Suspicious Minds

Sure he was. He was also a really clever dude who had a lot of dumb ole black folks fooled. Take this sucker for example:

'A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man's music, when in fact; almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis.'

Jackie Wilson.

And this guy:

'I remember Elvis as a young man hanging around the Sun Studios. Even then, I knew this kid had a tremendous talent. He was a dynamic young boy. His phraseology, his way of looking at a song, was as unique as Sinatra's. I was a tremendous fan, and had Elvis lived, there would have been no end to his inventiveness.'

B.B. King

And James Brown writes, 'I wasn't just a fan, I was his brother. He said I was good and I said he was good; we never argued about that. Elvis was a hard worker, dedicated, and God loved him. Last time I saw him was at Graceland. We sang Old Blind Barnabus together, a gospel song. I love him and hope to see him in heaven. There'll never be another like that soul brother.'

Get this. Elvis was an entertainer. He wore a cape (occasionally) but he was not a caped crusader. He sang because he loved to sing and it brought in the shillings, not to exploit the black man. Exploitation of black Americans was the way of America. He was born into a system that was racist, the heart of the Deep South, but that does not make him one. He sang songs written by black men like Otis Blackwell, but also covered songs by white people. The criterion wasn't colour but music and availability.

The fact of Elvis getting more credit for singing certain songs, than the black artists who originally covered them, was due to the racist set-up in America. He didn't make the system, but he did have the advantage of being the acceptable face of a certain kind of music; music with its roots predominantly in black American culture. He helped to give white America a taste of rock 'n' roll; stimulated the appetite, and the youth of America hungered for more; but what worked to his advantage, initially, also helped prepare an audience for the other artists who would break through the racial barrier.

Al Green says; 'Elvis had an influence on everybody with his musical approach. He broke the ice for all of us.'

This influence still continues today, one way or the other. Mark Mason, an independent songwriter who, incidentally, has just finished his album says, 'Elvis hasn't influenced me directly, but I'm influenced by musicians influenced by him, as well as musicians who influenced him like other Beal Street musicians around at the time: Ike Turner, Rosco Gordon, BB King, etc...
http://www.mmasonmusic.com/

The majority of white radio stations would not play black music therefore limiting the audience and mainstream popularity of black American artists. This placed a ceiling on how high a black act could rise, but because Elvis was white he did not have this limit on his career. Does this make Elvis a racist? No more than it would make him a misogynist, to accept a wage that was higher than that of a woman, for the same job, just because she was female. He was a friend and admirer of Liberace and he emulated Liberace's flamboyant showbiz flashiness. Does this make him homophobic? The system itself was flawed, which was why we had black music with a white face, being presented to a mainstream audience.

Remember, Elvis came from a segregated South. To many people he was 'trash', for doing what he did. He turned people on to black music and was part of the movement that broke America out of the narrow cultural box it lived in; or at least widened the edges of it into a wry smile rather than a constipated grimace. I agree with Dr Allan N. Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. who states 'his work opened up the roads that have led to the genres that exist today. The fifties were very conservative: McCarthy, Ed Sullivan and all of that. He helped break away from that starchiness and suspiciousness through rock and roll.'

The fact that Elvis wasn't a racist seems even more remarkable to me considering the background he came from. Racism was deeply ingrained in the South. Black people were still being lynched. They were being openly murdered for having the presumption to vote.

Death and intimidation; two of the horns on the face of racism in America. It dismissed the young Elvis himself as a 'white nigger' and 'white trash' for singing music more associated with the 'coons than the Caucasians'. Having Elvis sing the songs of the black man was one step away from having the black man himself singing them. For some, it was deeply disturbing, and the irony of it is, back then Elvis himself was a target for the bile of racism. But now, he is the target of people who look back and say he was a racist himself. This accusation is just not true. The hatred of one section of humanity for the other was deeply ingrained, in the blood and bones of the South, but not in the young Elvis.

Let's not forget that, as a performer, he covered many musical styles. If you take away the black influenced music, he would have just sung what was left. Country music was, and still is, huge. The guy loved Mario Lanza as much as James Brown. His musical taste went over borders and boundaries and colours and creeds. If that had have been what he had to go at, he would have done that. Perhaps his critics would be happy if he had said, 'no more singing black music. If you want that, go listen to some 'real' black folks singing. I don't want to be standing in the way of those other black artists getting the credit they deserve. I'm going to step aside.'

What is the scenario we are faced with? The pretty white boy who was standing in the way of people like Arthur Crudup, bless his ass stands aside. He say's 'look, alright, this isn't my song. Arthur Crudup, my favourite blues man wrote this tune called 'That's All Right Mama'. It should have been him up here, and not me.'

All those screaming white teenage girls are going to run right past Elvis to get at Arthur Crudup. Right. He may have written 'That's All Right Mama', 'So Glad You're Mine', and 'My Baby Left Me' and been a great showman and all, but Elvis had one thing nobody else had. He had himself. The songs were not the things that made Elvis, as good as they were. It was Elvis who made the songs. Elvis was bringing Elvis to the masses.

He had great respect for the music of the black people. As well as being a singer, he was a fan. He gave credit where credit was due and was always upfront about the source of his musical inspirations both black and white. Take Jackie Wilson, for example. Like any artist, Elvis emulated the people he admired and Wilson was one of them. There are echoes of Wilson in the performance of 'Don't Be Cruel' by Elvis, on the Ed Sullivan show in '57. This even went down to Wilson's 'Yankee' pronunciation of the word 'tellyphone'. Elvis did this not out of a desire to exploit a black artist, but because he liked what Jackie Wilson brought to the song. This is the intelligence of evolution at work; imitation, adaptation and naturalisation. It was Elvis evolving into a higher form of Elvis, artistically speaking.

To imitate another artist, adapt what they are doing and then make it your own is something all artists do. This is not a white to black relationship, but an artist to artist thing. Take Little Richard for example, when he is asked if he invented Rock 'n' Roll.

'I was inspired by Mahalia Jackson, Roy Brown, and a gospel group called Clara Ward and the Ward Singers, and a guy by the name of Brother Joe May. I got the holler that you hear me do 'woo-oooh-oooh' from a lady named Marion Williams. And this thing you hear me do 'Lucille-uh' I got that from Ruth Brown. I used to like the way she'd sing, 'Mama-uh, he treats your daughter mean.' I put it all together.'

So here is a black man, taking something from a black woman and using it as his own. Well, is he a racist, a plagiarist, a misogynist or all three?

To deny Elvis this characteristic of mimicry as an artist consciously developing his style, and yet accept it in Little Richard, and every other artist, is unreasonable. All Elvis did was 'integrate' what was around him. He wasn't a slick city kid cherry picking his way through musical styles. He actually lived amongst the music that shaped how he sang and performed. To say this is the behaviour of a racist is ridiculous, and to compare it to being just one step short of blacking up like a minstrel is worthy of a slap in the mouth, metaphorically speaking. It's a ludicrous idea. It's about as ludicrous as saying the black guys who were using inventions by white guys, such as electricity, were ripping off poor white guys working in the power stations. What was Elvis supposed to do? Was he supposed to say? 'No, I can't sing that! Those songs are for them coloured folks. And hey, who does Paul Robson think he is singing Opera! Goddamn! Get me a rope boys'

Elvis was very good at what he did. He may have come to the fore with black music but it was not because of black music. He had evolved in the right way to be exceptional in what he sang. It could have been kismet. It could have been a conspiracy of the genetic pool, realising it had made a mistake throwing together a nasty piece of work like J. Edgar Hoover, it decided to give the world a beautiful human being to make people feel good. It was natural for him to reflect what was around him. The amazing thing was that he reflected so many of the good things around him and not the racism that deemed black music as unsuitable for a white boy. Sam Phillips summed it up when he said 'the lack of prejudice on the part of Elvis Presley had to be one of the biggest things that happened to us.'

Far from stealing the black man's thunder; Elvis could be seen as a white guy advertising it. James Brown, as in 'Godfather of Soul', wrote 'the entire Civil Rights movement began when a white kid in the audience stood up and cheered for a black performer.' Elvis was one of those white kids. Brown also says the other route to the Civil Rights movement 'was to be cited by a white musician or critic as having influenced a white musician.' Elvis was also one of those white musicians. Now James Brown may be overstating the importance music played, but it is also a fact that, to oppress a person or a race, one has to see them as different. Make the Irish out to be thick. Make the Jewish race all splinters of 'Shylock', money grabbing and mean. Make the Iraqis fundamentalist fanatics and rag heads. Put bags over the heads of the people in Guantanamo bay. It's harder to identify with a bag, than it is with a face on TV. Make your 'enemy' less than human.

Every war or persecution begins with the dehumanisation of the 'enemy'. Love others as you love yourself is only possible with people you identify with, and see as an equal. And as Elvis himself said 'If you hate another human being because of their race, you hate part of yourself.'

This dehumanisation happened throughout America in the 1800's. When the idea of libertie, egalite, et fraternitie, swept the world, it was at odds with how certain sections of the population were treated. To reconcile this with the actuality of life in America, the idea came about that yes, all men are equal, but the Negroes are not men. This meant that slavery could be seen as not contradictory and even the Founding Fathers could have slaves while giving it some about equality. It was, the argument went, an act of kindness to take the 'darkies' out of the jungle and give them work on a plantation; it could even be seen as a Christian duty. The English called it the 'White Man's Burden'. They were like livestock, and the humanness of their existence was taken away from them. The economy of the South feasted upon the misery of millions of black people, as did the economy of those blacks in Africa who sold other Africans into slavery.

Now just imagine the effect on a meat eater if livestock suddenly burst into a rendition of 'Show Business' followed by 'Danny Boy'. Suppose a cow suddenly wrote 'War and Peace'. It would still be overly long and boring, but it would hurt the burger chains somewhat as people's perception of cattle changed and they began to identify with them. Something like this happened in America. The perception of white America with regard to the Negroes was changing. Music was an integral part of this change and Elvis naturally was a part of this movement. The question is, was this to the detriment or the advancement of black Americans? I believe under the circumstances, his involvement had a positive effect.

When I first had the idea for this article, I posted a little something on the excellent website, inviting some of the members to contribute their thoughts. One of the things posted by 'Cleve' was 'it is funny that when I play the records I always seem to remember the summer, where I was at the time the record hit the charts, etc, etc' . This is true for most of those who listen to Elvis nowadays, myself included. It is all too easy to forget the impact of his arrival upon the scene.

To put the appearance of Elvis into the American consciousness into context, we need to remember what else was happening in America in those early years. In Montgomery, Alabama; Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and was arrested for such an act of defiance! This of course led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott by the black community. It would be a year before the buses were desegregated. Martin Luther King was one of the figures, prominent in the leadership of this boycott, and in the following year King, Charles K. Steele, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference basing its principles on non-violence and civil disobedience. Martin Luther King is on record as saying how important it was for the Civil Rights movement to rise above the level of the racists who opposed change. King said, 'we must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.' This would be met with murder and intimidation. Police dogs would taste the blood of the protestors, protesting peacefully in the face of rows of riot police. Children would feel the spittle of baying mobs upon their faces as they walked to school. Women and men punched in the heart by the frozen fists of water, unleashed by riot cannons as they marched; but where was the riot? The riot came to meet the peaceful protesters with its hood off. The face revealed, even unto America itself was ugly, with the neck of Bull Connors and the mad rolling eyes of the dogs. There was a particular hatred and contempt reserved for those white people who came out in support of the struggle for Civil Rights; deeming them traitors to the white cause; white niggers; but all colours and creeds took part in turning the wheel of change, rusty with the blood of generations.

Both before and in the midst of this maelstrom, America was not ready for a black Elvis. It was not even ready to sit next to a Negro on a bus. Elvis was not standing in the way of a black contender for the Rock 'n' Roll crown, because in the America that was, when he was discovered by Sam Phillips, the establishment would not have allowed it to happen. Even in 1957 a nationally televised rock 'n' roll show was cancelled because a black singer had the gall to dance with a white girl on television. ABC-TV had given Alan Freed his own rock 'n' roll show; ABC's Southern affiliates were so outraged at the sight of a 'nigger' dancing with a white girl, that Alan Freed had his show cancelled.

The singer was Frankie Lymon and even though he was only fifteen, this was too much for the gallant South. As far as they were concerned even the hint of a whisper of a rumour of a suggestion of a faint scent of a possibility of a chance in a billion that a black man would even think of getting into the pants of a white girl was appalling. As James Brown says in his own inimitable fashion, 'The great fear was that if a white man's teenage daughter saw James Brown perform onstage one night, the next night she'd be in his bed.' In Brown's opinion, white artists were favoured over black for this reason. You would think, in the light of what James Brown says that he would have issues with Elvis, but no. He says 'Elvis Presley wanted everything James Brown had because, in addition to gospel, he wanted to somehow get into soul.' Brown could see where Elvis was coming from and says 'I loved the boy.' In Brown's opinion, Elvis was the meeting ground between black and white and I think this makes a lot of sense. If America was ripe for 'an Elvis', there was no way 'the Elvis' could have been black and stretched the boundaries the way Presley did, and there was no way at that time a black 'Elvis' could go as far as a white one could; not without a rope entering the equation or a bullet.

So I started this article by asking was Elvis a racist, and the answer is, no. The society he lived in was without doubt racist, and quite often rabidly so, and sometimes in a more insidious way. But the course of history has less to do with race and more to do with money. The race issue was just a symptom of the real problem of the downside of capitalism. Money is the thing that pulled and pushed on the rudder as the good ship America passed through history.

Money made the black man a slave; the money of the Arab slave traders and the Africans who sold the other Africans into slavery, and the plantation owners and slave ships and all the others who profited from the trade. Money also helped to free the slaves. The fact that it became no longer profitable to have slaves working the fields when a machine could do the job in less time and so much cheaper meant that having such a large workforce was unnecessary. The Spinning Jenny did more to free the slaves than all the impassioned speeches by anti-slavery advocates. The only purpose of the slaves was to make money for their owners. When something came along to make even more money, the days of this form of slavery were numbered in America.

Money also helped with the changing fortunes of black artists in America. Sam Phillips was looking for a white man to sing the black man's music. His reason was not one of racism. He was just making a sound business move based on who the biggest audience was. That audience just happened to be white, and as we have seen in the case of Frankie Lymon, you could only sell a black artist so far, before the plug was pulled. A white artist, on the other hand, would be far more marketable. The question was who could sing in such a way?

And that was when a young boy called Elvis, stepped up to the microphone...

Geetan
all rights reserved
copyright 2005

NOTES:
I have used quotes from contributors to the website in this article. You can read all of what they had to say, instead of what I took the liberty of cherry picking:

Cleve and the two contributors below can be contacted at the site above.

Mark has just finished his new album and can be contacted at:
http://www.mmasonmusic.com

Allan N. Schwartz, LCSW, PhD is a Mental Health Specialist, licensed in Clinical Social Work and Psychoanalysis with sub specialities in Eating Disorders and Marriage Counselling and can be contacted at:
http://www.allanschwartz.com

Allan comes across like he would have been the perfect therapist for Elvis!

Last but not least, please take the time to go to the website of John Kaplan called POWERFUL DAYS where you will find a moving, and sometimes chilling, pictorial history of the Civil Rights struggle. Your visit to that particular website will make all the work I've put into this article, more than worthwhile. The photos in the gallery have come from there.

Thank you all

Geetan
1 April 2005

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