Elvis
The thing about Elvis
is that any misgivings about him as a man who 'copied' or 'stole' Afro-American
music is that it has to be understood that he came from the dominant culture
who would only accept one who was of them as number one.
There was an aesthetic
aspect as well because there were talented white artists who could not be
promoted in the manner that he was because they did not have the 'looks'.
He definitely adapted a
great degree of his overall style and packaging: singing, moving (apart from
the later karate stuff) and clothing from observing and imbibing the cultural
impulse of black America.
One huge strike against
him was his Southern roots and the whole negativity of the black experience in
that part of the United States under the respective regimes of slave society
and later, ‘Jim Crow’ Apartheid.
There were always all
sorts of rumours about his racial attitudes. “I could never kiss a Mexican (or
black) woman”, “Niggers are only good for shining my shoes” and so on. I don’t
think they were definitively corroborated.
He was however
constricted by the racial mores of the time. His friend Sammy Davis Jr said
Elvis told him that he wished they could both make a movie together but that
his audience base (meaning whites and particularly those from below the
‘Mason-Dixon Line’) would not accept it.
Did this demonstrate a
certain spinelessness and lack of moral courage on his part? Or was he just
being pragmatic?
There are those who
feel that he could and should have done more to break down racial barriers.
Others feel that just the way he expressed his music and his giving credit to
those blacks who had influenced him was enough.
He fell in to self
parody and despite his amazing ‘comeback’ show on TV and a revival of sorts in
Las Vegas, the case can be forcefully made that his best and most essential
work was in the two or three year period that followed the inception of his
career.
He stands accused of
wasting his talent on terrible Hollywood movies, wearing tacky stage attires,
and not attempting to write his own songs and push the boundaries of his
creativity in the age of The Beatles, Bob Dylan and later of the introspective
singer-songwriters.
Many of his fans are
just content that he was what he was regardless. A guy who could sing a many
styles with great aplomb and who paved the way for countless black and white
musicians.
That may be cold
comfort for the militant black school of thought that postulates him as a "straight-up racist" who was “simple
and plain”. His pelvic gyrations; a pale imitation of more ‘robustly’ physical
and sensual movements by a multitude of earlier R & B performers mark him
down for ridicule and even disdain:
“If Elvis is King, who
is James Brown; God?” wrote Amiri Baraka.
But it should not be
forgotten that Elvis took risks by being a pioneer in his adaptation of black
culture. He received huge stick for perpetuating what some of his Southern
brethren were referring to as “degenerate nigger music” and the threat it posed
to the social order by the fact that blacks and whites were digging his music
whether listening to it on the radio or live at (segregated) venues.
He was odd in many
ways. Much has been made of the way in which he conducted his private life. But
this had a lot to do with his living within a kind of fame that few humans
could comprehend. So many people often remember how well mannered and humble he
appeared to be in his interactions.
He may not be ‘The
King’ to all, and the devotion shown to him by many of his fans may appear over
the top and devoid of rationality, but his impact on the course of music
history cannot be denied and should not be denigrated.
(C)
Adeyinka Makinde (2014)
Adeyinka
Makinde is a London-based writer.
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