Posts
B is for Blue
On the night Elvis was born, his father Vernon stepped out into the backyard and saw the skies were ringed in blue light. As a young boy, Elvis discovered that if he stared at the moon long enough, a blue ring would appear round it. Years later, he decided that blue was a colour with deep spiritual significance.
Blue was always there in his music. Not in the sense of ‘the blues’ but as in the colour ‘blue’. The flip side of his first single was Blue Moon Of Kentucky. He also recorded Blue Suede Shoes, Blue Christmas, Blue Moon, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, Blue River, Blueberry Hill, A Mess Of Blues, Mean Woman Blues, Beach Boy Blues, Indescribably Blue, Milkcow Blues Boogie, Something Blue, Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues, Steamroller Blues and When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again. He cut GI Blues and Blue Hawaii — both of which are, of course, the title tracks of entire movies with the same name. And Moody Blue was the title track of his very last LP. In all, that’s nineteen ‘blue’ songs.
By way of colour comparison, he didn’t record a single song with red, orange or purple in its title. In fact, the total his other colour-significant recordings is five. One black — Long Black Limousine; one yellow — The Yellow Rose Of Texas; one white — White Christmas; and two green — A Little Bit Of Green and The Green, Green Grass Of Home.
An article in the Rainbow Earth Dwelling Society Newsletter, as recorded by ‘Tubbs Gillis’ in Magical Blend magazine, reveals that Elvis believed he’d had a previous life on a blue planet orbiting a blue sun in the Pleiades Dogstar system.
In his essay, Elvis In Death, Nick Tosches wrote that, for some time before Elvis’ death, he’d thought of him not as a real person but as ‘an all-American demi-god who dwelt, enthroned between Superman and the Lone Ranger, in the blue heaven of the popular imagination’.
The colour of the pyjamas in which he died? Blue. As was the shirt and tie in which he was buried.
PS1 I just discovered there is an Elvis blue wine. That's right. Blue Christmas wine. Well, there is a picture of the label. Not sure if it's real or a joke. But sure of one thing. I wouldn't drink it.
PS2 I just discovered there is an Elvis Blue - a South African singer born Jan Hoogendyk, in 1979 . . . More, not soon but in good time
Tomorrow The other Elvis (the C one)
On the night Elvis was born, his father Vernon stepped out into the backyard and saw the skies were ringed in blue light. As a young boy, Elvis discovered that if he stared at the moon long enough, a blue ring would appear round it. Years later, he decided that blue was a colour with deep spiritual significance.
Blue was always there in his music. Not in the sense of ‘the blues’ but as in the colour ‘blue’. The flip side of his first single was Blue Moon Of Kentucky. He also recorded Blue Suede Shoes, Blue Christmas, Blue Moon, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, Blue River, Blueberry Hill, A Mess Of Blues, Mean Woman Blues, Beach Boy Blues, Indescribably Blue, Milkcow Blues Boogie, Something Blue, Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues, Steamroller Blues and When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again. He cut GI Blues and Blue Hawaii — both of which are, of course, the title tracks of entire movies with the same name. And Moody Blue was the title track of his very last LP. In all, that’s nineteen ‘blue’ songs.
By way of colour comparison, he didn’t record a single song with red, orange or purple in its title. In fact, the total his other colour-significant recordings is five. One black — Long Black Limousine; one yellow — The Yellow Rose Of Texas; one white — White Christmas; and two green — A Little Bit Of Green and The Green, Green Grass Of Home.
An article in the Rainbow Earth Dwelling Society Newsletter, as recorded by ‘Tubbs Gillis’ in Magical Blend magazine, reveals that Elvis believed he’d had a previous life on a blue planet orbiting a blue sun in the Pleiades Dogstar system.
In his essay, Elvis In Death, Nick Tosches wrote that, for some time before Elvis’ death, he’d thought of him not as a real person but as ‘an all-American demi-god who dwelt, enthroned between Superman and the Lone Ranger, in the blue heaven of the popular imagination’.
The colour of the pyjamas in which he died? Blue. As was the shirt and tie in which he was buried.
PS1 I just discovered there is an Elvis blue wine. That's right. Blue Christmas wine. Well, there is a picture of the label. Not sure if it's real or a joke. But sure of one thing. I wouldn't drink it.
PS2 I just discovered there is an Elvis Blue - a South African singer born Jan Hoogendyk, in 1979 . . . More, not soon but in good time
Tomorrow The other Elvis (the C one)
No comments:
Post a Comment