Elvis, the Colonel & how unseen letters changed Peter Guralnick’s view of their partnership

There’s a widely accepted view of the relationship between Elvis and his manager Tom Parker, the one sustained by the recent Baz Luhrmann movie, but a new and fascinating archive of unseen letters makes you see it differently: it was warmer, deeper and infinitely more complicated. Peter Guralnick – rock book royalty! - met Parker towards the end of his life and has just published ‘The Colonel And The King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley and the Partnership That Rocked The World’. He talks to us here about separating the myth from reality which touches on … ... overturning the conventional wisdom “that Elvis was the puppet, Sam Phillips the genius and Tom Parker the manipulator”. ... how theirs was “a partnership of equals” – though Elvis was in charge, not the Colonel. … how Presley’s “security risk” – carrying guns and drugs across borders – was a factor in his refusal to accept world tour offers. … two men powerfully motivated by money – Elvis liked spending it, Parker liked losing it. … humour, charisma, intelligence, a force of nature: how Parker’s letters paint a different picture. … “he was an entirely self-invented man. And there was no-one more American – which was ironic as he was Dutch.” … the full story of the Elvis TV Christmas Special. … how Parker grossly undersold Presley’s catalogue rights to RCA in 1973 for $5.4m. … the Colonel’s Honesty game – “think of the number I’m thinking of and I’ll pay you if you’re right!” … how Parker tried to curb Presley’s “smutty humour” and sell his “James Dean enigma” to the film industry after Dean’s death in 1955. … how the only time he didn’t carefully manage an Elvis appearance was the Steve Allen Show hound dog debacle. … why Parker couldn’t control either his or Presley’s self-destructive habits. … his gambling addiction and a miserable 72-hour stint in a Vegas casino. … and would the first internationally-known artist’s manager have been as famous had he not called himself “the Colonel”? Order ‘The Colonel And the King’ here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/peter-guralnick/the-colonel-and-the-king/9780316399449/?lens=little-brownFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience. Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.