Elvis … Love Letters

“Love me tender, Love me sweet,
Elvis has stinky feet.”
kid’s rhyme 1956 / author unknown


I was an 8-year-old schoolkid in Homewood, Illinois
when Elvis recorded “Love Me Tender in 1956.
Elvis was 21.

I was not a fan.
I was just a kid.

Elvis Presley 1956 | Poszterek, Művészeti nyomatok, Falfestmények

And although Elvis made some good music over the years that I liked,
all those movies soured me against him.
Guess they weren’t made for me.

Elvis Presley julisteet ja tulosteet tekijältä Cerezo Classica - Printler

Then …
in 1966 he recorded this song:

“Love Letters”.

Love Letters is a Popular Music Classic that was written in 1945
with lyrics by Edward Heyman and music by Victor Young.
It has been recorded by nearly 400 Artists including,
Nat Cole, Peggy Lee. Jack Jones, Patti Page, Sammy Davis, Tony Bennett,
and on and on …
just about everybody.

And I know there several superb interpretations.

But Elvis’ version really nailed me.

It was then that I realized just how GOOD this guy really was.

Steeds of Renown … Reborn?


Funny how Time slips Away / Elvis Presley

How quickly we forget.

You were a Star once.
A HUGE Star.

World Famous.
Then  … incredibly, just a few short years after you hung up your spurs …
Everything disappeared.
You were erased
.
By time.

Why?
It’s understandable maybe?
Because most early Western Stars were dead
 before most of us were born.
And many of their movies are ‘Lost’.
 
Even now only a handful of Western Film buffs 
try to keep their memories alive.
And the Wonders that they brought back then.

I don’t count myself among those that do that.
They’re several notches above this tenderfoot.
I’m bringing this all up because back in 2014 I had an idea:
I’d post series of images of Western Stars performing
a very popular Publicity shot from the early era of Westerns:
The Cowboy Star rearing up on his Steed.

I called this Steeds of Renown.
I even made some banners. 

And a few posts.
Then … I ran into a problem (as I usually do).
My original plan to just post some images got ambushed.
I found that I couldn’t just throw up some pics of these guys
without providing some kind of bio or profile on them.
It didn’t seem right.
Sooo very quickly my little dust devil of an idea turned into a tornado!
On Buck Jones alone I did about 18 posts!

WOW!
Waaaaaay more than anything I had intended.

Eventually the whole thing bogged down and collapsed into a heap of road apples.
And I got distracted by other things.

But now! Since I find myself doing nothing at all …
(I got them old covid blues)
… I’ll try to pick up the trail where I left off.

And who knows? I might even finish this thing.
Some day.
But I doubt it.