My letter to Elvis Presley

My letter to Elvis Presley

To whom it may concern

Uncle John had passed, and I was chosen to clean up some of the stuff in his room. I was very close to my uncle he had moved in with us after Aunt Tez died. I guess you could say that he was a big part of my growing up.

In his room there was all the usual stuff until I started in the dresser draws. I found a letter it was somewhat crumpled but still sealed. I figured it was something he wrote to someone and then decided not to mail, maybe an old girlfriend. After weighing the situation, I decided no body needs to know. I chose to open the letter. Who knows maybe it is something I can still do for him? I sat on the bed and slowly ripped the top off. A presence seemed to come over me and I knew I was doing the right thing. I slowly read the letter.

Dear Elvis Presley,

I am writing you just to get something off my chest. Something I have carried around for such a very long time. You and I are less than a month apart in-so-far as when we were born. I have always been grateful to know, when I reminisce that yes, you were a famous entertainer but look at how young you passed. You are gone and lost forever, and I on the other hand am still kicking around almost fifty years later. Granted I do not move like you Elvis but give me the fact that I still do move.

You rocked the known world when you first burst on the scene, and I hated you for it. You may ask why but I wasn’t alone in my feelings for you Elvis. I found out as your fame spread throughout the land that there were many, mostly young men, and boys who felt the same as me. I decided then that it was not my jealousy speaking. My dislike was a common feeling. Thank goodness I was not alone in my utter dislike for you, ‘the popular young entertainer’. There were many of us male teenagers at that time that did not really afford you much respect. Oh yes, you were young, handsome, and had a voice that most girls found fascinating. Personally, I always thought your singing was terrible and that those moves and gyrations you committed on stage as far as I was concerned were indecent. But you guessed it, I was green with jealously. I remember that we called you Elvis the Pretzel, one of your more generic labels.

I hung on to the old crooners long as I could but slowly, they began to fade away. A new type of music with Elvis leading the parade came into existence. The fifties were the beginning of a new way of life, and I must admit it was good.

Recently I saw a special on television with Celine Dion where she had resurrected you. There you were on stage electronically singing side by side with her. I must admit that I was moved. You were both very good. I remember saying that they must have also technically enhanced Elvis’s voice. He’d never sounded that good in real life. A short time later just to prove it to myself I watched a special that you had performed from Hawaii, and I was shocked again. In the piece you were the only entertainer, and you were historically fabulous.

The last straw came about a week ago when a friend sent me an address to click onto—on my computer. It was to hear an old song that had impressed him. You guessed it. It was you Elvis Presley singing, “One Pair of Hands” a touching story about the now and here-after. I am now completely sold on Elvis Presley and have learned to recognize your remarkable talent—one that has survived the test of time, by enduring way beyond your short mortal life.

It is like discovering a brand-new talent with every song you sing and, in some way, it touches my soul. Had I not been so jealous and misunderstanding about life and girls back in the old days I would not have this burst of enjoyment in my old age.

I wonder now, that because of my own stubbornness, temperament, and inadequacies just how many more of life’s precious gifts I have let slip away?

It is a little late now- but Elvis, if you are in the house, I sincerely apologize and when I see you in person, I will do it again properly.

Your friend John

Ta.ta Lad