Book review: 'Elvis And The Beatles' -

Elvis and The Beatles reveals surprising relationship between the Fab Four and the King of rock and roll.

Rock and roll fans know about the historic meeting in 1965 between Elvis Presley and The Beatles. However, most mistakenly believe that was the only connection between the two biggest rock and roll acts of all time.(source Daytripping.com)

After that meeting (and even before), there were many positive ways that The Beatles and Elvis Presley connected personally and professionally, and at the very least, had empathy for each other. However, on the surface, it looked like The Beatles and Elvis couldn’t be farther apart.

That the Beatles went out with such class without going crazy, doing stuff like "You Know My Name..."
"Yeah! We always had a sense of humor. -George Harrison recap - When we were left alone, the four Beatles, we had fun and we had a good sense of humor. We took the ups and the downs together and, I think because we had each other, we helped each other from going crazy or having nervous breakdowns.

Unlike poor old Elvis, who, although he had 59 friends with him, was not the same. He was the only one who experienced what it was like being Elvis, whereas four of us experienced what it was like being fab." (Source Beatlesnumber9.com)

" I met him (Elvis) later - Harrison says- at Madison Square Garden—it must have been in 1972, something like that.

And at that time, I had my uniform; the worn-out denim jacket and jeans—looked like a rag-man—and I had a big beard and moustache, and long hair down to my waist. They took me back in the intermission to meet Elvis again and he was in the back of the dressing room—the big rooms with the showers for the footballers and stuff—and I was in the front part just talking to some of the guys. And I’m sitting there, thinking "Well, where’s Elvis, then?"

And finally he came out of the back and he was... immaculate. I felt like this real grubby little slug and he looked like Lord Siva or something. He seemed to be about eight feet tall and his hair was black and his tan was perfect and he had this big white suit, a gold belt about four feet wide and he was towering above me and I just put a hand out (cowers) and said "Hello, Elvis, how are you?"—just cowering like this little rag-man.

I wanted to say to him, "Why don’t you just come out in your jeans and your black shirt—get rid of all them horrible women singers in your band, all them horrible trumpet players and just have James Burton and the drummer and the bass player and the piano player? Just come out and do ‘That’s All Right, Mama.’

" But instead he came out and did (sings) "I did it myyy wayyyy." Oh, Jesus. But we all loved Elvis and it was sad to see what happened to him. We still love him and he’s still there in his spirit and in his music and best of luck to him, that’s what I say. But he had an incredible rhythm session".

In the book, ELVIS AND THE BEATLES: Love and Rivalry Between the Two Biggest Acts of the 20th Century, Trina Young explores the the year-to-year evolution of the careers of both The King of Rock and Roll and The Fab Four simultaneously while debunking false stereotypes. The book uncovers how surprisingly similar the careers of Elvis and The Beatles were, and the multitude of ways that their personal and professional lives intersected.