Elvis spent about two hours on stage; he told some of the old stories, some new stories, and played a few songs (and numerous fragments of songs) to illustrate different points he was making. For instance, he showed how the hook from "Alison" came from a Detroit Spinners song, and how his arrangement of "Peace, Love and Understanding" was based on a riff from Television's "See No Evil."
There were some other interesting stories. When Costello first met Mae Axton (who wrote "Heartbreak Hotel"), she told him that Elvis Presley had donned a disguise and had come to "check him out." This was particularly jolting to Costello due to the fact that Presley had been dead for months when Costello first came to America!
Another interesting story is that Ross MacManus was on the same bill with the Beatles at the Royal Command Performance (where John Lennon made the famous quip about rattling jewelry). Having promised to get their autographs for Declan, he brought home a beautiful set of all four signatures on one piece of paper. Unfortunately, the 9-year-old Declan then proceeded to cut out each signature to paste them in his autograph book! If anybody is aware of the scarcity of genuine Beatles autographs, they know that this was tragic indeed.
One of the biggest treats of the evening was a performance of an original song that he said was patterned after Van Morrison's "You're my Woman," and which Elvis reckoned that he hadn't performed since 1975. The chorus went "I hear a melody / and I know that it's not right."
A very interesting and unique experience.
|