Pro tip: check the letters before you believe the hagiography

I dug through a collection of Elvis's personal letters at the library last month and found one where he complains about having to record 'Hound Dog' over and over, calling it a silly novelty song. Made me rethink all the "he was a genius" talk when even he didn't take half that stuff seriously. Anyone else found a quote that kills the myth for them?

1 comments

1 Comment

david_reed2226d ago

Sure, interesting find, but that letter doesn't kill anything for me. A guy hating his biggest hit after the hundredth take is pretty normal, not proof he was a hack. Most artists get sick of their most famous songs, that's just the job. If anything, it shows he was a working musician who knew the difference between a fun single and the bigger stuff he cared about, not a mythic figure, but also not a fraud.