Après sept ans d'absence, il remonte sur scène pour une émission spéciale en 1968. C'est le début d'une série de tournées lucratives et de nombreux concerts à Las Vegas. En 1973, il donne le premier concert diffusé dans le monde entier par satellite, Aloha from Hawaii. Fragilisé par des années de consommation excessive de médicaments, il meurt dans son manoir de Graceland en 1977, à l'âge de 42 ans.

Elvis Presley est l'un des musiciens les plus célèbres et les plus influents du XXe siècle. Il s'est illustré dans de nombreux genres et reste l'un des plus gros vendeurs de disques de tous les temps.

✵ 8. janvier 1935 – 16. août 1977
Elvis Presley photo
Elvis Presley: 42   citations 0   J'aime

Elvis Presley: Citations en anglais

“The first time that I appeared on stage, it scared me to death. I really didn't know what all the yelling was about.”

Interview (March/April 1972), as quoted in The Leading Men of MGM (2006) by Jane Ellen Wayne, p. 406
Contexte: 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."

“Animals don't hate, and we're supposed to be smarter than them.”

Variante: Animals don't hate, and we're supposed to be better than them.

“Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine”

Variante: Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.

“I'm never going to sing another song I don't believe in. I'm never going to make another picture I don't believe in.”

After hearing Walter Earl Brown's If I Can Dream, the song inspired on Martin Luther King Jr. that would close Elvis' comeback show in 1968, and the phrase was remarked to its producer, Steve Binder. http://elvis-tkc.com/forum2/lofiversion/index.php/t15948.html

“When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream I ever dreamed, has come true a hundred times…”

Acceptance speech for the 1970 Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation Award (16 January 1971), published in Elvis — Word for Word: What He Said, Exactly As He Said It (1999) by Jerry Osborne, p. 188
Contexte: I'd like to thank the Jaycees for electing me as one of their outstanding young men. When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream I ever dreamed, has come true a hundred times... And these gentlemen over here, these are the type of people who care, they're dedicated, and they realize that it is possible that they might be building the kingdom of heaven, it's not just too far fetched, from reality. I'd like to say that I learned very early in life that "Without a song, the day would never end; without a song, a man ain't got a friend; without a song, the road would never bend — without a song." So I keep singing a song. Goodnight. Thank you.

“When things go bad, don't go with them.”

Variante: When things go wrong, don't go with them.
Source: Elvis: Ultimate Gospel

“The way she held your hand,
The little things you planned.
Her memory is with you yet,
That's someone you'll never forget.”

That's Someone You Never Forget, from Pot Luck, written by Elvis Presley and Red West (1961)
Song lyrics

“Fingerprints are like values--you leave them all over everything you do”

Variante: Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em all over everything you do

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't going away.”

Another handwriten message on Elvis' King James -Bible http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2188891/Elvis-bible-containing-handwritten-notes-star-expected-fetch-thousands-auction.html
Variante: Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't going away.

“Love me tender, love me sweet,
Never let me go.”

"Love Me Tender" (1956), the lyrics of this song are credited to Presley and co-writer Vera Matson, but were primarily written by Matson's husband, Ken Darby, who when asked why he credited his wife as co-writer with Presley replied "Because she didn't write it either."
Disputed

“It just happened. I like to sing, and well, I just started singing and folks just started listening.”

Pop Chronicles, Show 7 - The All American Boy: Enter Elvis and the rock-a-billies. Part 1 http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19754/m1/; C. Robert Jennings, " Elvis Lives! http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/155809300.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+18%2C+1968&author=Jennings%2C+C+Robert&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%281923-Current+File%29&edition=&startpage=M28&desc=ELVIS+LIVES%21", 1968-Feb-18, L.A. Times Magazine, p. M28.
Contexte: It just happened. I like to sing, and well, I just started singing and folks just started listening. I can't tell folks that I worked and learned and studied, and overcame disappointments, because I didn't.

“The image is one thing and the human being is another…it's very hard to live up to an image.”

Press conference (June 1972),also quoted in Elvis Culture : Fans, Faith, & Image (1999) by Erika Lee Doss, p. 218

“… I just know that, right now, … the biggest record selling business there is is rock and roll.”

Pop Chronicles: Show 55 - Crammer: A lively cram course on the history of rock and some other things http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19838/m1/, interview recorded 1956 http://web.archive.org/web/20110615153027/http://www.library.unt.edu/music/special-collections/john-gilliland/o-s.

“I like Brando's acting … and James Dean … and Richard Widmark. Quite a few of 'em I like.”

When asked to name his favorite male actors, in "Elvis Exclusive Interview" with Ray Green in Little Rock, Arkansas (16 May 1956), as published in Elvis — Word for Word : What He Said, Exactly As He Said It (1999)

“A live concert to me is exciting because of all the electricity that is generated in the crowd and on stage. It's my favorite part of the business — live concerts.”

Press conference (5 September 1972), also quoted in Paranoia & Power : Fear & Fame of Entertainment Icons (2007) by Gene N Landrum, p. 60

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