0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains very strong language
0:00:10 > 0:00:13On 31st July, 1969,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16a nervous Elvis Presley stepped out onto the stage
0:00:16 > 0:00:20of the International Hotel in Las Vegas
0:00:20 > 0:00:22after an eight-year absence from live performance.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40The show was a triumph, a culmination of a long, hard
0:00:40 > 0:00:45journey for Elvis to show the world who he really was as an artist.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49Not only the greatest performer on Earth, but the most emotional
0:00:49 > 0:00:53interpreter of the American song book that ever existed.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06But the triumph was brief,
0:01:06 > 0:01:07and the end was not pretty.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12This is a song that I just recorded.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14It's an old song called Unchained Melody.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17I have to play the piano, so it'll take just a second.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22The grind of over 600 Vegas shows in eight years
0:01:22 > 0:01:25eventually killed the King.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30For many, this cartoon image of Elvis is the one that endures.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33A bloated, drug-addled figure
0:01:33 > 0:01:35belting out tired standards.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45But even in this befuddled state in South Dakota just weeks
0:01:45 > 0:01:49before he died, Elvis could still dig deep to find the artist within.
0:01:49 > 0:01:57# Time goes by so slowly
0:01:57 > 0:01:58# And time... #
0:01:58 > 0:02:03This film will pull back the curtain on the glory of Elvis's Vegas years,
0:02:03 > 0:02:08to show how he created the legend that lives on to this day.
0:02:08 > 0:02:15# Time goes by so slowly
0:02:16 > 0:02:22# And time can do so much
0:02:22 > 0:02:30# Are you still mine? #
0:02:37 > 0:02:39# You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
0:02:39 > 0:02:42# Cryin' all the time
0:02:42 > 0:02:45# You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
0:02:45 > 0:02:48# Cryin' all the time
0:02:48 > 0:02:50# Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit
0:02:50 > 0:02:53# And you ain't no friend of mine. #
0:02:53 > 0:02:58In 1956, Elvis Presley shook up the world.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01Tall, dark and preternaturally handsome,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05this dirt-poor southern boy scandalised segregated America
0:03:05 > 0:03:09when he performed Hound Dog on NBC's Milton Berle show.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14This was a white man, sullying the nation,
0:03:14 > 0:03:19and its women, with the black sounds and moves he had grown-up amongst.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21I believe that it is a contributing factor
0:03:21 > 0:03:24to our juvenile delinquency of today.
0:03:24 > 0:03:25# Cryin' all the time. #
0:03:25 > 0:03:28I know the evil feeling that you feel when you sing.
0:03:34 > 0:03:35I know how it feels.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39I know what it does to you.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44- He was good-looking.- Let me tell you, let me tell you.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46He was really good-looking, I say.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49He was really good-looking and he had this amazing energy.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Elvis was a phenomenon. The biggest star of the '50s.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04Key to the Elvis success story was the relationship with his manager,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08Colonel Tom Parker, the mastermind behind the King's meteoric
0:04:08 > 0:04:12rise from small-time country star to global superstar.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Parker's beginnings were in the world of carnivals,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26where he ran a very particular sideshow.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33He told me his act in the carny was the dancing chicken.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36And he said, "I used to get a hotplate, cover it with straw,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39"play the music Turkey in the Straw behind it,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42"and then I would take a chicken and put it on the hotplate,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45"and the chicken would look like it was dancing."
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Colonel Parker came from carnivals, so he recognised instantly
0:04:52 > 0:04:56what was going to draw people in to the big tent.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59And Elvis was sort of a hoochie coochie girl.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03He never understood him artistically.
0:05:03 > 0:05:04He never got the music.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09He just was amazed, flummoxed that people thought it was good.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Parker mesmerised the young Elvis, who felt indebted to him
0:05:16 > 0:05:19for the rest of his life.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23In the beginning, their partnership worked.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27While Presley was the king of rock 'n' roll,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Parker was the king of the deal.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33When Elvis started breaking through
0:05:33 > 0:05:34somebody told the Colonel,
0:05:34 > 0:05:38"Colonel, I like your boy, Elvis.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41"I'll give you a million bucks to book him."
0:05:41 > 0:05:45And Colonel said, "You got it. Now, what are you going to give Elvis?"
0:05:45 > 0:05:50The money flowed, and soon Parker was plotting Elvis's next move.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Say you ain't lying awake every night by my side, thinking of him.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Wishing I was Vance.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Wishing you'd waited for him, and never married me.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Following the tradition of singers like Bing Crosby
0:06:01 > 0:06:05and Frank Sinatra, the Colonel sent his boy to Hollywood,
0:06:05 > 0:06:09negotiating a multi-picture deal that would earn Elvis millions.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15In 1956, Love Me Tender was one of
0:06:15 > 0:06:18the highest grossing movies in the world.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22What could possibly go wrong?
0:06:37 > 0:06:40Hollywood's image of me was wrong and I knew it.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45And I couldn't say anything about it. I couldn't do anything about it.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48I don't know, it's nobody's fault, maybe, except my own.
0:06:50 > 0:06:51I didn't know what to do.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54I just felt I was obligated very heavily
0:06:54 > 0:06:58a lot of times to things that I didn't fully believe in.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01It worried me sick.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06So I became violently ill, physically, emotionally, everything.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Elvis's career had crashed.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19The main problem was the movies.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26He was being cast in a series of increasingly frivolous dramas
0:07:26 > 0:07:28designed to showcase his music,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30but the template had got very tired.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40The pictures got very similar, you know.
0:07:42 > 0:07:43If something was successful,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46they tried to recreate it the next time around.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49The songs were mediocre in most cases, you know.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54I had thought that they would give me
0:07:54 > 0:07:57a chance to show some kind of acting ability
0:07:57 > 0:08:01or do a very interesting story, but it did not change.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03It did not change.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08Parker, you know, was a formula person.
0:08:08 > 0:08:14He had a formula, it was working. No Elvis movie ever lost money.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16So why mess with a good thing?
0:08:17 > 0:08:20Around Elvis, things had changed dramatically.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28He had disappeared from the charts since 1965, supplanted by a new
0:08:28 > 0:08:31breed of pop stars that wrote their own material.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40Elvis was reliant on songwriters to provide him with good material,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43but Parker's obsession with the deal was getting in the way.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49# He's your uncle, not your dad
0:08:49 > 0:08:52# He's the best friend you ever had
0:08:52 > 0:08:57# So come on, dig, dig, dig in until it hurts
0:08:57 > 0:09:01# Just remember Pearl Harbor. #
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Parker demanded a cut of everything, and that included up
0:09:04 > 0:09:08to 50 percent of the songwriter's publishing royalties.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11But Elvis's absence from the charts meant only second-raters
0:09:11 > 0:09:13applied for the gig.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17# So just bring, bring, bring everything until you bleed
0:09:17 > 0:09:20# And he'll send back what he don't need. #
0:09:20 > 0:09:24The result was songs like He's Your Uncle Not Your Dad
0:09:24 > 0:09:25from the movie Speedway.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33He was still making movies in '67, when pop music in America,
0:09:33 > 0:09:38was either protest music or psychedelic music
0:09:38 > 0:09:40or time for the hippies,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42and Elvis looked very quaint there.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08To reboot his career,
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Elvis needed to reconnect with young people.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15He found a most unlikely entry point
0:10:15 > 0:10:17through his hairstylist, Larry Geller.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Elvis wanted to learn.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25He knew that there was this big psychedelic culture happening
0:10:25 > 0:10:28with the Beatles and marijuana and all this stuff.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32He heard everyone is doing LSD.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38He said, "Larry, I want to do LSD.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40"But I'm not going to do it, unless you tell me it's OK.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42I said, "Yeah." "But you got to do it with me."
0:10:42 > 0:10:46I said, "OK. Absolutely."
0:10:46 > 0:10:51So Elvis and Priscilla and myself went upstairs
0:10:51 > 0:10:53and we dropped LSD.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58About two or three in the morning, we all went for a walk
0:10:58 > 0:11:01in the back of Graceland, and we were looking at the stars
0:11:01 > 0:11:03and there was a peacock back there,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06and we were all fascinated with the peacock.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10But we got into some wonderful conversations. It was very positive.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17By the end of that summer, Elvis had made a career-defining decision.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20Elvis and I were in the bathroom.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22And I'm doing his hair.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25He wasn't saying anything, he was just looking off in the distance.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27He was pensive.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31And all of a sudden, Elvis said,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34"Man, why am I still making these movies?
0:11:34 > 0:11:38"I'll always be a singer. Singing is my life's blood."
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Elvis immediately began a journey
0:11:46 > 0:11:49to regain control of his musical career.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52His first item of business was the songs themselves.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00Elvis knew he couldn't just re-tread his former rock 'n' roll glory.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01Nonetheless, to find
0:12:01 > 0:12:03the sound of his future,
0:12:03 > 0:12:05he looked deep into his past.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Hi, Roy. Are you all set to go?
0:12:11 > 0:12:13OK, let's cut one.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16His musical hero, seen here in a rare movie appearance,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18was Roy Hamilton.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21# My chickadee (Oh baby)
0:12:21 > 0:12:24# Come here to me (Oh baby) #
0:12:24 > 0:12:27An obscure R&B singer,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30who greatly influenced Elvis's early vocal style.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34# Let's do the rock (Oh baby) #
0:12:34 > 0:12:35Roy had a record called
0:12:35 > 0:12:38I'm Going To Hold on Tight and Don't Let Go.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40# Aw shucks, well, I wouldn't
0:12:40 > 0:12:42# Stop for a million bucks
0:12:42 > 0:12:43# I love you so
0:12:43 > 0:12:46# Just hold me tight and don't let go. #
0:12:46 > 0:12:52HE IMITATES VOCAL STYLE
0:12:52 > 0:12:56Elvis goes, "That's going to be the bottom part of my one".
0:12:56 > 0:12:58And Elvis just grabbed it, OK.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00# Who do you think of when you have such luck?
0:13:00 > 0:13:02# I'm in love
0:13:02 > 0:13:04# I'm all shook up
0:13:04 > 0:13:10# Mm mm mm, mm, yay, yay, yay. #
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Hamilton had managed to extend his career by abandoning
0:13:15 > 0:13:18the youthful energy of his early R&B hits, for a measured
0:13:18 > 0:13:21string of ballads aimed at a more mature audience.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27As he demonstrates here in the movie, Let's Rock.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31# True love
0:13:31 > 0:13:37# But I can't find it Oh, no. #
0:13:37 > 0:13:40My father was an amazing balladeer.
0:13:42 > 0:13:48He had a great operatic and gospel-type style.
0:13:48 > 0:13:53He had a big booming voice
0:13:53 > 0:13:57and he was like, I would say,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00I would call him the black Caruso.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03You know, of music, rhythm and blues.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06The black Caruso of rhythm and blues.
0:14:06 > 0:14:14# Walk on through the rain
0:14:14 > 0:14:17If Hamilton could do this, why not Elvis?
0:14:18 > 0:14:20So it was to the later Hamilton
0:14:20 > 0:14:23that the King looked for his own second coming.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28On 10th September, 1967,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Elvis booked into RCA'S studio B in Nashville
0:14:31 > 0:14:34with his producer Felton Jarvis,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38to record the Rogers and Hammerstein ballad You'll Never Walk Alone,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42which had been a hit for Hamilton back in the '50s.
0:14:42 > 0:14:50# And you'll never walk alone. #
0:14:56 > 0:15:04# You'll never walk alone. #
0:15:13 > 0:15:18What I think Elvis took from my father is the big sound,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22the big voice. Strong vibrato.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24That gospel flavour, you know,
0:15:24 > 0:15:27being Elvis was also a very spiritual person.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31He just kind of adapted that style and it worked.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39You'll Never Walk Alone was not a hit,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41but it heralded a new direction for the King.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Elvis determined that his future would be as a balladeer,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51aimed at a mature audience, but it was a direction that set him
0:15:51 > 0:15:54on a collision course with the Colonel,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57who had something very different in mind for the King's next move.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03Parker planned an old-fashioned Christmas TV special,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06and chose a young hotshot producer.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11But in Steve Binder he found a man with his own vision.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16I went out to see the Colonel and he told me
0:16:16 > 0:16:20"Elvis is going to come on, say hello to his audience,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24"sing 20 Christmas songs, say goodbye", and that was the show.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Nothing else.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29In my head, at the time when he told me that,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31I knew that's not what I'm going to do or want to do.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37So Elvis came to my office and the first thing he asked me is,
0:16:37 > 0:16:39"What do you think of my career?"
0:16:39 > 0:16:45And I said, just blurted out, "I think your career is in the toilet".
0:16:45 > 0:16:47He laughed. At first he didn't.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49At first, he sort of stared me down,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52then all of a sudden he broke out into laughter.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55And he said, "You're the first guy who's actually spoken
0:16:55 > 0:16:57"the truth to me in years".
0:16:57 > 0:16:59And he said, "I agree with you".
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Binder and Elvis formed an alliance
0:17:06 > 0:17:09against Parker's Christmas-themed show,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12and hatched a plan to use the TV special as a career relaunch.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18The first job of the special was to demonstrate that Elvis,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22the man who shook up the world ten years earlier, could still do it.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Elvis would always go in to his dressing room after we
0:17:27 > 0:17:31finished rehearsing, and jam until three or four in the morning.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35I knew even though we were doing all these big production numbers,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38nothing touched him being Elvis
0:17:38 > 0:17:42himself in the dressing room, improv-ing.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45So I was bugging the Colonel every single minute.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47"I want cameras in there."
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Finally the colonel said, "OK, if you want to recreate it on stage,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54I'll let you, but I won't promise you you can use it in the show".
0:17:54 > 0:17:56There was always that little extra thing.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06He's coming out with not even a band, and they're going to go
0:18:06 > 0:18:08out there and do something.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13He plays Baby What You Want Me To Do,
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and he's playing electric guitar,
0:18:15 > 0:18:17which no-one had ever seen him do before.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36# We're goin' up, we're goin' down
0:18:36 > 0:18:41# We're goin' up, down down up Any way you want to let it roll. #
0:18:41 > 0:18:45But he's picking up on something, he's getting interested in something
0:18:45 > 0:18:49and what he's getting interested in is the rhythm in the song.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53And it's suddenly as if no-one has ever really heard that what this
0:18:53 > 0:18:56song is about is a certain rhythm.
0:18:56 > 0:18:57It's nothing to do with the words,
0:18:57 > 0:19:02it's nothing to do with the vocal, there is no idea in it.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07It's a rhythm that is asking to be made bigger, to go farther
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and to become thing in itself.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19And he just pushes and pushes and pushes,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21and he makes a moan,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25he makes a sound, and one of his friends, you know, shouts at him.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30And it's as extraordinary a piece of pure rock 'n' roll,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33pure rhythm and blues as you'll ever hear anywhere.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38And it is coming together in that moment.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45HE MOANS
0:19:50 > 0:19:53HE MOANS
0:20:02 > 0:20:06CHEERING
0:20:10 > 0:20:16HE CHEERS
0:20:23 > 0:20:28That is a matter of both the song serving Elvis,
0:20:28 > 0:20:34because he needs this opportunity, he needs this template.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37But it's really Elvis serving the song.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40# You got me doin' what you want me
0:20:40 > 0:20:43# Oh, baby, what you want me to do. #
0:20:48 > 0:20:53The song always wanted to be more than anybody made it.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56And that day, it got to be what it wanted to be.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02The set proved that Elvis still had it.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05But it was in the show's finale,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07around the now iconic Elvis giant Elvis sign,
0:21:07 > 0:21:12that the King and Binder needed to showcase the new Elvis.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18This led to the inevitable showdown with Parker.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22I got ordered to go see the Colonel in his office with Elvis.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27And the Colonel says, "Boys, it's been called
0:21:27 > 0:21:31"to my attention that there are no Christmas songs on the show".
0:21:32 > 0:21:34"I want to hear from you, Brindle,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37"why there are no Christmas songs on the show?"
0:21:37 > 0:21:40And I said, "Because we've gone a totally direction".
0:21:40 > 0:21:44But if Elvis wants a Christmas song in the show, I'll put one in.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47So the colonel says, "OK, that's clear.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51"Elvis, Steve is going to give you a Christmas song to sing in the show.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54"Is that clear?" And Elvis mutters, "Yes, sir."
0:21:54 > 0:21:55Or something like that.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59And he says, "OK, since that's settled, you boys can leave."
0:21:59 > 0:22:02And we turn around, we walked out and as soon as we get
0:22:02 > 0:22:07out of earshot, Elvis jabs me in the ribs and says, "Fuck him."
0:22:07 > 0:22:09That was it. So I never worried about
0:22:09 > 0:22:12putting a Christmas song in the show.
0:22:25 > 0:22:33# There must be lights burning brighter somewhere
0:22:33 > 0:22:39# Got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue
0:22:39 > 0:22:44# If I can dream of a better land
0:22:44 > 0:22:48# Where all my brothers walk hand-in-hand
0:22:48 > 0:22:53# Tell me why oh why oh why
0:22:53 > 0:22:58# Can't my dream come true? #
0:22:58 > 0:23:01It was about Martin Luther King.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04You know, it's in December of 1968.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07King has been assassinated that spring.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13The song is clearly based on the speech
0:23:13 > 0:23:17that Martin Luther King gave at the March on Washington in 1963.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22Elvis, who liked to recite the end of that speech,
0:23:22 > 0:23:23loved that speech.
0:23:23 > 0:23:29# Out there in the dark, there's a beckoning candle
0:23:29 > 0:23:31# Oh, yeah. #
0:23:31 > 0:23:33The vehemence and the way he sings it, and the way
0:23:33 > 0:23:37he just doesn't care if he's hitting the notes properly,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41if he's fitting into the rhythmic structure of the song,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44he just is outside of all of those lines,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47that's what gives the song its power.
0:23:47 > 0:23:48You believe it.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58# Right now
0:23:58 > 0:24:02# Let it come true right now
0:24:02 > 0:24:05# Oh, yeah. #
0:24:13 > 0:24:16After I edited the show, put it together and so forth,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20the great part was watching a man rediscover himself.
0:24:20 > 0:24:26He went on and did that '68 special and resurrected his career.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31I thought we would be great friends for life.
0:24:32 > 0:24:38The last day I saw him he handed me a quickly scribbled telephone number,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41and said, "If you try and reach me, this is the number to call."
0:24:42 > 0:24:47Like he knew he was being watched and monitored by Parker.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51And I called that number the next day to talk to him and by that time,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53the Colonel made sure that I was
0:24:53 > 0:24:56persona non grata in the Elvis world.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59So I never saw him again or talked to him again after that.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10The Elvis comeback show was the most watched television
0:25:10 > 0:25:11special of that year.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16In the public consciousness, Elvis was back,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20but now he needed to consolidate, by recording some hit records
0:25:20 > 0:25:23after his absence from the charts.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27He needed fresh, cutting-edge talent.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29The answer lay close to home.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40# Being good isn't always easy
0:25:40 > 0:25:42# No matter how hard I try
0:25:42 > 0:25:44# When he started sweet-talking... #
0:25:44 > 0:25:47Memphis had recently developed its own successful Southern soul
0:25:47 > 0:25:50sound based around Stax Records.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56One of the Stax producers, Chips Moman,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59left the label to set up his own recording studio,
0:25:59 > 0:26:01American Sound.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08He successfully reenergised Dusty Springfield's ailing career
0:26:08 > 0:26:11by adding the groove of Memphis to her soulful voice...
0:26:14 > 0:26:16..in songs like Son of a Preacher Man.
0:26:16 > 0:26:22# The only one who could ever reach me was the son of a preacher ma
0:26:22 > 0:26:27# The only boy who could ever teach me was the son of a preacher man. #
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Although this home movie footage seems to show Elvis the family man,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41on daughter Lisa Marie's first Christmas,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44behind the scenes, he was eager to talk business.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48It's Christmas time.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51We were having a Christmas dinner at Graceland,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54and Elvis is in a fantastic mood.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57He's so happy because the TV show was great,
0:26:57 > 0:26:59and it's getting great reviews.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02And Elvis stood up, straightened himself out,
0:27:02 > 0:27:04looked around the table and said,
0:27:04 > 0:27:06"You get that studio from Chips Moman.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08"I want to stay here and record at home.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11"I want good songs and I want good musicians."
0:27:11 > 0:27:13And I said, "Elvis, they got great musicians over there,
0:27:13 > 0:27:15that'll just knock your socks off."
0:27:18 > 0:27:20We'd been recording with so many people,
0:27:20 > 0:27:24it was hard to impress us with an artist, you know.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26But I'll never forget.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29We were standing in the studio and the back door opened
0:27:29 > 0:27:34and he walked in. And, gosh, we all took
0:27:34 > 0:27:36a step or two backwards, you know.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41Wow, that's the King! Even though he hadn't had a hit in a long time.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45It was impressive. He was very impressive.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49Yeah, he looked like he just stepped off of a movie screen.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54The door opens and this...
0:27:54 > 0:27:56- All these guys.- ..men walk in.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Mafia, as they call them.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02And then they part. You know, like the parting of the waters.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07And Elvis walks out! We were so shocked, I'll never forget it.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10It was great. I mean, he came over and he shook our hands,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13introduced himself to each of us. "I'm Elvis Presley."
0:28:13 > 0:28:16Like we didn't know. But he was really, really polite.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19- Yes.- Kind and...
0:28:19 > 0:28:22- Sweet.- Yeah.- Yeah. Cute.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24Wonderful looking.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26He looked real put-together.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28# I had to leave... #
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Oh, shit, man.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33# I had to leave town for a little while... #
0:28:34 > 0:28:37He really got into our groove,
0:28:37 > 0:28:39you know, the way we were recording.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Oh, God!
0:28:42 > 0:28:44We got down to business. I mean, he had a ball.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46He just became one of the guys.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49- He really tried. He really wanted it.- Yes.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53# You said you'd be good while I was gone
0:28:53 > 0:28:55# But to look in your eyes... #
0:28:55 > 0:28:58That's good, but it seemed like it was a little off tune.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11One of the first songs of the session, In The Ghetto,
0:29:11 > 0:29:16seemed an unlikely fit for Elvis.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24But thematically it represented the perfect follow-up
0:29:24 > 0:29:28to the gentle political message of If I Can Dream.
0:29:33 > 0:29:38# As the snow flies
0:29:38 > 0:29:42# On a cold and grey Chicago morning,
0:29:42 > 0:29:46# A poor little baby child is born in the ghetto... #
0:29:49 > 0:29:52# People don't you understand
0:29:52 > 0:29:55# A child needs a helping hand
0:29:55 > 0:29:59# He'll grow to be an angry young man someday... #
0:29:59 > 0:30:02# Take a look at you and me
0:30:02 > 0:30:06# Are we too blind to see
0:30:06 > 0:30:11# Do we simply turn our heads and look the other way? #
0:30:13 > 0:30:16A real different song for him.
0:30:16 > 0:30:17I mean, his management didn't want
0:30:17 > 0:30:19him singing about a ghetto, you know.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25So, Chips, you know, told him, if they didn't release it on Elvis,
0:30:25 > 0:30:27he was going to cut in on somebody else.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29And I guess that's when they got off of their duff
0:30:29 > 0:30:31and went ahead and put it out.
0:30:50 > 0:30:56# Well, the world turns
0:30:56 > 0:30:58# And a hungry little boy with a runny nose
0:30:58 > 0:31:02# Plays in the street as the cold wind blows
0:31:02 > 0:31:07# In the ghetto. #
0:31:07 > 0:31:09# In the ghetto. #
0:31:09 > 0:31:11Can you do it again?
0:31:11 > 0:31:13THEY SING
0:31:13 > 0:31:16How's that?
0:31:34 > 0:31:36It has been a while.
0:31:38 > 0:31:39Good.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45Elvis's judgment was vindicated when In The Ghetto
0:31:45 > 0:31:48became a massive worldwide hit,
0:31:48 > 0:31:50reaching number three in America.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53His first top 10 hit for four years.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01The atmosphere in American Sound Studios was already euphoric,
0:32:01 > 0:32:03when in walked Roy Hamilton,
0:32:03 > 0:32:07who had not only inspired Elvis's '50s career,
0:32:07 > 0:32:10but was his role model for this career relaunch.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19It was Elvis's first and only meeting with his musical hero.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23The King took the opportunity to give back to the man from whom
0:32:23 > 0:32:25he had borrowed so much,
0:32:25 > 0:32:27in the only way he knew how.
0:32:34 > 0:32:40Elvis actually gave my dad a song entitled Angelica.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44# Each night I meant to say. #
0:32:44 > 0:32:47He said, "I was going to cut it tonight or tomorrow night.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49"But, Roy, you can outsing me on it.
0:32:49 > 0:32:50"I'd like for you to have this song".
0:32:50 > 0:32:52Take it, please. And Roy took it.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55And he cut it and I am going to tell you, man,
0:32:55 > 0:32:56he sung the hell out of it.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59# And the shadow had been cast
0:32:59 > 0:33:02# Too many springs had passed
0:33:02 > 0:33:05# For Angelica
0:33:05 > 0:33:10# Sweet Angelica. #
0:33:10 > 0:33:13The song wasn't the hit Elvis that hoped for and, sadly,
0:33:13 > 0:33:14a few months later,
0:33:14 > 0:33:18Hamilton was rushed to hospital following a massive stroke.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23So Elvis was very distraught,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26and he sent my mother a rose every day
0:33:26 > 0:33:29that my dad was in the hospital.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31When my father did finally pass away
0:33:31 > 0:33:33through all the complications from the stroke,
0:33:33 > 0:33:37Elvis sent my mother flowers
0:33:37 > 0:33:40for six months after he passed away.
0:33:40 > 0:33:45# Angelica. #
0:33:57 > 0:34:00But it was towards the end of the session
0:34:00 > 0:34:02that Elvis really struck gold.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06Songwriter Mark James was desperate for Elvis to hear one of his songs
0:34:06 > 0:34:09that he had recorded a few months earlier with the same musicians.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17All I knew was a perfect vehicle to put him over.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21He needed a rock song with a more mature theme to it.
0:34:21 > 0:34:26# We're caught in a trap
0:34:26 > 0:34:28# I can't walk out
0:34:30 > 0:34:35# Because I love you too much, baby. #
0:34:36 > 0:34:37I went to Chips and I said,
0:34:37 > 0:34:41"You've got to play Suspicious Minds to Elvis when he comes in."
0:34:41 > 0:34:43And he said, "Do you think it's a hit?"
0:34:43 > 0:34:46And I said, "I know so". And man, he knew,
0:34:46 > 0:34:50he saw it in my eyes, and when Elvis came in the studio
0:34:50 > 0:34:52with an entourage,
0:34:52 > 0:34:57when he put on Suspicious Minds, Elvis said, "Let's hear that again."
0:34:59 > 0:35:03# We can't go on together
0:35:03 > 0:35:07# With suspicious minds... #
0:35:07 > 0:35:09So we started doing it with Elvis,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12but we cut it pretty much like Martin did.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15I mean, we went straight in the studio and started working on it.
0:35:15 > 0:35:16Because the arrangement was...
0:35:18 > 0:35:21..it was as good as we could get it, I guess.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24- Yeah, it was a good arrangement. - It was.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28Whatever it is, the emotion on the tracks went to a new level, too.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31It went to a higher level. With everybody, you know.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35It made you want to dance when we got through with it.
0:35:39 > 0:35:41As the recording was completed,
0:35:41 > 0:35:45the Colonel's usual publishing arrangement came into play.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49They wanted a piece of the song. About half of it.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52But Parker hadn't reckoned with the formidable force
0:35:52 > 0:35:54that was Chips Moman.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58The two guys from Colonel Parker jumped up and say, "Whoa,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01"we've got to call in Colonel Parker on this, we got to call Parker."
0:36:01 > 0:36:04So Chips said, "You ain't calling nobody, motherfucker."
0:36:04 > 0:36:05Chips would cuss a lot.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07And he told him, he says,
0:36:07 > 0:36:11"I tell you what, I'm going to take this master outside
0:36:11 > 0:36:16"in my parking lot and set fire to it before I'm going to do that."
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Well, Elvis said, " Wait a minute, what's he trying to do?"
0:36:19 > 0:36:21He said, "We don't need to be upsetting Chips."
0:36:21 > 0:36:25And he backed everybody off. Told everybody to leave him alone.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27- ELVIS:- Save that last one, Chips. - OK.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38And that was the first time that Elvis or the Colonel
0:36:38 > 0:36:42didn't get any piece of the publishing at all.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47And all that is because of Chips.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49# I'm saving the last take for me... #
0:36:52 > 0:36:55Chips Moman successfully protected the publishing
0:36:55 > 0:36:59of Suspicious Minds for Mark James and himself.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01Moman had won the battle with Parker,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03but would ultimately lose the war.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08The Memphis recordings should have been the beginning of a long
0:37:08 > 0:37:12and fruitful relationship between Moman and Elvis.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18Parker thought otherwise, and saw to it that Elvis
0:37:18 > 0:37:21would never record with Moman and the Memphis Boys again.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36But Parker anyway was preoccupied with bigger things.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40He'd just signed the King to a million-dollar contract
0:37:40 > 0:37:43for a residency in the International Hotel, Las Vegas.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58It's very easy to tar Colonel Parker as the villain.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02But he was very shrewd for Elvis
0:38:02 > 0:38:06and he kept him in the public eye constantly. Until his death.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10So it was Colonel who figured out,
0:38:10 > 0:38:15"Well, if the records die, make sure you've moving pictures lined up.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19"If the movies die, make sure you can take him
0:38:19 > 0:38:21"into someplace like Vegas."
0:38:23 > 0:38:25To showcase the new, mature Elvis,
0:38:25 > 0:38:28he needed a much fuller sound.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32He hand-picked a large band with no less than eight backing singers.
0:38:32 > 0:38:40# Oh, if you need a friend... #
0:38:40 > 0:38:42Elvis took control of the rehearsals,
0:38:42 > 0:38:45as witnessed in the documentary, That's The Way It Is.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51OK. The horns are answering it there.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53# If you need a... #
0:38:53 > 0:38:56It's right on top of "friend", isn't it?
0:38:56 > 0:39:03# Like a bridge over troubled water
0:39:03 > 0:39:06# I will ease your mind
0:39:06 > 0:39:10# Like a bridge over troubled water... #
0:39:10 > 0:39:13Nothing Elvis did was choreographed.
0:39:13 > 0:39:19He didn't have a stage manager, he didn't have a producer for the show.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23Basically, Elvis did what he wanted to do.
0:39:30 > 0:39:35The first night, there were so many stars in the audience.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39Cary Grant, Sammy Davis Jr, Juliet Prowse -
0:39:39 > 0:39:44everybody in the entertainment business were there for that show.
0:39:44 > 0:39:50Because this was Elvis Presley coming back to doing live concerts
0:39:50 > 0:39:52after a long period of time.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55# I just can't help believing when she's lying close beside me
0:39:55 > 0:39:57# And my heart beats with the rhythm of her sighs... #
0:39:57 > 0:40:00That's the only one, right there, that first part. You got the rest of it.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02If I can get through the first one, I got it made.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05He was really concerned that,
0:40:05 > 0:40:10after such a long period of where he wasn't onstage,
0:40:10 > 0:40:14that the people might not like him as much.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25The minute he walked on stage, it all went away,
0:40:25 > 0:40:27because the applause was deafening.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37He went to Vegas, and I went with him for his opening in Vegas.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I got a song,
0:40:39 > 0:40:41"I'd like to see what you think about it."
0:40:41 > 0:40:44And he sung Suspicious Minds, the crowd went nuts.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47Suspicious Minds.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49BAND STARTS THE SONG
0:40:50 > 0:40:52# We're caught in a trap
0:40:54 > 0:40:55# I can't walk out
0:40:57 > 0:41:01# Because I love you too much, baby...
0:41:04 > 0:41:08But I have to tell you, I was knocked out with the show.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11He was the package. Elvis was beautiful to look at.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17I thought he was the most beautiful man I'd ever seen, OK?
0:41:18 > 0:41:23He looked better in person than he did on film, I thought.
0:41:24 > 0:41:30# Oh, let our love survive
0:41:30 > 0:41:35# Or dry the tears from your eyes
0:41:35 > 0:41:40# Let's don't let a good thing die, oh, no
0:41:40 > 0:41:44# Cos, honey, you know I've never
0:41:44 > 0:41:46# Lied to you...
0:41:46 > 0:41:47There's not an ounce of fat on that body.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49He's working out and doing karate.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51He was really good at it.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54He was really good at it.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57# Caught in a trap
0:41:57 > 0:42:00# I can't walk out
0:42:00 > 0:42:03# Because I love you too much... #
0:42:03 > 0:42:06He had a good team at that point in his life.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09The band was outrageous. They were over the top.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Of course, we wouldn't go over the top in the studio,
0:42:12 > 0:42:14but you needed that.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21You know, we would usually record the original tracks,
0:42:21 > 0:42:25like that movie, That's The Way It Is.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27And in the film, you will see, of course,
0:42:27 > 0:42:30they've got to stretch them out and make them longer, pick up the tempo.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33MUSIC SLOWS AND FADES
0:42:39 > 0:42:42HUGE LAST NOTE
0:42:48 > 0:42:53Suspicious Minds sold 40 million copies.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55It's the biggest record ever cut in Memphis.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57- Right?- Mm-hm.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Yeah, we made 70 or 80?
0:43:00 > 0:43:02Something like that.
0:43:02 > 0:43:03It was cheap back then.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14The first shows in Las Vegas, they're fantastic.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17Just in terms of the way he is on stage,
0:43:17 > 0:43:22the way he jokes about himself, the way he's having a wonderful time.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25It's just confidence, everywhere.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29This is not a guy who was a puppet.
0:43:29 > 0:43:36Not a guy who wasn't aware of both himself and the world around him.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39I'd like to talk to you a little bit, ladies and gentlemen,
0:43:39 > 0:43:41about how I got into this business and when.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47Elvis took the opportunity to reflect back on his early days
0:43:47 > 0:43:51and the hatred heaped on him as the white Southern man who dared
0:43:51 > 0:43:54to bring black music to a white audience.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00A lot of things happened from my side of the story.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06He talks about being a kid in Memphis,
0:44:06 > 0:44:09"People would see me on the streets,
0:44:09 > 0:44:12"and they'd come running and they'd say,
0:44:12 > 0:44:16"'Get him, get him, he looks like he just came out of the trees!'"
0:44:18 > 0:44:20You think it's freaky now, long hair and sideburns, man,
0:44:20 > 0:44:2314 years ago you couldn't walk down the street.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25"Get him, get him!"
0:44:25 > 0:44:28"Watch him, he's just out of the trees, man."
0:44:29 > 0:44:32And then he says, "I had a record,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35"and the record got on the radio,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37"and everybody's saying, 'Is he, is he?'
0:44:37 > 0:44:41"And I'm saying, 'Am I, am I?'"
0:44:41 > 0:44:43It became pretty big overnight in my hometown.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47People were saying, "Who is he? What is he? Is he, is he?" You know?
0:44:47 > 0:44:49I'm saying, "Am I, am I?"
0:44:49 > 0:44:53And what does that mean? They're saying, "Is he black?"
0:44:53 > 0:44:55And he's saying, "Am I black?"
0:44:55 > 0:44:59I mean, what an extraordinary thing to be telling these
0:44:59 > 0:45:05hundreds of people, and in such a hilarious and beautiful way.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08You know, Mark Twain couldn't have written that better.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11I really miss the live contact, because that was always where
0:45:11 > 0:45:14it was at for me, was in front of people.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17And so the whole idea is to tell you from my side what happened
0:45:17 > 0:45:19a little bit, that's all.
0:45:20 > 0:45:26He's telling them stuff that sound like things he's never told anybody.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32He was bringing the crowd into the notion
0:45:32 > 0:45:36that they're in on some kind of secret.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39Some kind of little secret society for the night.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49The Colonel tied Elvis into a long-term contract in Vegas.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51The town suited them both.
0:45:53 > 0:45:58For Elvis, Vegas presented the most glittering stage in the world, where
0:45:58 > 0:46:02he could give free expression to his utterly unique performing style.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08And in the white heat of the Nevada desert,
0:46:08 > 0:46:10Parker, the ex-carnival huckster,
0:46:10 > 0:46:13had found the biggest tent on the planet for his boy.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18The stage was set for the greatest show on Earth.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25He really blossomed.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27He became...monumental.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31He reached the heights that anybody would dream of.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36It was like a circus when he came out.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40Every major celebrity would come and see him and just gawk.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46He was a different Elvis when he started playing in Las Vegas
0:46:46 > 0:46:51and he definitely put on the glitz...the costumes.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55The neon signs invited you to, they lured you to, they dared you to.
0:46:58 > 0:47:02Key to the Elvis glitz in Vegas was the iconic jumpsuit.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09They had to be bold and they had to be rich.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11Vegas is Vegas, you have showgirls everywhere,
0:47:11 > 0:47:13and he can't be muted in the middle of the stage.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22So I started hiding tonnes of miniature mirrors
0:47:22 > 0:47:26and bigger rhinestones and more vivid colours
0:47:26 > 0:47:31and more definite shapes in the embroidery that they showed
0:47:31 > 0:47:33to somebody sitting in the back.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40That was the first suit.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44That became a standard, which is I went very elaborate with
0:47:44 > 0:47:48the America theme and his love for America and so on.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51It had eagles going down the sleeves, down his legs,
0:47:51 > 0:47:54and there was a matching eagle cape.
0:47:54 > 0:47:59Different jewels and nail heads making blast effects and so on.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02But it became his jewelled era.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Now, that started snowballing.
0:48:05 > 0:48:10I did an Arabian suit for him, which was one of his favourites.
0:48:10 > 0:48:11I love Egyptian,
0:48:11 > 0:48:15I love native artwork.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18And, actually, this was influenced by The Ten Commandments.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21Yul Brenner wore this great armour that inspired this.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24The fact that he enjoyed this stuff that
0:48:24 > 0:48:29I was turning out just inspired me more and more to have more fun
0:48:29 > 0:48:31because he was having more fun with it.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43# Oh, I wish I was...
0:48:43 > 0:48:48The real show stopper, as we see in the 1972 film, Elvis On Tour,
0:48:48 > 0:48:51was the song American Trilogy.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55First put together by country music singer Mickey Newbury,
0:48:55 > 0:49:00it was an unlikely combination of a Confederate anthem,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03an African-American spiritual and the song of the Union.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07# For Dixieland
0:49:07 > 0:49:10# That's where I was born
0:49:10 > 0:49:13# Early, Lord, one frosty morning
0:49:13 > 0:49:19# Look away, look away
0:49:19 > 0:49:23# Look away, Dixieland... #
0:49:25 > 0:49:27It's a really corny idea...
0:49:29 > 0:49:31..and only Elvis could pull that off.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35# Hallelujah... #
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Dixie, Battle Hymn Of The Republic and then All My Trials.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43And All My Trials is where it comes together. That's where it happens.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46And you just needed a voice as beautiful as Elvis',
0:49:46 > 0:49:51and him singing in his beautiful register, to make that work.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54# So, hush, little baby
0:49:54 > 0:49:58# Don't you cry
0:50:01 > 0:50:04# You know your daddy's
0:50:06 > 0:50:08# Bound to die... #
0:50:12 > 0:50:15Elvis, in a sense, codified Americana.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19He encapsulated, permeated, embodied it,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22and Las Vegas brought out certain aspects of that.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26It is so real in its total artificiality.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31The neon, the green felt tables, the slot machines.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36Elvis brought his style to it, they took to each other,
0:50:36 > 0:50:38and made it work.
0:50:41 > 0:50:49# Glory, glory hallelujah
0:50:49 > 0:50:55# His truth is marching
0:50:55 > 0:50:59# On
0:50:59 > 0:51:02# His truth is
0:51:02 > 0:51:10# Marching on. #
0:51:24 > 0:51:28The American Trilogy performance summed up how Elvis saw himself
0:51:28 > 0:51:31and what he meant to America in this period.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35A good old Southern boy with a deep affinity to African-American music
0:51:35 > 0:51:38and a patriot to his core.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48The king was at his peak.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50Elvis mania was back.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53What could possibly go wrong?
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Elvis has left the building!
0:52:04 > 0:52:06This song is...
0:52:07 > 0:52:12I just recorded it, I don't know. I... I...
0:52:12 > 0:52:14- Is it out?- In two weeks.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17Two weeks it'll be out? Unchained Melody.
0:52:19 > 0:52:25From an album called Unchained Melody. Makes a lot of sense. OK.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31How do you like it so far?
0:52:31 > 0:52:34CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:52:41 > 0:52:45Elvis was the first act to really make a lot of money for the hotel...
0:52:46 > 0:52:49..and it worked beautifully for the Colonel.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54It didn't work so beautifully for Elvis
0:52:54 > 0:52:57because he was the first performer who was booked seven days a week,
0:52:57 > 0:53:01which was a killing schedule, and very often two shows.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04Nobody can do that, nobody can put up with that pace
0:53:04 > 0:53:06for years and years.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10If you ever saw his show, it was very high energy,
0:53:10 > 0:53:12very up-tempo, very intense.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16He hardly ever went to bed before daylight.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23And, so, he was so keyed up, he needed something to come down
0:53:23 > 0:53:28and, so, he took a pill to go to sleep. So, then...
0:53:29 > 0:53:31..about five in the afternoon...
0:53:32 > 0:53:37..he was still groggy, so he'd have to have a pill to wake up.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40As his weight became a big problem,
0:53:40 > 0:53:44one of the things I'd invented was the two-tone suit,
0:53:44 > 0:53:48so that the visual was he was slim down the middle
0:53:48 > 0:53:52and dark around the sides to help with his weight problem.
0:53:53 > 0:53:58This is one of his more famous suits, that's the Aztec sundial.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02And, luckily, the way the embroidery was done, it was one of the suits
0:54:02 > 0:54:06that was able to be let out more and more as he gained weight.
0:54:09 > 0:54:10And he did gain weight.
0:54:10 > 0:54:14By the mid-'70s, Elvis was obese and isolated,
0:54:14 > 0:54:17and he was dependent on prescription drugs.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22But, more tragically, he seemed to be dying inside.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26He said, "Man, I don't know if I can go on."
0:54:26 > 0:54:29And we talked and he said, "All right, I'm going to go to sleep."
0:54:29 > 0:54:31It was about six in the morning now.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34So, that afternoon, it was four o'clock in the afternoon.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38I'm sitting in the living room suite watching television.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43In the bedroom, a doctor was with Elvis.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46He's holding Elvis's head up, there was a bucket of ice water...
0:54:47 > 0:54:50..and Elvis was groaning.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53And there was a knock on the door.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56And I looked through the hole, and, lo and behold,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59there is Colonel Parker. He said, "Where is he?"
0:55:01 > 0:55:03I said, "Elvis is in the bedroom, Colonel,
0:55:03 > 0:55:04"Let me tell him you're here."
0:55:04 > 0:55:06He said, "No, I'm going right in."
0:55:06 > 0:55:11He comes out a minute and 20 seconds later.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14He says, "Larry, now you listen to me.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17"I was just in there
0:55:17 > 0:55:20"and the only thing that's important now
0:55:20 > 0:55:24"is that man is on stage tonight.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27"You hear me? You hear what I'm saying?
0:55:27 > 0:55:30"That man has got to be on stage tonight, Larry."
0:55:30 > 0:55:31And he walked out.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33What?
0:55:36 > 0:55:39Parker was enforcing the first rule of the carnival -
0:55:39 > 0:55:40the show must go on -
0:55:40 > 0:55:44so it seemed perfectly natural for him to turn up the heat.
0:55:46 > 0:55:47Parker got his way.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50Elvis went back out onto the Vegas stage,
0:55:50 > 0:55:54but the once magisterial presence was no more
0:55:54 > 0:55:57than a kitsch caricature of his former self.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Here was the first Elvis impersonator.
0:56:06 > 0:56:11When he realises that it doesn't matter if he does a good show
0:56:11 > 0:56:15or a bad show, the response is going to be the same,
0:56:15 > 0:56:18that the applause is going to be there,
0:56:18 > 0:56:23that people are going to go nuts seeing him, then he stops pushing,
0:56:23 > 0:56:27he stops trying, he goes through the motions,
0:56:27 > 0:56:28he throws it all away.
0:56:31 > 0:56:33He just burned out.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36He said on stage, "I hate Las Vegas."
0:56:36 > 0:56:39I mean, he just couldn't pretend any longer.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44But when he would tell the Colonel, "That's it, I'm finished,
0:56:44 > 0:56:47"I'm firing you," the Colonel would turn over a bill for something
0:56:47 > 0:56:50like 2 million and he knew that Elvis wouldn't pay that.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52He didn't have a lot of money going on at that time.
0:56:52 > 0:56:56The Colonel was always in charge of that relationship.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00There were times that Elvis got the upper hand, but they were brief.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03He was not strong enough to stand up to the Colonel.
0:57:07 > 0:57:11# I'm
0:57:11 > 0:57:17# So-o-o-o hu-u-u-u-urt
0:57:17 > 0:57:22# To think that you lied to me... #
0:57:24 > 0:57:29Elvis pulled off one last great vocal performance by going back
0:57:29 > 0:57:33to his musical hero, Roy Hamilton, to cover his song Hurt.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36# Inside of me... #
0:57:36 > 0:57:39But the Las Vegas adventure was over.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42# You said... #
0:57:42 > 0:57:46The one-time neon nirvana for both Elvis and the Colonel
0:57:46 > 0:57:47destroyed them both.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51# Never, never part... #
0:57:53 > 0:57:57Parker wittered away his vast fortune on the gambling tables,
0:57:57 > 0:58:00ending up a greeter at the Hilton Hotel
0:58:00 > 0:58:02in exchange for his room and board.
0:58:02 > 0:58:09# I'm hu-u-u-urt... #
0:58:09 > 0:58:14Elvis died in Graceland on 16th of August, 1977.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18Sadly, the end cast a shadow over the glory of Elvis' rebirth
0:58:18 > 0:58:21in the City Of Lights.
0:58:21 > 0:58:22# I'm so hurt... #
0:58:22 > 0:58:26By taking control of his own career in the Vegas years,
0:58:26 > 0:58:30and with the impassioned delivery of his most enduring songs,
0:58:30 > 0:58:33he reached heights that may never be matched.
0:58:33 > 0:58:36# Though you've hurt me
0:58:36 > 0:58:43# Like nobody else could ever do
0:58:43 > 0:58:46# I would never
0:58:46 > 0:58:54# Ever hu-u-u-u-u-u-urt
0:58:54 > 0:58:57# You
0:58:57 > 0:59:00# Oh, you
0:59:00 > 0:59:03# No, you
0:59:03 > 0:59:08# No. #