Elvis Presley - The Last 24 Hours

[Music] Memphis Tennessee the home of the late great Elvis Presley WC handy you look down over me yeah I got a first class ticket but I'm as blue as a boy can be then I'm Walking in Memphis was walking with my feet 10et off a be walking Here For the First Time Elvis's closest friends and confidants known as the Memphis Mafia tell their own emotional story of Elvis's last few hours on Earth I turned him over and uh I knew I knew he was de just knew it needless to say a lot of times I've listened to a nelvis song and it just broke down you know and cried El took drugs because he' liked them everybody thinks they trying to escape he just [ __ ] loved him and I get pissed off with the people that helped contribute to it but I get pissed off with Elvis was a smart man he knew what he was doing but he denied it I threatened the doctor I said if I ever see this man in this shape again I will go all the way Colonel Parker walks up to me we stand Toe to Toe and he stares coldly into my eyes he says the only thing that's important is that that man is on stage tonight nothing else matters [Music] nothing Sun Studios in Memphis it was here 50 years ago that rock and roll was born and so began the legend that is Elvis Presley in the course of a glorious career Elvis would take the World by sto storm starting in 1954 with his first hit that's all right Mama I'm leaving baby I'm leaving to for sure well then you won't be bothered with me hanging around door but that's all [Music] right Elvis was a very very shy retiring type individual he didn't he didn't like to be around new people he didn't trust them uh he trusted us we were a source of comfort uh he could be what he wanted to be around us uh he could be himself if there wasn't Elvis himself and it was around us uh he didn't like Elvis did not make friends easy he just didn't like to do it and with us he didn't have to do it and with us we all could be what we wanted to be and he could be the same 300 p.m. Thursday the 15th of August 1977 Elvis is preparing for yet another backbreaking tour the second tour of that year Elvis's girlfriend Ginger Alden didn't want to go on tour with him Ginger was just 21 and not prepared to bow to his every demand something Elvis was used to even during his doomed marriage to Priscilla I'd without over the years his Memphis Mafia had supplied him with a string of compliant girls if you got wealth and looks uh they're really going to come and they're going to come fast and hard and uh you what you have to do is on a continual basis weed them out because you got to weed the squirrels out from the Lambs and the squirrels cause you more trouble than lamb ever cause you uh not because they eat a lot of nuts but it's because they you know uh they're crazy and this is the problem he was so charismatic that he would draw you know he just he was like they were like Ms flying around a [Music] flame [Music] best it's funny to me today because just for the hell of it one Saturday night at a time when there was only seven of us including Elvis see on Friday night and Saturday night Elvis used to let all the girls in that hung around the gates and and one Saturday night just for the hell of it I I was bored so I went around the house and I counted all the women that were in the house with us seven guys and this is not an exaggeration there was 152 women there man I thought I was at Heaven you know what can I what can I say it was uh it was exciting all the time you know and I thought man you know this is a dream I don't ever want to wake up you know so but uh it it had its moments too but you know overall if you look at it it was such an exciting time it was something new Elvis was gifted with uh the fact that you know he was constantly looking for something new to do and you never knew what this man was going to come up with you know the phenomenal part of it was that [Music] uh uh the screaming and the hollering and you couldn't he they wouldn't stop and it would uh I mean he could sing a number nobody even knew what he said um it was just pandemonium it never stopped Elvis had a tremendous draw to him emotionally and physically where you looked at him and you thought that is probably about the best looking man I've ever seen you know and he just had a Charisma about him he had a way of pulling you in people call it Southern Charm he had it in Spades 8:00 p.m. Thursday the 15th of August 1977 Elvis goes to the dentist in search of prescription drugs he's accompanied by Ginger Billy Smith and Billy's wife Joe in the in the movie years the drugs were in control the sleeping pills and the the uppers for the energy level I couldn't take them every day not to be the goody goodie but I just couldn't I just couldn't take that P I knew it was going to do to me make my mouth dry it was just going to make me wired all day and I just didn't want to do it but I had to take him sometimes cuz he would stay up to 3:00 morning 2:30 3:00 and we get up at 5: to go on location and there's no way and you don't he I learned from the very start I sleep when he sleeps why on the [Music] way the guys around of us we were just you know we stayed wired up all the time we didn't go to bed till you know 2:00 in the evening and it was tiring after a while and so we take a little speed to stay up in the next day and a lot of times we couldn't go to sleep because we were high and we had to take a sleep pill to go to sleep and we lived that way for a long time we really lived hard but luckily we we young we could do it they said you just alive amidst the fun and games there were already warnings of what excessive drug use would [Music] bring one time I for we were going so hard that Elvis started getting bloody nose and uh we went to the doctor and the doctor said you guys need to get some rest his resistance was getting down and it kept getting a bloody nose so we had rest for a couple days Elvis did everything to excess he had massive appetites for food sex drugs and rock and roll he approached his search for Spiritual Serenity in the same enthusiastic way Larry gella was Elvis's personal hairdresser and spiritual Guru Elvis had a beautiful head of hair I mean the man had everything he even had the hair it was a little fine it lacked body but he had a beautiful head of hair and I remember I sprayed it and I was molding it and I said so what do you think Elvis He said oh great great great and he swirled around in his chair he looked and said but I want to ask you a question my hair is great but what's more important to me is this what are you really into Larry what are you really all about really threw me for a loss for a moment I mean here's a person who was totally straightforward and I said Elvis I mean you know that I work with celebrities and I do their hair this is what I do for a living but what's more important to me than anything else is my search for truth to find the purpose for living I I said look I know you're Elvis presy you're the biggest star in the world I know this Mong corny to you he said wait wait a minute wait a minute Larry wait that's not corny at all you have no idea how I need to hear what you have to say about this please man just keep on talking and I did the self-realization park which is uh close to the ocean in Southern California in the Pacific Palisades uh was a place that Elvis loved to visit and the monks that lived there became friends with Elvis and Elvis would love to just leave the world walk around the park enjoy the Serenity and people left him alone they recognized him because a lot of people do go there it's a very special place and nobody bothers of anyone Elvis would go into the chapel and he would meditate we would go in the back and speak with some of the monks they would uh reveal and explain certain experiences that they would have we walk around the lake I loved the park he said look how come I have an experience I want to feel God I said well Alvis look it doesn't happen like that when you want something you want it now and you expect it you have to be patient and you have to surrender your ego in his latter years Elvis embarked on a punishing touring schedule organized by his manager Colonel Tom Parker he didn't like the idea of doing you know two shows a night sometimes three seven days a week and it bothered him and it festered and festered and festered it's like when I called him from La when we were going to do that last tour and I said you just need to shut it down I said [ __ ] the tour I said cut it off let's just you know I said let's just cancel this tour out and he said Lamar I've got a payroll which you know when you says when you say that you go well he's right but at the same time I told him I said listen I said you got two or three guys around here that'll go to Hawaii with you and I said we'll hang out and you just you know and you can get yourself back together again he said let's talk about that after his tours over it sounds like a good idea he didn't make it with his records no longer selling Elvis's only income came from these tours and being 40 plus he no longer had a huge following he was teetering on the brink of financial meltdown touring paid the bills for now but 50% of the income went to Tom Parker the colonel 2 was facing bankruptcy Colonel Parker probably was one of the most de generate gamblers I've ever known in my life in Nevada they used to say his money is not worth anything he played roulette and would put chips on every number uh he would uh play craps and bet the horn the center uh one night I was up about God I think I was up50 $60,000 remember I was just I was running the crap table crazy and he came up and took my money and put it on don't pass no pass no dope pass you threw a seven and I threw a seven and lost it all one pop and I just I wanted to throw up but I couldn't and I said you know Jesus God I said I've worked my butt off here I said he said how much did you start off with I said I started off at 2,000 so he counted out $2,000 I gave it to said now are you even I'm my God but I mean he was right I was even you know I was gam way I only lost $2,000 you know we all have our little idiot his was gambling and and I loved him to death but he didn't play the game like you have to play it to win I mean he would go through with those on roulette and he would drop five or six chips there two on that one 10 or 12 on this one and that's whatever fell out of his hand yeah that's what you do and when he hit he didn't really win cuz he had more bet than what it was he thought he did yeah I mean listen One Night in between shows this was in 70 and we were at the crab table and he called me said listen he said you got to stay with me here and I said well I said you know I said I've got to go upstairs early he said no you stay here and said I'll get you up there on time and I said okay so in a period of an hour and a half he lost over a million and a quarter come on back and let's play a little we can do what we one night I walked down to the casino I just left Elvis this is after his show and I noticed there was a large group of people roped off and they were all in front of a table watching someone Gamble and as I walked up it was Colonel Parker by himself at the table with stacks of chips and he was playing the suckers game of all games it was called The Wheel of Fortune and the odds of winning that game are the worst it's better if you play craps or Blackjack at any rate he's at the table and he spots me in the crowd Larry he said come on come here come here sit next to me he said I'm not doing too well I need some luck give me some good thoughts Larry I said okay Colonel and I felt so uncomfortable I really did after about 5 10 minutes I said Colonel uh maybe you'll do better now I hope you will but I have to get back upstairs cuz Elvis needs me I told him I was just going to walk down for a few minutes so I left left the colonel was there for hours upon hours upon hours until like 5:00 in the morning and he lost and a half million dollar that night as Elvis prepared for his last tour that would start in Portland Maine on August the 17th it was clear that he had no choice but to perform if he were to remain solvent and for Tom Parker it was essential that his gambling losses were covered Elvis had turned into the Colonel's own Cash Cow we were on tour in Louisville Kentucky and this was about 4 months before Elvis passed away and Elvis the night before had a very difficult time he felt he had a fever he felt nauseous he felt flu like he couldn't sleep he had a very very difficult night it was late afternoon and Dr Nick was in Dr Nick was Elvis's doctor who traveled with us was in the bedroom with Elvis I was in the front room the television was on and there was a pounding on the front on the door which was very unusual because we owned that floor no one was allowed there we had security cops positioned in front of the elevators everything was blocked off so who would knock on the door like that so I immediately walked over to at the door look through the people and there's Colonel Parker who never came to visit Elvis centur I open the door I said Colonel he said where is he I said well he's in in the bedroom let me tell him you're here he said no I'm going right in so he with his Cane he walked past me he opened the door and this is what I saw Dr Nick was holding Elvis's head Elvis is in the bed semiconscious almost comos and he was moaning he wasn't he was in such bad shape and Dr Nick was dunking Elvis's head into a bucket of ice water to revive him the door closed and I thought immediately okay this is good this is good now the old man Parker is going to see what's going on here he's going to see how bad the bad shape Elvis is in and he's going to do something about it I mean you can't allow this to go on it's in human 90 seconds later the door opened up Colonel Parker walks up to me and stands toe and I get up We Stand Toe to Toe and he stares col into my eyes he says no you listen to me the only thing that's important is that that man is on stage tonight nothing else matters nothing there's a lot of them I can't think of any R off hand I like to live up to my reputation of being a nice guy this is it folks beautiful while committed to a hectic touring schedule at the behest of the colonel and with mounting financial and physical problems Elvis and his Mafia had become more and more isolated from the real world well I knew over the years of us is very isolated from the outside world we didn't know what was going on the outside we very seldom uh read the paper we watch a lot of sports a lot of TV shows watch we didn't hardly watch the news we were very very much hidden from everything going on the outside we lived in an insulated world within our own group and our group I mean somebody said that Elvis really never left his bedroom well he didn't Elvis would get on his airplane bedroom and go to a hotel bedroom and would go from a hotel bedroom to his Grayson bedroom Elvis over the years every once in a while he'd get like that he'd go to his upstairs and he might spend a week or two and not even show his face but that was only like a week or two now we're talking about Ms you know 10 p.m. August the 15th 1977 the guys were assembling in Memphis for what would prove to be one tour too far by the mid '70s Elvis's drug habit had become a serious threat to his life in 1975 what I had been seeing a little bit of the previous year or so was getting worse and I was very concerned about his health it wasn't like it had been before when he was taking the uppers and the sleeping Fields when when he started experimenting with the you know the down stuff that's when we started getting concerned all of us not just me the down stuff is like demol and things like that pain medication that brings you and let you down and you kind of just float you know diloted is like a synthetic and is five times more powerful than pure morphine mostly given to for cancer patients terminally ill cancer that just couldn't handle the pain but see his in his mind were not illegal drugs these were prescription drugs now the doctor's writing them for him he's abusing them but they're not illegal drugs in his mind I got a call from alvus saying Jerry can you help me and I said what are you talking about and he said I I I'm on the floor I can't get up and I said who's there and he said nobody so I ran downstairs I don't know what car I got into whatever went to the doctor's house and sure enough um Elvis was there this was a proud man and you know he was even proud around us and this broke my heart and uh he was on the floor so we picked him up put him in bed his legs really just wasn't working I was hurt I was angry and I waited downstairs for the doctor to come in and I said what the hell is going on said what are you talking about and I told him what I'd just gone through and he said well you know this liquid diet and we're not giving him any drugs we're just giving him placebos and I I I threatened the doctor I said if I ever see this man in this shape again I will go all the way I go upstairs and Elvis is on a stationary bicycle just I mean he's going fulled she probably hadn't been out of the bed in F four weeks right uh and he's Charlie doesn't know what's going on he doesn't know about my meeting with the doctor and everything and damn it Charlie when you get your medical degree you can start telling the doctors how to treat me and he was Furious he took drugs because he' liked them there was no everybody thinks that there's some sort of super serious uh situation where he would develop this thing of trying to escape anything he just [ __ ] loved him he loved drug I mean I'm talking when he would sit and say and I sit down Elvis you don't need to take all this [ __ ] he said I need it when a person has that mentality there is no way you can stop them they're going to do it and that's the end of like I said I need a drink you say no you don't I need it you can't you're done none of the guys were in any doubt the drugs and ensuing health problems had changed Elvis both mentally and physically Elvis had not been in good health for some time and many of his physical problems were caused by his diet Elvis had eaten typical southern cooking all his life mostly fried and deep fried and rried dishes a diet certainly not conducive to good health he would eat crisp bacon sliced tomatoes mashed potatoes and gravy and sauerkraut believe it or not and mixed it all together and eat it and loved it and Elvis would eat stuff till he got tired of it and then he would eat anymore so he got off of it the last year of Elvis's life he went back to eating mashed potatoes sauerkraut sliced bacon sliced tomato I mean bacon slic Ice is very crisp and I said you know what you're doing here what do you mean I said you're back it's why you used to eating 57 he should never thought about that Elvis had a lot of physical problems that were really eating away at him he had glaucoma he had hypertension do you know that every night after his show his blood pressure would shoot up to 180 200 every night and that's a tremendous strain on the heart Elvis had a [ __ ] Twisted colon I can't tell you the problems that that that played him because of it he also had his blood sugar that was a little too high his body would start get bruises on his leg one night we were on tour he tripped and fell down the stairs at the back of the stage and twisted his ankle and he he had a very difficult time after that moving on stage mid night August the 15th 1977 waiting for the tour to commence the guys knew Elvis was unhealthy but they still believed nothing could touch or hurt him August 15 1977 I flew in from Los Angeles getting ready to do a tour that next uh next day we were supposed to leave for U Portland Maine and uh we were sitting around the kitchen talking and and uh that was was upstairs with the ginger alden's girlfriend at the time and uh Billy Smith was there and his wife and they leave we just ate dinner the guys a couple guys not talking about tomorrow what we got to do uh I call upstairs I say Elis I'm here anything we need anything I should know about anything you need for tomorrow and he was fine he was seemed very well 3 or 4:00 I don't remember exactly what time it was but uh he uh called out at the house and he said you know would you and Joe come out and and me you and Joe and Ginger go down to the rocket ball I said sure So we met there about somewhere around 4:30 I guess and uh it was Joe and Ginger and then Elvis and ginger and then me and Joe and then me and Elvis you and then time it got to me and Elvis well it done got down now the S it was no longer a ragy ball game though we were getting exercise we were trying that desperately to see who can nail the other one with the ball you know and then he finally swung so hard he missed and he hit himself on the shin and that that ended the game right there he went to complain to anybody hurting so I raised his pants leg up there and I looked at I said it's not bleeding I said it can't be hurting then he got into a kind of a Melancholy mood you know he went to the piano and he was playing uh different songs for you know for gender and us and then that lasted maybe well 15 20 minutes lost in his music it was as if Elvis was 21 again you live near or far away I'm always longing for the day my darling you are home to stay I'd be lost without your [Music] love and then we went back to graand I went upstairs and I I watched and dried his hair for him and uh we talked in the bathroom I you know he he even told me said man he said you know I'm going to try to make this the best tour ever you know and uh he said I'm going to try to go to sleep I said okay I said I'll uh you need me I'll be it at the house you know and I assumed he was going to bed his mood's swings were were more frequent most of Elvis Presley was always a upbeat person he really was and I guess that's one of the things more that that made you you know like to be a part of that because he was and then to see him have these mood swings you know uh more frequent and and it was scary you know it really was and uh I didn't like it to be honest with you I just didn't like it at all I would say that Elvis started slipping after he accomplished that feet of the uh billion and a half people watching him live from around the world on that satellite show from that point on I would say it just a slowly slide no up and down just slowly slide I try not to let his moods a lot of times affect my moods if I did we were both in the pits of Hell at that time I'm literally and so therefore when I thought he was down I was going to try to be up and when he was up I was automatically up I mean I was at in tune to him but it was difficult it was hard you know and you want to just say God man you know come on it's not too late you know get a grip in your life you know and and get away from the drugs you know don't don't use them you don't have to and take a little time off nothing's that impressing you don't owe anybody anything if you get rid of me tomorrow and I told him man I and I meant it from the bottom of my heart if you get rid of all these guys they will understand and if they don't they will not your friends to start with but take some time off and he'd just look at me and say I can't I owe too much to too many people we lived a wild and fast life in those matter of years that we he he was on Earth so uh like that song you know he did it his way I'm not given the song any credit but uh I wish he would have changed and did it our way but he did it his way we could talk to him at times he sit and agree he say yeah I'm going to change my life yeah I'm not ready I'll do it when I ready to do it and we all had that hope because the last vacation in March of 1977 we all went to Hawaii we had a great time he was in a great mood he was out there on the beach having a good time he was overweight at the time but he was he was smiling we thought hey this is a good chance you know he did cleaned his act up for about 30 days or more but then all of a sudden boom right back again at graceand Elvis now faced the grind and rigors of yet more performances with the backup of his [Music] friends none of them were happy V's decline had accelerated when I when I see him on stage performing in the manner that he started performing there at the end where he wanted to do the best show he could but with what he was but where he was at he was really burning burning burning and uh the light was getting dimmer I must say this is painful for me that when Elvis came on stage he gave such a g i mean the guy Whoever has not seen Elvis live has missed the greatest entertainer of the 20th century the the greatest star of the 20th century but when I saw him I I my heart sank because I knew if something was wrong I could see it in his eyes I saw it in his face I said he he can't he can't last like this another 5 years we were all very frustrated we but we all could do only thing we could do is that we can't he's 42 years old you can't force this man to do anything you know people now people say why don't you guys have him committed how could I have him committed he's 42 years old I can't have committed even his father couldn't have him committed you know you can't prove he's crazy your hands are tied your hands are tied I didn't lay back in the later years that last year and a half I didn't lay back I said what I wanted to say uh and uh the hell of it is after all I look back on it it just it didn't do any good you know and that's what hurts more than anything 6:00 a.m. the 16th of August 1977 Elvis was Restless he told Ginger he was going to read in the bathroom 2: p.m. the 16th of August 1977 Ginger went to the bathroom to check if Elvis was okay got out the next day came to the house about 12:00 noon uh this is the 16th and uh about 2:00 the phone rings intercom and one of the maids picks up the phone and it's Ginger she says come upstairs I need help I was fainted so I ran upstairs I go into the bathroom and uh Elvis had fell over he was laying on the floor uh I turned him over and uh I knew I knew he was dead I just knew it just but I was hoping he wasn't I picked up the phone and called the operator they didn't have 911 at that time and uh said we need an ambulance here at office Presley's house and I didn't tell him who it was and meanwhile I couldn't do mou mouth resuscitation cuz Elva's mouth was closed shut there was no way possible there's rumors I did that but somebody made that story up uh I was trying to massage his heart as well as I could and it just seemed forever people were all coming up there and uh it was Pandemonium the ambulance finally showed up and it seemed forever and I found out later it was like 20 minutes before they got there we got him in the ambulance um stretcher came got him down the ambulance jumped in the back of the ambulance uh all the way to the hospital uh trying we're talking to him and uh we get to the hospital real quick the Baptist Hospital got there and they rushed him into the emergency room I tell you it was it was tough and U 30 minutes later about 30 minutes I would think doctor came into the room and he said Elvis has left Elvis is gone and we all broke down and we all hugged each other and um it was a you know very you know very emotional time naturally we were you know still in a State of Shock even when you think about we never thought this could ever happen I go to graceand I pulled into the gates and Elvis's Uncle says to me uh Larry did you hear what just happened I said no what happened he said Elvis Just Died wait a minute what did you just say he said El just died I look up at Elvis's bedroom and I looked at him I can't begin to tell you the state of mind that put me in about uh 1:30 or quarter two the phone ring and it was my cousin paty who is Elvis's double first cousin and my first cousin so she had she had called out there and she said uh she said oh my God she said Elvis is dead and I said whoa wait a minute paty I said what do you mean I said is he gone to the hospital she said yeah they've Tak him to the hospital I said he's been you know in the hospital before I said he's he's he's he'll be all right she said no she said he's dead there was a PR guy from the hospital was there with me he asked me he said do you want to make the announcement that Elvis is no longer with us and I couldn't do the announcement I couldn't make the announcement to the Press I told the pr guys you you do it I can't do it and uh guy we're driving down and I the radio's on and they play an Elvis record and the dis jockey says by the late Elvis Presley H I literally went berserk I realized I'd never see Elvis Presley again and it's the first time I realized it and I hit this wall so hard I crushed my hand I had to have an operation still has scars and uh colonel was on the phone to Joe and he was saying yes I know and you need to do this you need to do that so he hung up the phone and I was leaning on the television set was on a stand and I was leaning on it my left arm in fact you know things become really indifi in your mind and uh he walked up within probably 8 inches of my face 10 inches and he said you got to go back to Memphis Elvis is dead and I looked at him it hit me like like a sledgehammer and I and I looked at him and I said listen I said you know what I said you finally ran him to the ground didn't you and he got mad at me I said you know what I'm talking about I said y'all wouldn't let him up you kept working him you kept working him he said you need to leave and I said yeah I'm going to leave keep from knocking your damn teeth out when they brought him you know to the house and all the next day I had some relief you might say when I saw him because I realized it's true you know you've got to accept it it's true whereas before I could believe you know that he was just sick you know in the hospital I was just hearing what they wanted to tell me but when you see the real thing then you know it's you know it's air and uh you got to deal with it I got into the house and there is a group a lot of the guys are there and there's little Lis Marie walking around saying my daddy is dead my daddy is dead Vernon his his father is sitting in his chair he said Larry Larry and I run over and I collaps Collapse into his arms what am I going to do what am I going to do Larry he said Larry you're going to have to go do El's hair you got to go to the merary Larry you got to you know he knows you know how he would like to look I said Don't You Worry Mr Presley don't you worry I'll go and I would have never ever thought he would have died we all talked about it but he's too strong he was too strong of a person we said he's going to change his life and he didn't it it was tough it got to a point where a lot of guys don't want to talk about it I think that he had so much to give and here it is you know he hits the floor and died by himself and I think that's horrible I think it I mean nobody has a no I mean nobody want I mean everybody's nobody wants to die and nobody wants to especially die alone I don't think uh it' have been so nice we all could have been around him but uh I mean as it was he fell forward on the floor and died that's horrendous I was led by these police officers into a a brick building that was very cold very dark it's a long Corridor I walked down this Corridor and all I could hear was my heart beating thumping boom boom boom and I stopped in my tracks cuz I saw what was in the other room there was a table I saw a body on the table with a sheet I walked into the room there was Alis I walked up to him I stood right by his head on this side Charlie Hodge stood on the other side there's a few more tis in the room and there was a silence for a long period of time I just looked at that face that beautiful magnificent face now I had to do his hair and the next shock kicked in we were off tour for six weeks we had a Hiatus period there's a regrowth half an inch so all white hair I didn't bring my dyes with me and thinking oh my God what am I gonna do now there was a lady there and I said do you have your mascara with you and she did it was a little black thank God mascara a little teeny brush so I schmeared it all around blended it into his black hair that I we dyed black and it worked it took me a good 45 minutes to an hour just to prepare his hair because first of all Elvis was lying horizontally his life force left the body so there was nothing there so I had to work on it work on it and work on it which I did at a certain point the morticians who are applying makeup to his hands and his b upper body like they do they pulled the sheet down and Charley Hodge screamed he said what the hell are you how could you do that in front of us saw the crisscross the autopsy scars they covered back up and over the years you know the big story Elvis might be alive oh how I wish that was true I worked on his body and I've worked on his body thousands of times that was Elvis Presley that's it there's no doubt about it and memories just started cascading down memories of the first night that I met met elice telling me how I must have been plucked out of the millions and millions of lives to be elice there has to be a reason in things of over the last 13 14 years it was so unbelievable so surrealistic at a certain point I thought no wait a minute this isn't real he's sleeping he's going to open his eyes he's going to imitate Chief Inspector cluso from the Peter sers pink pather movies Elvis knew all the lines he was going to wake up and sit up and say hey What's Going what the hell's going on here let's get back to graceand no no no no that's I understood exactly what was happening I understood this is the corpse of Elvis Presley and his life force his soul is not in that body anymore Vernon Presley Joe bazito and a few of the guys Jerry Schilling and a few others we walked up to seis for the very last time because now he's going to be interned someone took his TCB ring off and the lid of the coffin is coming down and I'll tell you right now purpose purposely consciously right before the lid came down I put my hand in and I put my hand right on his forehead and said goodbye and I wanted to be the last person to die touch him the lid came down and I was the funeral during the funeral some some weird things happened you know we got ready for the to load the casket into the hearse after we loaded it and all all of a sudden this tree LM broke and make made a hell of a sound really did made a crashing sound was not that big a tree lamb but it was big enough and to look at it it looked green it didn't look like it was rotted and and fell it looked everybody kind of looked at each other and of course I think I think Lamar said something you know said well they still at work or something like that and I uh then we got to the uh the the maam and they had him set up and it was just little round up above and it faced east and west and it was all I guess around 3 4:00 in the afternoon and when the Sun finally came over for the uh the wood separates the panes it was four of them it throw this prettier cross across that casket you've ever seen of course I can't tell you the cold chells that run across my body you know and I thought H you know my best friend is dead uh no matter what you want to say that's the biggest loss to me I've ever had and we can say he had a good career we can say this we can say that but the guy's dead it was that Rocket Ride with Elvis that we went through it was such a part of life you know and and a fascinating one at that and you can't just turn that on and off when you get ready there's times when it'll hit me and I'll just sometimes it's happy sometimes it's sad and needless to say a lot of times I've listened to an Elis song and it just broke down you know and and cried oh I wish I in the Land of Cotton Old Times They Are Not Forgotten look away look away look away [Music] there's not a there's not a day that goes by I don't think about him I have dreams about him I've had him my last wife one night I just jumped up in the bed of sitting straight up Elvin said Holly Lamar and I heard him and he wed me up I mean I heard his voice like he was right next to me and I was in a cold sweat she said what is it I said he just holled at and I it it every day it goes on frosty morning look away look away [Music] look I still get very pissed off about it you know it took a while I didn't get pissed off right away I was too hurt too confused refus too frustrated over not being able to do anything to stop it and I get pissed off with the people that helped contribute to it but I get pissed off with Elvis was a smart man he knew what he was doing but he denied it maybe he really couldn't see any way out of changing he mentioned it to Billy his cousin Billy told me that last year when we weren't around that he mentioned to him that you know maybe he did sometimes take a little bit too much medication [Music] oh I was angry about his death IV was I thought he had no right to die I thought he had no right to die at that age uh I think that he left too much on the table if anybody ever left too much on the table Elvis did Bound to Die [Music] all my trials Lord my tri soon be over I just flashed back to all the good times we were having there you know the parties up by the pool and smiling laughing and having good times but is never going to happen again [Music] way I spent about 20 years trying to make up for it after Elvis start making up for all the things that I didn't do uh with my family when I was taking those pills and when I was with Elvis I'm not very proud of those things uh but that was the way of life we had uh it was a mentality that Elvis really set and of course we didn't have to go along with it but we did is that uh the life is belongs to the guys and not the wives and he excluded the wives a lot in what we did but that's really no excuse for [Music] [Music] meing [Music] the impact upon my life has been so profound not just meeting Elvis and working for him and having the unique relationship that I did have with him but his death you know the day he died and then I went to the merary to do his hair I thought to myself then and there I'll never be the same again and I haven't been it's almost like my soul ruptured so to speak yes you know you come to terms with it but it stays with you and that moment those moments of his death have remained until this very moment and I'm sure they will take I until I take my last breath on my blue s shoes and I boarded the plane touched down in the land of the delta blues in the middle of the pouring rain WC handy w't you look down over me yeah got a first class ticket but I'm as blue as a boy can be then I'm Walking in Memphis just walking with my feet 10t off a be Walking in Memphis but do really feel the way I feel saw the ghost of Elvis on Union never knew followed him up to the gates of G and I watched him walk right through now security they did not see they just HED around this tomb but there's a pretty little thing waiting for the king down in the jungle room when I was walking in Memphis I was walking with my feet 10t off a beer walking in [Music] but do I really feel the way I [Music] feel they've got catfish on the [Music] table they've got gopel in the air and river and green be glad to see you when you haven't got a [Music] pray put on my blue sweed shoes and I boed the plane touch down in the land of the delta blues in the middle of the pouring rain touch down in the land of the delta blues in the middle of the pouring [Music] rain

Channel: onemediamusic

Views: 10,864,293

Keywords: Elvis Presley, The Last 24 Hours, Rock 'n' Roll, Long live the King, Documentary, Elvis, King of Rock 'n' Roll, The King, Memories, Interviews, Joe Esposito, Hound Dog, Viva Las Vegas, Blue Suede Shoes and That's Alright Mama, That's Alright Mama, Music, W3gUiDcDIrI, Live footage, Legend, Sun Records (Organization), Hall Of Fame (Type Of Museum), Blues (Musical Genre), Pop Music (Musical Genre), Icon, United States Of America (Country), The Jordanaires, Music Legend

Id: W3gUiDcDIrI

Length: 54min 28sec (3268 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 21 2012