It may be hard to believe that the king of rock ‘n’ roll himself would have a ton of insecurities. Indeed, he kept them well hidden, with most only revealed after his death by his ex-girlfriend, Lisa Thompson. In her 2016 memoir, “A Little Thing Called Life,” Thompson revealed the reason behind Presley’s regular rocking of high collars.
She says the king was insecure about his neck and wanted it covered whenever he was on stage. He referred to it as a “skinny little chicken neck,” an impression he got from his parents when they used to tease him about it as a kid. It’s amazing the power a few throwaway words can have on a person.
Graceland After Elvis
It was a sad day when the news came of Elvis Presley’s death. A musical genius, a legendary rocker, had passed away, never to be seen nor heard of in person again. It was August 16, 1977, and the scandals were waiting to happen. One of them surrounded the financial troubles that had nagged the Graceland property.
Bankers wanted it liquidated to clear up some of the singer’s accounts, but Priscilla Presley had a better suggestion, one that actually worked. She ordered it to be opened up to the public, and it became a US National Historic Landmark. People paid up to re-acquaint themselves with the legend, and it continues to generate money to this day. Elvis, as it turns out, wasn’t the only genius in the family.
A Very Wrong Comparison
While Elvis Presley was making history as a young and enthused musician, with all the newest ideas, and never-before-seen acts on stage, not everyone thought it was acceptable. Many from the older generation of artists wanted nothing to do with the Presley-inspired developments, as they felt they would only undermine the future of music.
The king of rock and his most ardent followers were likened to the German regime that was in power at the time and its rabid political devotees in one of their rallies. The comparison was thought to malign Elvis and his crowd for their supposed poor choice of music. A truly outrageous comparison indeed.
The King Had a Stillborn Twin
If Elvis Presley’s twin had survived, we wonder how it could have impacted the king, perhaps mediating at least some of the many poor decisions Presley made throughout his career. Would he have saved him from making bad turns; could he have vicariously understood his pain? Many such questions regarding his twin brother, Jesse Garon, a stillborn, haunted Elvis.
Elvis tried to search but never found Jesse's resting place. He’d died without a funeral. They lived through rough times in Mississippi, and Presley’s father, Vernon, decided to fit his brother’s small body in a shoe box, burying the tiny parcel in an unmarked grave.
Presley Often Spoke in Baby Talk to His Mother
Elvis Presley used to be very close to his mother growing up. They would maintain that emotional propinquity throughout his teenage years and adult life until his mom passed away. How close they were wasn’t anything too unusual, although he did like to communicate through baby talk, calling her pet names, which Gladys would mutually respond to.
Psychologists speculate that this could be behind the distance that developed between Elvis and Priscilla after they bore a son. Becoming a parent himself, and seeing his wife become a mother, likely made him painfully aware of the black hole in his life, the space his mother had once occupied.