Post by Admin on Jan 12, 2010 0:15:16 GMT -5
This gives us an idea of what was going on those last months of Elvis' life. Also Elvis talks about his arranged marriage with Priscilla. The conversation was recorded in October of 1976, just 10 months before Elvis was found in his home.
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Transcript
This is Red West. You're about to hear a telephone conversation between Elvis Presley and myself, that I recorded sometime in October 1976 while I was in Los Angeles, writing the book 'Elvis- What Happened', along with my cousin Sonny West and Dave Hebler. It was no secret that we were writing the book, and knowing Elvis as I did, I knew he would try and contact us. I also knew that we would be called liars, Judases, traitors and any other expletives, by fans and even some people around him who we had been close to up until this time. I knew that he would reveal in the conversation enough information that would substantiate what we said in the book. It was even more than I had expected. And more than I wanted to hear. By this, I mean, I heard a sad and lonely man, a man I had grown up with, and watched rise from near poverty to become the greatest entertainer this world will ever see. A boy in a man's body who could not handle the celebrity that he had now become. I had a sinking feeling that I would never see my best friend again. And I didn't...
ELVIS: HOW YOU DOING MAN?
RED: I JUST WOKE UP.
ELVIS: I WAS JUST ON ONE OF THOSE SINGING BINGES. I GOT A COUPLE NEW GUITARS AND SINGING MY ASS OFF. WATCHING LITTLE KIDS MARVEL. I'M BY MYSELF, LINDA IS IN L.A. SHE'S CHANGING APARTMENTS. WE HAD THAT APARTMENT, THE PEOPLE FOUND I WAS IN BACK OF IT AND RAISED THE RENT DOUBLE. SHE GOT ANOTHER ONE RIGHT DOWN THE STREET. CHARLIE TOLD ME ABOUT THE TALK YOU ALL HAD, I GUESS I DO OWE AN EXPLANATION.
RED: I WISH YOU HAD COME TO ME AND TOLD ME.
ELVIS: YOU DON'T DO THINGS LIKE THAT CAUSE THAT'S MY DADDY'S BUSINESS.
RED: NO IT'S NOT.
ELVIS: I WAS GETTING A LOT OF EXCESS PRESSURE. YOU KNOW THAT RACQUET THING. TWO COURTS FOR A MILLION THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS MY UNDERSTANDING WAS THAT WE WERE GOING TO JUST USE MY NAME. AND THAT'S ALL AND THAT WAS THE CONTRACT I SIGNED. I DID IT AS A FAVOR FOR DR. NICK AND JOE. I'M JUST TRYING TO TELL SOME OF THE THINGS THAT LED UP TO IT. I WAS WRONG ABOUT HEBLER. JUST A BAD THING ON MY PART. HE WAS VERY UNDERMINING AND SNEAKY.
HE HATED ALL YOU GUYS AND EVERYBODY ELSE AND I KEPT THIS ****. IT JUST BURNED INTO MY EAR. AND THOSE deleted - see guidelines #2 LAWSUITS IN TWO YEARS. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER YOU HEARD IT, BUT THEY WERE TRYING TO PROVE US INSANE. I'M TALKING ABOUT SOME INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE WHO WERE CHECKING PSYCHIATRIST REPORTS. THEY WERE TRYING TO PROVE US INSANE. THE WHOLE BUNCH.
RED: I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. YOU HAD LEFT TOWN. YOUR DADDY CALLED US AND TALKED ABOUT CUTTING DOWN EXPENSES AND GIVING US ONE WEEK'S NOTICE. THEY GIVE CHINESE COOLIES TWO WEEKS.
ELVIS: I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT. THE ONE WEEK THING.
RED: THE BOTTOM FELL OUT. I GOT A LITTLE HURT AT FIRST.
Elvis: ****
Red: But anyway, where were we...
Elvis: You know my **** voice is so low; I make J.D. Sumner sound like a tenor. We sang so long, I got a new Martin guitar, my **** fingers are blistered, let me tell ya, ya know.
Red: Yeah, that's the way mine used to get when I'd sit up and start writing songs, my three first fingers, just too big, I mean, just had big blisters on the end of them. But uh, oh, shit, I wish I could get my mind cleared, just waking up...ah, talk about...oh yeah, talking about...
Elvis: I'm, ah, ya know, I'm not working on but one cylinder.
Red: But like I said, ah, I've got a...that show is doing pretty good, I've got a regular running part in it, that starts in the next three or four weeks, I think, and I think I'm gonna hang with that.
Elvis: Well, you know, that thing that happened, ah, was a combination of a whole lotta things building up. It wasn't necessarily, ah, personal, or even the deleted - see guidelines #2 lawsuits... You know, it was like a... a fuse blowing, you know, just because of a lot of things that piled up on me. (Red: Yeah, well...) And ah... maybe I did lose sight of a...a couple things. Especially you, your family and everything.
Red: Yeah, it was cold Elvis...
Elvis: Ah, I love Pat (Red's wife). And ah...You got a good family and everything...
Red: Well, I had a lot of time to think about it. I mean I can sit here and people say 'oh, the old days', and all of that shit, but it did cross my mind. And all I ever done is trying to... maybe sometimes overprotect ya, and that's the God's honest truth.
Elvis: Yeah, I know that.
Red: Yeah, ah, here I was (laugh) here I was, and, but that, you know, Elvis, like you say, you had problems and.
Elvis: Well you know what it is about that right It's like that old guy said in 'Cool Hand Luke', a failure to communicate.
Red: Yeah, well that's the God's honest truth. We sure as hell didn?t communicate in the last year or so, ah...
Elvis: And that ah, it was just like ya said, it was just a series of things... If I could lay them out to you one by one, I could show you the reasons why the separatism's... A lack of communication... My daddy was sick... Nearly dead. My family is strung all over the face of the United States. And ah... It?s just those deleted - see guidelines #2 lawyers and lawsuits ya know, making a mountain out of a molehill.
Red: Yeah, I know, there were some rough times, going through that, ya know, one lawsuit came along, and then everybody else saw the chance to jump on it, it mushroomed, and then boy, everybody and his cousin was after our ***, ya know.
Elvis: Yeah, that's what I mean, ya know, one gets away with it, and thinks they do... What they try to do is to establish a pattern, you know, of insanity and violence. Like condemn me for shooting out that lamp up there in.
Red: What the hell is that?
Elvis: That Hilton Hotel there, with a .22 target pistol.
Red: Yeah... Oh, yeah, well, we're known as the wild bunch.
Elvis: Yeah, that's for sure... But the good old days, are, are still a fact.
Red: Yeah, there definitely a fact, and they always will be. But I mean, what's done is done. We... We had a lot of good times man, there for a while. But like you said, things got real serious, a lot of problems came up... Ah, I don't know, we just lost sight of a lot of things. Probably good things, and I don't know, It's just... The fun, the fun left.
Elvis: The fun ceased to exist. It, it... I couldn't pinpoint it, just couldn't quite figure it out, I couldn?t point it down... Shit... deleted - see guidelines #2 racquetball courts...
Red: Yeah, I passed by there the other day, well I passed by for a while, while you were all gone, and its still Presley Center Courts... And just before I came...
Elvis: Their gonna take that down...
Red: Huh?
Elvis: They ought to take that down.
Red: They already have, yeah, I was gonna say, just before I came out here, I was... I didn?t see that sign anymore...
Elvis: Okay... Oh, ah, well, ah, ya know... Last I heard it was still up ... But you know, a good conman, when it's my name... They got these builders and they got themselves bound to a contract. Two courts, there up to a half a million dollars each.
Red: That's too expensive...
Elvis: What the F***, man... Ah...Ah, poor Joe, ah, had his mother to hock her house, get a loan on her house, to get the money...
Red: Well, I can tell you about going into business with some sharp, sharpies, they don?t care if you hock your mothers ***, you know, they...
Elvis: But that's what he had to do.
Red: Yeah... did Joe get out of it?
Elvis: Huh?
Red: Is Joe out of it? Or is he...
Elvis: Yeah, he's in the process of trying to get out of it. Yeah but, the guy... The builders...They were contracted to build the F*** thing, are the ones holding up the ball game... Ah, well I pulled out of it ya know, just, I had to, cause the salary and stuff, a con job, a sneaky deal, ya know...
Red: Well, I didn't know, ya know I, I didn't know if it was or not, but, I just has a feeling it was.
Elvis: It started off kind of innocent, I was told one thing, like, ah, I wouldn?t have to put up a dime, ya know, There would be no money or nothing, well, that was the contract that I signed. I talked to daddy about it just after he came out of the hospital. We talked over a period of time about it... You know if it will help Joe and Nick...
They can use my name, because I couldn't benefit nothing from it.
Red: Right, it was just something to help them out, Nick, you know, Nick didn?t, I don't think Nick knew the guy that well.
Elvis: I don't think he did either.
Red: No, he just got sucked in. He saw a chance to make some money, hoping, Joe did too, but this other guy, the one I was leery of.
Elvis: Oh, that sonofab****, no he ah, I talked to my attorneys yesterday about the racquetball thing. You know Mr. Davis died.
Red: Yeah, I know, I saw it in the paper just before I left.
Elvis: Well the guy that's taking his place, just ah, said that, he said that ah, he started telling me, to help, all this lawyer stuff, and then he said, he said 'Elvis', this sonofab**** is a con artist, rigged up. Ya see, they came running in and said one thing... Well, ya see, what started happening would be ah, they started hitting me up for ten thousand, twenty thousand?
Red: They started hitting you up for it?
Elvis: Yeah.
Red: Oh yeah, there, well, there is a pattern.
Elvis: That's what I thought, well, I said, you guys putting up, ah, that kind of money? Ya know, they said yeah, we?re in, so it's all mine. Lawyers, they?ll f*** you blind. (Laugh)
Red: Yeah, I remember he was on one of the tours with us.
Elvis: On the tour, pretending to be interested in numerology books and stuff. But it all falls in to place, but were smart enough to do that. All right, then ah, ah, it amounted to they needed eighty thousand dollars. I said ok, for what? For a secretary. (Laugh)
Red: F****, boy I'll tell ya, them secretaries; they got a union there or something.
Elvis: That's exactly what I said. Said what the hell, I didn't know how, but a secretary is gonna cost eighty thousand dollars.
Red: Shit... No, it was time you got the hell out of that shit.
Elvis: Yeah... I mean I tried to hang in there with them, you know. Cause... I didn't want to crush their enthusiasm, their dreams, or whatever, you know...
Red: Just crush their secretary... (Laugh)
Elvis: You need a $ 80,000 secretary.
Red: God almighty, that's more than the president of the board makes.
Elvis: Well, ah, you know, they had all these cards and shit, man... About Chairman of the board... It started out as Presley Center Courts. And they changed that to Elvis Presley Center Courts without ever even asking me one thing about it... They had all these cards and shit made up... President... Vice-president... Still, didn't even come to me and ask me...
Red: Oh Hell, once they got your name on it... Once, this Mike, got your name on it... I mean, I heard him; he went to Nashville, and everywhere, saying I represent Mr. Elvis Presley in this racquetball venture... Just on your name alone, you know, he just ah, got what the hell he wanted, but ah... I don't know what I'm trying to say. We gotta get back to my problem... Man, I've never done any of that. It's just... Old Red, he was trying to do a job, man, and.
Elvis: Ah, ah... I wasn't using it as an example. I was just telling you.
Red: Yeah, oh, no, I know that, we're talking about something I don't know about, that racquetball court, man... I just know about my problems.
Elvis: What started out as a friendship and a favor, and everything, has turned into a million, three hundred thousand dollar project. If... If you realize how long it would take to realize a profit... And to put that money in to it...
Red: Yeah, I'm afraid so, it would take...
Elvis: They'd be so old, until they think the racquet resembles a friendly banjo. (Laughing) Hey, what is this? Trying to play it. (laugh)
Red: Plaster falling off the walls, oh shit, well, like, Nick, poor old Nick... Everybody's trying to make a buck... Like Nick's Chips, he went in to man, hell, that was a flop, they had everything figured but the f*** truck that hauled them over from Arkansas...
Elvis: Nick's Chips, shit (laugh)
Red: well that fell through, like...
Elvis: I never seen anybody drive to a hospital in something... deleted - see guidelines #2 I mean, I had mixed emotions, I hit the floor, the first night, just rolled there. Nick's Chips ****, ah, the first thing I conjured up in my mind was, ah, a gambler, saying he's in Vegas And Nick the Greek, ya know, he's the gambler. That's what I created in my mind. Nick's Chips... Shit... He just don't ... He obviously just don't know, you know, and these friendly contractors are just cold hearted business men, I mean...
Red: Oh, sure, look... Don't mess with a guy like that, I mean their dollars talk, and that's it. But ah...
Elvis: Yeah, but the way it was done, they lead, they lead their calf to slaughter.
Red: Yeah, well, you got out of it; you're out of it then, right?
Elvis: Ah, yeah, I'm in the process of getting out of it.
Red: Okay... I don't blame you, because when you start going in to business with a bunch of people, if you do it yourself, then you know what?s happening, but when you get two or three other guys...
Elvis: With My signature, hell, they must have all went stark raving mad.
Red: Sure it did, I know that Mike did...
Elvis: The lawyers read to me the contract yesterday, where it said that if anything happened, I would stand good for the whole thing.
Red: Uh Oh, yea well, see then, they didn't tell you...
Elvis: You know, I don?t even care that much about racquetball. Yeah, I would stand good for the whole thing. So that was news to me. Also, I just found out yesterday, that this guy Mike had set him up. Ah, management fee was $ 50,000 dollars a year... Extra...
Red: Sure!
Elvis: Joe didn't know anything about it; Nick didn't know a f*** thing about it. But yet, the lawyers had it, right there.
Red: Yeah, well, that's what I figured. This Mike Conned Nick and everybody else in to it. And he did well on it. That's a shame, man, Nick is always... I thought he was smart... I thought Joe was smart...
Elvis: Not when it comes to business, he's not.
Red: No. I think we're on a party line or something.
Elvis: And my whole thing ya see, I can never possibly realize any kind of a profit out of it. I did it just as a friendship thing, ya know, I didn't think it was... There was no harm, ya know, in helping these guys get a couple racquetball courts, one here, one in Nashville, however, it was fine with me. I didn't see no harm...
Red: No, not
Elvis: But you see, the paper that I signed had nothing of that mentioned, so my lawyer figures that this shit was put in there after I signed it. Ya know what I mean?
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: Because you know f*** near well, I wouldn't have signed it. After a while, stand good for a couple of, friendly racquet, half a million dollar racquetball courts.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: That just totally surprised me too. A half a million dollars, for a racquetball court? Why hell, I can get Earl in with a hammer... (Laugh) And Albert, let him construct one. Don't give the woodpeckers long enough.
Red: He'll build it for $ 39.38, oh well they must have gone for the sauna, the whole health club bit, or something. They had to, it don't cost that much to build no f*** two racquetball courts.
Elvis: Huh.
Red: I don't know, well...
Elvis: Well, ah, I think it?s gonna be ten courts at each place.
Red: Oh, huh, oh...
Elvis: I mean, ten places to play like out at Memphis State.
Red: Yeah, well.
Elvis: But still...
Red: That's...
Elvis: You take that, you take a man and a woman's showers, It can't add up to no half a million dollars.
Red: That's a lot of money.
Elvis: Well shit, ah, you know, I got one built here in the back, ya know, the one I got, that sonofab**** was only eighty thousand. You know how plush it is...
Red: Yeah, ya **** right, Yeah, it's ah...
Elvis: These people just, it?s like you said, they saw my signature and went stark raving mad.
Red: Yeah, yes sir. Everybody was taken in after they got your signature, plus when was this **** guys salary supposed to start, already? Mike and the secretary and all that shit.
Elvis: Yeah.
Red: And are you supposed to pay for that huh? yeah, bullshit, bullshit. Just get the hell out.
Elvis: Merchandise and things, little cards, little pamphlets, little advertisements, and this and that... And all of that, without my knowledge, without consulting me, without asking me about it, ya know... So it just built up into a friendly monster!
Red: Yeah, your f*** right it did, They... They're trying to take advantage of you. I don't blame you for getting the hell out of it... But ah, then I guess, ya know, all that pressure and everything, lawsuits and everything led up to our demise, you know, whatever, but ah, it was a shock, to all of us... Old Dave, he was out here, you know, he was flat *** broke... Well, we're all broke. Of course I had some property and stuff. I sold ah, I sold my house. I hated to do that, you know, but when you got to do something, you gotta do it.
Elvis: You sold your house?
Red: Oh yeah, sold my house, both cars and everything, and ah, Hebler... He was just flat *** broke, and Sonny was just down to the... Oh well, you know, it was just, it was a bad time by all, I'll tell you.
Elvis: Well, I guess there?s never any real good times. It was a bad time for me too. I hadn?t been out of the hospital long enough to start rolling...
Red: But, ah...
Elvis: My daddy... I almost lost him. He?s my daddy, regardless of anything.
Red: Oh, yeah, listen, I can understand. But, ah, yeah, we were just, we were in shock for a while, but what do we do, you know. But then we thought about it, and all the pressure and everything, and said, well, I guess, ah, he's got his point too, it's just, I wish, we were always able to talk... A lot, most of the times, sometimes we couldn't, but ah, if I had just heard it from you, it would have been easier to take.
Elvis: Well, ah, in doing business and things of that nature, I don't,I don't do that.
Red: Oh, you mean about firing us and everything? Well...
Elvis: Yeah... I had to go to Palm Springs, analyze and weigh... deleted - see guidelines #2 racquetball courts. I?m still seeing little fuzzy balls...(laugh) But, ah, Charlie was telling me, well Charlie talked to you, and you thought I was on the other line...
Red: Ah huh, well, I thought... Ya know, I heard you know, that ah...
Elvis: I was over at my daddy's house going through these figures. If I wanted to hear something, I wouldn't do that... I would go another way. Ah...
Red: Well, you know how paranoid everybody gets about something like that. I just, I don?t know why, I just thought...
Elvis: Oh sure, like looking over your shoulder and not knowing who the hell it is, Regardless of what.
Red: But, ah, anyway, it's all done and that's it I guess now, cause ah...
Elvis: How's Pat and the kids and stuff?
Red: They're all fine, they're ah, just hanging on until I get something going.
Elvis: Well...
Red: But ah, it's just been kind of rough...
Elvis: Yeah, I was ah, I was very disillusioned by Hebler. He faked me off something terrible. I thought he was the way the both of us understood.
Red: What did he do?
Elvis: Huh?
Red: Well, what did he do, I mean...
Elvis: Well, you know, he just, he would say little things to me. Who he hated...
Red: (Laugh) Who he hated?
Elvis: Yeah...
Red: ****.
Elvis: And... you know, this went on for a period of two years. Just... Ed Parker told me when I hired the sonofab****, he said, keep him at arm's length, but I still didn't catch on. Dumb ass me, man.
Red: Well, I really don't know what your talking about... Ah.
Elvis: Well, ah, it's hard to explain. I don't think he liked anybody in this group, except maybe Dean.
Red: Well, I,ah...
Elvis: I think that I'd become a dollar sign to him, Red, I think in the process he lost sight of Elvis, first, you know, that can easily happen.
Red: Well, I guess, yeah, I guess so, ah...
Elvis: And... you know, when that happened, Red, I'd become an object, not a person, but, ah, you know, I'm not that sign, I mean, that rouge, touring down there. I'm not that image, to build up. I'm myself.
Red: Yeah... Well, that's the way I always like, ya know, try to think of it.
Elvis: And ah, ah, your so wrong on one thing, ah, and listen, don't get paranoid. Because I'm just talking to you as a friend. Now we're on a private line and there is not a friendly soul, but us...
Red: Right.
Elvis: Ah... I am not f***** up by no means. On the contrary, I've never been in any, ah, better condition in my life.
Red: Well, what I was talking about... then, you had been pretty ****** up, so, that's what I was talking about.
Elvis: Well, I went through a divorce, you know, you were there...
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: That wedding thing, ya know, that wedding thing. I had nothing to do with that. That was railroaded through, ah, I didn't even know who was there. It was all in a little room bout the size of a bathroom with a Supreme Court Justice. It was in there, over and done so quick, I didn't even realize I was married.
Red: Oh, yeah, your talking about your wedding...
Elvis: Yeah.
Red: Right, well, ya know, you don't think about these things, but at the time, it, it, ah, once again, it's that old, I've been with you, and all the sudden I was held back, and told one, That I wasn't supposed to come in.
Elvis: I f***** that up. I could see it, I could see it back then, but, see it wasn't my doing.
Red: Right
Elvis: Wasn't my doing.
Red: You know, I figured that was the Colonel and...
Elvis: It was a ramrod type thing. I had nothing to do with it... You know, All the sudden I was married.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: And, ya know, ah, when you go through that, you keep your mind on one thing (laugh)
Red: Yeah, yeah right...
Elvis: It was pretty tough.
Red: Well I can understand that. That was a long time ago, but that was just a point I was bringing up to Charlie, and, ah, but let's get back to, to the last couple three years. Let's face it man, you haven't enjoyed yourself. You just been... You do your work, you go work and then ah...
Elvis: I enjoy my work.
Red: Yeah, I know that, that's the only time we really see you, I really don't see you anymore. The rest of the time, It's just, ah, I don't know. It's just ah...
Elvis: We had a pretty good time up in Vail.( Colorado)
Red: Oh yeah, we had a ball in Vail. That was the, man, that was ah, the one time out of the last few years that we really got back to the, back to the, well, whatever, back to knowing how to enjoy ourselves. And I mean everybody just had a ball.
Elvis: Yeah, I know I did.
Red: Yeah, I know I did too. That was something we'd all been wanting to do, just to get out, away from it all, man and...
Elvis: Yeah, you know, that's ok, because ah, ya know, they just want me to have a house up there.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: And they want to buy food and everything. So, these real estate guys get a hold of that. I meet at beautiful places, but my thinking is not along those lines right now.
Red: Right, I don't blame you, you can always go up there and rent something.
Elvis: Yeah, Exactly.
Red: But ah, I don't know what, ya know, I don't want to get real upset, ya know, It's been along time since I've talked to you. I don't want to get real serious on the conversation. But, we were all worried about you, ya know, I've always been worried about you. Ya know, about taking quite a few things, I thought.
Elvis: You worried about me so much, until you turned around and tried to hurt me. But see, I know what that is.
Red: Well, that's after you hurt me. You already hurt me and my family very bad. You know, you left us out in the cold. So let's don't talk about me trying to hurt you.
Elvis: Things went on that you didn't even know about.
Red: Yeah, well all I know is I was out in the cold, and couldn't understand...
Elvis: All I know is there was friction created in this group. The vibes were so bad, people were scared to move and everything.
Red: Yeah, that's true too.
Elvis: So who knows, ah, what the hell they were hearing and being told. I just know it got to be very, very tense. A situation where it could have been fun and a relaxed kinda thing.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: Something went wrong.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: And, ah, then on top of the racquetball thing and everything else, all the personal things. I was upset too. It was a fact, ya know, but, ah, we did have to cut down on expenses.
Red: Yeah, well.
Elvis: I had the feeling...
Red: Whatever you had to do, I told your daddy, you know, ah, you gotta do what you gotta do. If you need to cut down on expenses by firing me, ah, you know, that's a little weird to me. Seems like you could have cut somewhere else. I thought I was important to the organization. But I'm glad I finally found out I wasn't. Cause then, I still got a little life left. I'm gonna, I'm gonna enjoy that. And ah, I'm still young enough I can find something else, you know...
Elvis: Oh, yeah.
Red: But ah, it was just, cutting down on expenses. I just couldn't understand that. All the other, a lot of guys around I thought I was more important to the organization then they were, but I guess I wasn't. But I'm glad I found that out. So...
Elvis: Well, It's just an unfortunate situation. He's just now, he's starting to get back on his feet. My daddy has lost down to one hundred and sixty five pounds.
Red: Yeah, you mean now?
Elvis: I think he's up to one hundred and seventy... Eighty, something like that. That just shocked and scared me to death. Because you know how I feel, you know how you felt about your daddy.
Red: Yeah, that's right. Well...
Elvis: Well, suspicion, Red, was cast on this group. I couldn't figure out the source of it. Suspicion, just like that song we did, ? We can't go on together with suspicious minds?.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: So ah, maybe I did act abruptly. First one to admit it. Without thinking.
Red: Yeah, well.
Elvis: You know Sonny was never around, Red..
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: You know, we've talked about that.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: Ah, he's a great guy, but he never shared anything with us... I ain't, I ain't got nothing against Sonny. Just ah, Hebler, tried to bully his way through everything, with scare, scare tactics...
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: With some of these young guys.
Red: Well.
Elvis: They would ask questions like... Dean, ya know, and they never could get a straight answer... They were just turned down at every corner.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: That's the only way they could find out. I know, ya know, what it was like, ya know, when I was twenty four years old, shit, I mean, my mind was just scattered to the four winds.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: They need some kind of guidance. Some things just weren't being done, ya know, just little things just weren't being done Red, you know how they train for the service. Regimentation. Doing the same thing every day and night. I mean, we knew by God, you know, you did in the service what everybody else had served legitimately. But by God at seven o'clock we had to do this, and at three we had to do that. And they do that by repetition.
Red: Sure.
Elvis: That's how they train. And all their energy and youth and everything without proper guidance is wasted.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: I just felt I should ah, talk to you and let you see my side of it.
Red: Yeah, I appreciate that. Ya know, that's what I wish we had done at the very first. You know, maybe I could have understood it a little bit better. But ah, what's done is done. You go on from there. I mean, I just, believe me when I tell you I wish you all the luck. I hope you go, right, stay right where you are, right on top for ah, forty more years man. I really do, I mean it with all my heart.
Elvis: I?m working on it.
Red: But I would like to see you get healthy, E. You hadn't been healthy in a while.
Elvis: Oh yes I am.
Red: No you're not.
Elvis: Yes I am.
Red: Well, ok, you say that.
Elvis: I just had an absolute complete physical head to toe, in the last, ah, two weeks.
Red: Ok, well then I'm glad to hear you're healthy.
Elvis: One of those things that is required by Lloyds of London, the insurance office.
Red: Well, then this, I don't have to worry about it then.
Elvis: That ah, that thing that I had, that lower intestinal blockage corrected itself, thank God.
Red: Good.
Elvis: I just, I went on a weird liquid diet. That big intestine down there has to have bulk.
Red: Yeah, that's been discussed.
Elvis: Went on that diet. Twenty days, was ridiculous. Then I heard that was another mistake. (laugh)
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: Turns out that large intestine had nothing to work with, so as a result it stopped working. I keep hearing that shit about being fat and middle aged, ya know...
Red: No, no, I knew that wasn't it. I knew you weren't (Laugh) you ate a lot but you weren't fat, like people are fat. You could tell there was something else wrong. And that's what I mean, you hadn't, you wasn't healthy. Inside, you, something was wrong inside. That's what I've been trying... When I try and talk to you about it you get mad, just as you done a while ago. You wouldn't listen to it. That's what I'm talking about man. You were, something was wrong inside of you. We didn't know what, we were worried about, we didn't know what it was. We knew it wasn't fat though, it was something else. And you just...
Elvis: You know, I thought I told y'all it was the lower intestine. I supposed to undergo surgery and take part of it out.
Red: Yeah, right, I was there, I remember when we were going to do that. I'm just saying...
Elvis: That was psyching me out, because I didn't know what it was.
Red: Yeah, well, I'm glad to hear it's all straightened out. I really am.
Elvis: It's been straightened out for a long time. It's just a failure to communicate. What we had, Red, was crazy. Like that song Roy Hamilton did Understanding Solves All Problems?.
Red: Yeah, we didn't...
Elvis: It's a good folk song.
Red: Yeah, that's right, we didn't have much understanding there for a long time.
Elvis: Well, I don't know if it was you and I as much as it could have been coming from somebody else. You know, negative vibes.
Red: Right, well, that could very well be too. I'm, I'm not really in to the psychic thing.
Elvis: Well, I'm not either, but I do know, ah, that ah, we are constantly ah, sending and receiving. All the time.
Red: Right, yeah, we've discussed this. Minds, if they can put a picture through the air, I guess they can put a thought wave through the air too.
Elvis: So that's why I was feeling, I was feeling the negative things but, and couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was. So I just reached a boiling point, hoped that, ah, you'd understand. It was a temporary thing.
Red: Well.
Elvis: And ah, that was what it was Red, see, I didn't try to get, communicate with anybody. I felt terribly lonely. You know like that number eight. (Red: yeah.) The thing that says they're intensely lonely at heart. For this reason, ya know, they feel very lonely, but when in reality they have warm hearts towards the oppressed. But hide their feelings in life but do what they please. Well, I'm a number eight person and so are you.
Red: Yeah, that's true. And it's been lonely. (Laugh) It's been lonely man, I'll tell ya. It's been... Down right scary.
Elvis: Well, I can see it.
Red: But listen, ah, I just, I'm old enough, I just chalk it up to life man, It's another step down that railroad, ya know, and ah, I have to learn to cope with it, and go on and try and do something. But ah, what can I say. I don't ah, you know, feel sorry for myself. I'm a grown man. I can do something else, do other things. But ah, like you said there was a failure to communicate there at the last. Maybe I didn't, I wasn't around, and around enough when you wanted to talk to somebody or whatever.
Elvis: Well yeah, maybe all that, Like maybe according to that song Aubrey, Maybe I Was Absent And Listening Too Fast?. But ah, but ah, it just kinda, it bugged me when you said, that was a cruel thing or whatever to Charlie.
Red: I can't hear you, E. I'm sorry.
Elvis: About being f***** up.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: Cause I'm not. I got a daughter and a life. You know, what profiteth a man if he gains the world and loses his soul?
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: I love to sing, that's been my thing, since I'v been two years old.
Red: Yeah, I know.
Elvis: You know, we were sitting here playing the guitar and everything, singing old songs, 'Love Is A Many Splendored Thing', and ya know, me and Charlie talked about that harmony part, missing that harmony part. (laugh)
Red: Yeah, well, what can I say, I miss singing it. (Laugh) You know, but that?s the way the ball bounces.
Elvis: Well, you take care of yourself and your family. And if you need me for anything I, ya know, would be more than happy to, to help out.
Red: I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
Elvis: I mean it. I don't give a deleted - see guidelines #2, the articles or publications or none of that shit, That I've heard. I just heard rumors, bits and pieces. I don't know nothing, ya know, I was on tour and ah, just heard bits and pieces. I have never really sat down with anybody and had it laid out to me. I don't ah, nothing, I just know that you as a person, and Pat, and ah, if there is anything I can do, anyway of getting a job, anything else. You know, know, I'm still here son.
Red: Well, I appreciate that. I really do. And ah, I'll tell Pat what you said, that will make her feel better, she was hurt. You know, she couldn't understand it. My kids, my kids really, especially...
Elvis: All of us...
Red: Huh.
Elvis: All of us were hurt in different ways. It's like that song Desada Deraida, 'Listen To The Dull And The Ignorant, For They Too Have Their Story'. And then Hank Williams wrote 'You Never Walked In That Mans Shoes Or Saw Things Through His Eyes'.
Red: Right, that?s true.
Elvis: So you know, after analyzing the f*** thing, ah, I can see it, I can see it clearly. That's why I'm saying, anything I can do at all, I'll be more than happy.
Red: Ok, I appreciate it, and ah...
Elvis: You take care of yourself son.
Red: OK, and if, let me say one more thing before you hang up. If everybody is worried about the book, tell them not to. Man, I mean including yourself. Ah, we're writing the good stuff Elvis, people, the things...
Elvis: Worried about, worried about the book? Well ah, I don't think so.
Red: OK.
Elvis: Not on, not on my part.
Red: OK. Good. Because I was ah, out, I was broke. I was made an offer to write the book. I said I'll write the book if I can tell all from day one the good, good days. He said all right, whatever.
Elvis: Well, you do whatever you have to do.
Red: Okey doke.
Elvis: I just want you and Pat to know... I'm still here.
Red: Ok, I appreciate that. And you take care of yourself.
Elvis: OK.
Red: OK.
Elvis: Take it easy.
Red: Bye-bye.
__________________
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Transcript
This is Red West. You're about to hear a telephone conversation between Elvis Presley and myself, that I recorded sometime in October 1976 while I was in Los Angeles, writing the book 'Elvis- What Happened', along with my cousin Sonny West and Dave Hebler. It was no secret that we were writing the book, and knowing Elvis as I did, I knew he would try and contact us. I also knew that we would be called liars, Judases, traitors and any other expletives, by fans and even some people around him who we had been close to up until this time. I knew that he would reveal in the conversation enough information that would substantiate what we said in the book. It was even more than I had expected. And more than I wanted to hear. By this, I mean, I heard a sad and lonely man, a man I had grown up with, and watched rise from near poverty to become the greatest entertainer this world will ever see. A boy in a man's body who could not handle the celebrity that he had now become. I had a sinking feeling that I would never see my best friend again. And I didn't...
ELVIS: HOW YOU DOING MAN?
RED: I JUST WOKE UP.
ELVIS: I WAS JUST ON ONE OF THOSE SINGING BINGES. I GOT A COUPLE NEW GUITARS AND SINGING MY ASS OFF. WATCHING LITTLE KIDS MARVEL. I'M BY MYSELF, LINDA IS IN L.A. SHE'S CHANGING APARTMENTS. WE HAD THAT APARTMENT, THE PEOPLE FOUND I WAS IN BACK OF IT AND RAISED THE RENT DOUBLE. SHE GOT ANOTHER ONE RIGHT DOWN THE STREET. CHARLIE TOLD ME ABOUT THE TALK YOU ALL HAD, I GUESS I DO OWE AN EXPLANATION.
RED: I WISH YOU HAD COME TO ME AND TOLD ME.
ELVIS: YOU DON'T DO THINGS LIKE THAT CAUSE THAT'S MY DADDY'S BUSINESS.
RED: NO IT'S NOT.
ELVIS: I WAS GETTING A LOT OF EXCESS PRESSURE. YOU KNOW THAT RACQUET THING. TWO COURTS FOR A MILLION THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS MY UNDERSTANDING WAS THAT WE WERE GOING TO JUST USE MY NAME. AND THAT'S ALL AND THAT WAS THE CONTRACT I SIGNED. I DID IT AS A FAVOR FOR DR. NICK AND JOE. I'M JUST TRYING TO TELL SOME OF THE THINGS THAT LED UP TO IT. I WAS WRONG ABOUT HEBLER. JUST A BAD THING ON MY PART. HE WAS VERY UNDERMINING AND SNEAKY.
HE HATED ALL YOU GUYS AND EVERYBODY ELSE AND I KEPT THIS ****. IT JUST BURNED INTO MY EAR. AND THOSE deleted - see guidelines #2 LAWSUITS IN TWO YEARS. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER YOU HEARD IT, BUT THEY WERE TRYING TO PROVE US INSANE. I'M TALKING ABOUT SOME INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE WHO WERE CHECKING PSYCHIATRIST REPORTS. THEY WERE TRYING TO PROVE US INSANE. THE WHOLE BUNCH.
RED: I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. YOU HAD LEFT TOWN. YOUR DADDY CALLED US AND TALKED ABOUT CUTTING DOWN EXPENSES AND GIVING US ONE WEEK'S NOTICE. THEY GIVE CHINESE COOLIES TWO WEEKS.
ELVIS: I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT. THE ONE WEEK THING.
RED: THE BOTTOM FELL OUT. I GOT A LITTLE HURT AT FIRST.
Elvis: ****
Red: But anyway, where were we...
Elvis: You know my **** voice is so low; I make J.D. Sumner sound like a tenor. We sang so long, I got a new Martin guitar, my **** fingers are blistered, let me tell ya, ya know.
Red: Yeah, that's the way mine used to get when I'd sit up and start writing songs, my three first fingers, just too big, I mean, just had big blisters on the end of them. But uh, oh, shit, I wish I could get my mind cleared, just waking up...ah, talk about...oh yeah, talking about...
Elvis: I'm, ah, ya know, I'm not working on but one cylinder.
Red: But like I said, ah, I've got a...that show is doing pretty good, I've got a regular running part in it, that starts in the next three or four weeks, I think, and I think I'm gonna hang with that.
Elvis: Well, you know, that thing that happened, ah, was a combination of a whole lotta things building up. It wasn't necessarily, ah, personal, or even the deleted - see guidelines #2 lawsuits... You know, it was like a... a fuse blowing, you know, just because of a lot of things that piled up on me. (Red: Yeah, well...) And ah... maybe I did lose sight of a...a couple things. Especially you, your family and everything.
Red: Yeah, it was cold Elvis...
Elvis: Ah, I love Pat (Red's wife). And ah...You got a good family and everything...
Red: Well, I had a lot of time to think about it. I mean I can sit here and people say 'oh, the old days', and all of that shit, but it did cross my mind. And all I ever done is trying to... maybe sometimes overprotect ya, and that's the God's honest truth.
Elvis: Yeah, I know that.
Red: Yeah, ah, here I was (laugh) here I was, and, but that, you know, Elvis, like you say, you had problems and.
Elvis: Well you know what it is about that right It's like that old guy said in 'Cool Hand Luke', a failure to communicate.
Red: Yeah, well that's the God's honest truth. We sure as hell didn?t communicate in the last year or so, ah...
Elvis: And that ah, it was just like ya said, it was just a series of things... If I could lay them out to you one by one, I could show you the reasons why the separatism's... A lack of communication... My daddy was sick... Nearly dead. My family is strung all over the face of the United States. And ah... It?s just those deleted - see guidelines #2 lawyers and lawsuits ya know, making a mountain out of a molehill.
Red: Yeah, I know, there were some rough times, going through that, ya know, one lawsuit came along, and then everybody else saw the chance to jump on it, it mushroomed, and then boy, everybody and his cousin was after our ***, ya know.
Elvis: Yeah, that's what I mean, ya know, one gets away with it, and thinks they do... What they try to do is to establish a pattern, you know, of insanity and violence. Like condemn me for shooting out that lamp up there in.
Red: What the hell is that?
Elvis: That Hilton Hotel there, with a .22 target pistol.
Red: Yeah... Oh, yeah, well, we're known as the wild bunch.
Elvis: Yeah, that's for sure... But the good old days, are, are still a fact.
Red: Yeah, there definitely a fact, and they always will be. But I mean, what's done is done. We... We had a lot of good times man, there for a while. But like you said, things got real serious, a lot of problems came up... Ah, I don't know, we just lost sight of a lot of things. Probably good things, and I don't know, It's just... The fun, the fun left.
Elvis: The fun ceased to exist. It, it... I couldn't pinpoint it, just couldn't quite figure it out, I couldn?t point it down... Shit... deleted - see guidelines #2 racquetball courts...
Red: Yeah, I passed by there the other day, well I passed by for a while, while you were all gone, and its still Presley Center Courts... And just before I came...
Elvis: Their gonna take that down...
Red: Huh?
Elvis: They ought to take that down.
Red: They already have, yeah, I was gonna say, just before I came out here, I was... I didn?t see that sign anymore...
Elvis: Okay... Oh, ah, well, ah, ya know... Last I heard it was still up ... But you know, a good conman, when it's my name... They got these builders and they got themselves bound to a contract. Two courts, there up to a half a million dollars each.
Red: That's too expensive...
Elvis: What the F***, man... Ah...Ah, poor Joe, ah, had his mother to hock her house, get a loan on her house, to get the money...
Red: Well, I can tell you about going into business with some sharp, sharpies, they don?t care if you hock your mothers ***, you know, they...
Elvis: But that's what he had to do.
Red: Yeah... did Joe get out of it?
Elvis: Huh?
Red: Is Joe out of it? Or is he...
Elvis: Yeah, he's in the process of trying to get out of it. Yeah but, the guy... The builders...They were contracted to build the F*** thing, are the ones holding up the ball game... Ah, well I pulled out of it ya know, just, I had to, cause the salary and stuff, a con job, a sneaky deal, ya know...
Red: Well, I didn't know, ya know I, I didn't know if it was or not, but, I just has a feeling it was.
Elvis: It started off kind of innocent, I was told one thing, like, ah, I wouldn?t have to put up a dime, ya know, There would be no money or nothing, well, that was the contract that I signed. I talked to daddy about it just after he came out of the hospital. We talked over a period of time about it... You know if it will help Joe and Nick...
They can use my name, because I couldn't benefit nothing from it.
Red: Right, it was just something to help them out, Nick, you know, Nick didn?t, I don't think Nick knew the guy that well.
Elvis: I don't think he did either.
Red: No, he just got sucked in. He saw a chance to make some money, hoping, Joe did too, but this other guy, the one I was leery of.
Elvis: Oh, that sonofab****, no he ah, I talked to my attorneys yesterday about the racquetball thing. You know Mr. Davis died.
Red: Yeah, I know, I saw it in the paper just before I left.
Elvis: Well the guy that's taking his place, just ah, said that, he said that ah, he started telling me, to help, all this lawyer stuff, and then he said, he said 'Elvis', this sonofab**** is a con artist, rigged up. Ya see, they came running in and said one thing... Well, ya see, what started happening would be ah, they started hitting me up for ten thousand, twenty thousand?
Red: They started hitting you up for it?
Elvis: Yeah.
Red: Oh yeah, there, well, there is a pattern.
Elvis: That's what I thought, well, I said, you guys putting up, ah, that kind of money? Ya know, they said yeah, we?re in, so it's all mine. Lawyers, they?ll f*** you blind. (Laugh)
Red: Yeah, I remember he was on one of the tours with us.
Elvis: On the tour, pretending to be interested in numerology books and stuff. But it all falls in to place, but were smart enough to do that. All right, then ah, ah, it amounted to they needed eighty thousand dollars. I said ok, for what? For a secretary. (Laugh)
Red: F****, boy I'll tell ya, them secretaries; they got a union there or something.
Elvis: That's exactly what I said. Said what the hell, I didn't know how, but a secretary is gonna cost eighty thousand dollars.
Red: Shit... No, it was time you got the hell out of that shit.
Elvis: Yeah... I mean I tried to hang in there with them, you know. Cause... I didn't want to crush their enthusiasm, their dreams, or whatever, you know...
Red: Just crush their secretary... (Laugh)
Elvis: You need a $ 80,000 secretary.
Red: God almighty, that's more than the president of the board makes.
Elvis: Well, ah, you know, they had all these cards and shit, man... About Chairman of the board... It started out as Presley Center Courts. And they changed that to Elvis Presley Center Courts without ever even asking me one thing about it... They had all these cards and shit made up... President... Vice-president... Still, didn't even come to me and ask me...
Red: Oh Hell, once they got your name on it... Once, this Mike, got your name on it... I mean, I heard him; he went to Nashville, and everywhere, saying I represent Mr. Elvis Presley in this racquetball venture... Just on your name alone, you know, he just ah, got what the hell he wanted, but ah... I don't know what I'm trying to say. We gotta get back to my problem... Man, I've never done any of that. It's just... Old Red, he was trying to do a job, man, and.
Elvis: Ah, ah... I wasn't using it as an example. I was just telling you.
Red: Yeah, oh, no, I know that, we're talking about something I don't know about, that racquetball court, man... I just know about my problems.
Elvis: What started out as a friendship and a favor, and everything, has turned into a million, three hundred thousand dollar project. If... If you realize how long it would take to realize a profit... And to put that money in to it...
Red: Yeah, I'm afraid so, it would take...
Elvis: They'd be so old, until they think the racquet resembles a friendly banjo. (Laughing) Hey, what is this? Trying to play it. (laugh)
Red: Plaster falling off the walls, oh shit, well, like, Nick, poor old Nick... Everybody's trying to make a buck... Like Nick's Chips, he went in to man, hell, that was a flop, they had everything figured but the f*** truck that hauled them over from Arkansas...
Elvis: Nick's Chips, shit (laugh)
Red: well that fell through, like...
Elvis: I never seen anybody drive to a hospital in something... deleted - see guidelines #2 I mean, I had mixed emotions, I hit the floor, the first night, just rolled there. Nick's Chips ****, ah, the first thing I conjured up in my mind was, ah, a gambler, saying he's in Vegas And Nick the Greek, ya know, he's the gambler. That's what I created in my mind. Nick's Chips... Shit... He just don't ... He obviously just don't know, you know, and these friendly contractors are just cold hearted business men, I mean...
Red: Oh, sure, look... Don't mess with a guy like that, I mean their dollars talk, and that's it. But ah...
Elvis: Yeah, but the way it was done, they lead, they lead their calf to slaughter.
Red: Yeah, well, you got out of it; you're out of it then, right?
Elvis: Ah, yeah, I'm in the process of getting out of it.
Red: Okay... I don't blame you, because when you start going in to business with a bunch of people, if you do it yourself, then you know what?s happening, but when you get two or three other guys...
Elvis: With My signature, hell, they must have all went stark raving mad.
Red: Sure it did, I know that Mike did...
Elvis: The lawyers read to me the contract yesterday, where it said that if anything happened, I would stand good for the whole thing.
Red: Uh Oh, yea well, see then, they didn't tell you...
Elvis: You know, I don?t even care that much about racquetball. Yeah, I would stand good for the whole thing. So that was news to me. Also, I just found out yesterday, that this guy Mike had set him up. Ah, management fee was $ 50,000 dollars a year... Extra...
Red: Sure!
Elvis: Joe didn't know anything about it; Nick didn't know a f*** thing about it. But yet, the lawyers had it, right there.
Red: Yeah, well, that's what I figured. This Mike Conned Nick and everybody else in to it. And he did well on it. That's a shame, man, Nick is always... I thought he was smart... I thought Joe was smart...
Elvis: Not when it comes to business, he's not.
Red: No. I think we're on a party line or something.
Elvis: And my whole thing ya see, I can never possibly realize any kind of a profit out of it. I did it just as a friendship thing, ya know, I didn't think it was... There was no harm, ya know, in helping these guys get a couple racquetball courts, one here, one in Nashville, however, it was fine with me. I didn't see no harm...
Red: No, not
Elvis: But you see, the paper that I signed had nothing of that mentioned, so my lawyer figures that this shit was put in there after I signed it. Ya know what I mean?
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: Because you know f*** near well, I wouldn't have signed it. After a while, stand good for a couple of, friendly racquet, half a million dollar racquetball courts.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: That just totally surprised me too. A half a million dollars, for a racquetball court? Why hell, I can get Earl in with a hammer... (Laugh) And Albert, let him construct one. Don't give the woodpeckers long enough.
Red: He'll build it for $ 39.38, oh well they must have gone for the sauna, the whole health club bit, or something. They had to, it don't cost that much to build no f*** two racquetball courts.
Elvis: Huh.
Red: I don't know, well...
Elvis: Well, ah, I think it?s gonna be ten courts at each place.
Red: Oh, huh, oh...
Elvis: I mean, ten places to play like out at Memphis State.
Red: Yeah, well.
Elvis: But still...
Red: That's...
Elvis: You take that, you take a man and a woman's showers, It can't add up to no half a million dollars.
Red: That's a lot of money.
Elvis: Well shit, ah, you know, I got one built here in the back, ya know, the one I got, that sonofab**** was only eighty thousand. You know how plush it is...
Red: Yeah, ya **** right, Yeah, it's ah...
Elvis: These people just, it?s like you said, they saw my signature and went stark raving mad.
Red: Yeah, yes sir. Everybody was taken in after they got your signature, plus when was this **** guys salary supposed to start, already? Mike and the secretary and all that shit.
Elvis: Yeah.
Red: And are you supposed to pay for that huh? yeah, bullshit, bullshit. Just get the hell out.
Elvis: Merchandise and things, little cards, little pamphlets, little advertisements, and this and that... And all of that, without my knowledge, without consulting me, without asking me about it, ya know... So it just built up into a friendly monster!
Red: Yeah, your f*** right it did, They... They're trying to take advantage of you. I don't blame you for getting the hell out of it... But ah, then I guess, ya know, all that pressure and everything, lawsuits and everything led up to our demise, you know, whatever, but ah, it was a shock, to all of us... Old Dave, he was out here, you know, he was flat *** broke... Well, we're all broke. Of course I had some property and stuff. I sold ah, I sold my house. I hated to do that, you know, but when you got to do something, you gotta do it.
Elvis: You sold your house?
Red: Oh yeah, sold my house, both cars and everything, and ah, Hebler... He was just flat *** broke, and Sonny was just down to the... Oh well, you know, it was just, it was a bad time by all, I'll tell you.
Elvis: Well, I guess there?s never any real good times. It was a bad time for me too. I hadn?t been out of the hospital long enough to start rolling...
Red: But, ah...
Elvis: My daddy... I almost lost him. He?s my daddy, regardless of anything.
Red: Oh, yeah, listen, I can understand. But, ah, yeah, we were just, we were in shock for a while, but what do we do, you know. But then we thought about it, and all the pressure and everything, and said, well, I guess, ah, he's got his point too, it's just, I wish, we were always able to talk... A lot, most of the times, sometimes we couldn't, but ah, if I had just heard it from you, it would have been easier to take.
Elvis: Well, ah, in doing business and things of that nature, I don't,I don't do that.
Red: Oh, you mean about firing us and everything? Well...
Elvis: Yeah... I had to go to Palm Springs, analyze and weigh... deleted - see guidelines #2 racquetball courts. I?m still seeing little fuzzy balls...(laugh) But, ah, Charlie was telling me, well Charlie talked to you, and you thought I was on the other line...
Red: Ah huh, well, I thought... Ya know, I heard you know, that ah...
Elvis: I was over at my daddy's house going through these figures. If I wanted to hear something, I wouldn't do that... I would go another way. Ah...
Red: Well, you know how paranoid everybody gets about something like that. I just, I don?t know why, I just thought...
Elvis: Oh sure, like looking over your shoulder and not knowing who the hell it is, Regardless of what.
Red: But, ah, anyway, it's all done and that's it I guess now, cause ah...
Elvis: How's Pat and the kids and stuff?
Red: They're all fine, they're ah, just hanging on until I get something going.
Elvis: Well...
Red: But ah, it's just been kind of rough...
Elvis: Yeah, I was ah, I was very disillusioned by Hebler. He faked me off something terrible. I thought he was the way the both of us understood.
Red: What did he do?
Elvis: Huh?
Red: Well, what did he do, I mean...
Elvis: Well, you know, he just, he would say little things to me. Who he hated...
Red: (Laugh) Who he hated?
Elvis: Yeah...
Red: ****.
Elvis: And... you know, this went on for a period of two years. Just... Ed Parker told me when I hired the sonofab****, he said, keep him at arm's length, but I still didn't catch on. Dumb ass me, man.
Red: Well, I really don't know what your talking about... Ah.
Elvis: Well, ah, it's hard to explain. I don't think he liked anybody in this group, except maybe Dean.
Red: Well, I,ah...
Elvis: I think that I'd become a dollar sign to him, Red, I think in the process he lost sight of Elvis, first, you know, that can easily happen.
Red: Well, I guess, yeah, I guess so, ah...
Elvis: And... you know, when that happened, Red, I'd become an object, not a person, but, ah, you know, I'm not that sign, I mean, that rouge, touring down there. I'm not that image, to build up. I'm myself.
Red: Yeah... Well, that's the way I always like, ya know, try to think of it.
Elvis: And ah, ah, your so wrong on one thing, ah, and listen, don't get paranoid. Because I'm just talking to you as a friend. Now we're on a private line and there is not a friendly soul, but us...
Red: Right.
Elvis: Ah... I am not f***** up by no means. On the contrary, I've never been in any, ah, better condition in my life.
Red: Well, what I was talking about... then, you had been pretty ****** up, so, that's what I was talking about.
Elvis: Well, I went through a divorce, you know, you were there...
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: That wedding thing, ya know, that wedding thing. I had nothing to do with that. That was railroaded through, ah, I didn't even know who was there. It was all in a little room bout the size of a bathroom with a Supreme Court Justice. It was in there, over and done so quick, I didn't even realize I was married.
Red: Oh, yeah, your talking about your wedding...
Elvis: Yeah.
Red: Right, well, ya know, you don't think about these things, but at the time, it, it, ah, once again, it's that old, I've been with you, and all the sudden I was held back, and told one, That I wasn't supposed to come in.
Elvis: I f***** that up. I could see it, I could see it back then, but, see it wasn't my doing.
Red: Right
Elvis: Wasn't my doing.
Red: You know, I figured that was the Colonel and...
Elvis: It was a ramrod type thing. I had nothing to do with it... You know, All the sudden I was married.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: And, ya know, ah, when you go through that, you keep your mind on one thing (laugh)
Red: Yeah, yeah right...
Elvis: It was pretty tough.
Red: Well I can understand that. That was a long time ago, but that was just a point I was bringing up to Charlie, and, ah, but let's get back to, to the last couple three years. Let's face it man, you haven't enjoyed yourself. You just been... You do your work, you go work and then ah...
Elvis: I enjoy my work.
Red: Yeah, I know that, that's the only time we really see you, I really don't see you anymore. The rest of the time, It's just, ah, I don't know. It's just ah...
Elvis: We had a pretty good time up in Vail.( Colorado)
Red: Oh yeah, we had a ball in Vail. That was the, man, that was ah, the one time out of the last few years that we really got back to the, back to the, well, whatever, back to knowing how to enjoy ourselves. And I mean everybody just had a ball.
Elvis: Yeah, I know I did.
Red: Yeah, I know I did too. That was something we'd all been wanting to do, just to get out, away from it all, man and...
Elvis: Yeah, you know, that's ok, because ah, ya know, they just want me to have a house up there.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: And they want to buy food and everything. So, these real estate guys get a hold of that. I meet at beautiful places, but my thinking is not along those lines right now.
Red: Right, I don't blame you, you can always go up there and rent something.
Elvis: Yeah, Exactly.
Red: But ah, I don't know what, ya know, I don't want to get real upset, ya know, It's been along time since I've talked to you. I don't want to get real serious on the conversation. But, we were all worried about you, ya know, I've always been worried about you. Ya know, about taking quite a few things, I thought.
Elvis: You worried about me so much, until you turned around and tried to hurt me. But see, I know what that is.
Red: Well, that's after you hurt me. You already hurt me and my family very bad. You know, you left us out in the cold. So let's don't talk about me trying to hurt you.
Elvis: Things went on that you didn't even know about.
Red: Yeah, well all I know is I was out in the cold, and couldn't understand...
Elvis: All I know is there was friction created in this group. The vibes were so bad, people were scared to move and everything.
Red: Yeah, that's true too.
Elvis: So who knows, ah, what the hell they were hearing and being told. I just know it got to be very, very tense. A situation where it could have been fun and a relaxed kinda thing.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: Something went wrong.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: And, ah, then on top of the racquetball thing and everything else, all the personal things. I was upset too. It was a fact, ya know, but, ah, we did have to cut down on expenses.
Red: Yeah, well.
Elvis: I had the feeling...
Red: Whatever you had to do, I told your daddy, you know, ah, you gotta do what you gotta do. If you need to cut down on expenses by firing me, ah, you know, that's a little weird to me. Seems like you could have cut somewhere else. I thought I was important to the organization. But I'm glad I finally found out I wasn't. Cause then, I still got a little life left. I'm gonna, I'm gonna enjoy that. And ah, I'm still young enough I can find something else, you know...
Elvis: Oh, yeah.
Red: But ah, it was just, cutting down on expenses. I just couldn't understand that. All the other, a lot of guys around I thought I was more important to the organization then they were, but I guess I wasn't. But I'm glad I found that out. So...
Elvis: Well, It's just an unfortunate situation. He's just now, he's starting to get back on his feet. My daddy has lost down to one hundred and sixty five pounds.
Red: Yeah, you mean now?
Elvis: I think he's up to one hundred and seventy... Eighty, something like that. That just shocked and scared me to death. Because you know how I feel, you know how you felt about your daddy.
Red: Yeah, that's right. Well...
Elvis: Well, suspicion, Red, was cast on this group. I couldn't figure out the source of it. Suspicion, just like that song we did, ? We can't go on together with suspicious minds?.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: So ah, maybe I did act abruptly. First one to admit it. Without thinking.
Red: Yeah, well.
Elvis: You know Sonny was never around, Red..
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: You know, we've talked about that.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: Ah, he's a great guy, but he never shared anything with us... I ain't, I ain't got nothing against Sonny. Just ah, Hebler, tried to bully his way through everything, with scare, scare tactics...
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: With some of these young guys.
Red: Well.
Elvis: They would ask questions like... Dean, ya know, and they never could get a straight answer... They were just turned down at every corner.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: That's the only way they could find out. I know, ya know, what it was like, ya know, when I was twenty four years old, shit, I mean, my mind was just scattered to the four winds.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: They need some kind of guidance. Some things just weren't being done, ya know, just little things just weren't being done Red, you know how they train for the service. Regimentation. Doing the same thing every day and night. I mean, we knew by God, you know, you did in the service what everybody else had served legitimately. But by God at seven o'clock we had to do this, and at three we had to do that. And they do that by repetition.
Red: Sure.
Elvis: That's how they train. And all their energy and youth and everything without proper guidance is wasted.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: I just felt I should ah, talk to you and let you see my side of it.
Red: Yeah, I appreciate that. Ya know, that's what I wish we had done at the very first. You know, maybe I could have understood it a little bit better. But ah, what's done is done. You go on from there. I mean, I just, believe me when I tell you I wish you all the luck. I hope you go, right, stay right where you are, right on top for ah, forty more years man. I really do, I mean it with all my heart.
Elvis: I?m working on it.
Red: But I would like to see you get healthy, E. You hadn't been healthy in a while.
Elvis: Oh yes I am.
Red: No you're not.
Elvis: Yes I am.
Red: Well, ok, you say that.
Elvis: I just had an absolute complete physical head to toe, in the last, ah, two weeks.
Red: Ok, well then I'm glad to hear you're healthy.
Elvis: One of those things that is required by Lloyds of London, the insurance office.
Red: Well, then this, I don't have to worry about it then.
Elvis: That ah, that thing that I had, that lower intestinal blockage corrected itself, thank God.
Red: Good.
Elvis: I just, I went on a weird liquid diet. That big intestine down there has to have bulk.
Red: Yeah, that's been discussed.
Elvis: Went on that diet. Twenty days, was ridiculous. Then I heard that was another mistake. (laugh)
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: Turns out that large intestine had nothing to work with, so as a result it stopped working. I keep hearing that shit about being fat and middle aged, ya know...
Red: No, no, I knew that wasn't it. I knew you weren't (Laugh) you ate a lot but you weren't fat, like people are fat. You could tell there was something else wrong. And that's what I mean, you hadn't, you wasn't healthy. Inside, you, something was wrong inside. That's what I've been trying... When I try and talk to you about it you get mad, just as you done a while ago. You wouldn't listen to it. That's what I'm talking about man. You were, something was wrong inside of you. We didn't know what, we were worried about, we didn't know what it was. We knew it wasn't fat though, it was something else. And you just...
Elvis: You know, I thought I told y'all it was the lower intestine. I supposed to undergo surgery and take part of it out.
Red: Yeah, right, I was there, I remember when we were going to do that. I'm just saying...
Elvis: That was psyching me out, because I didn't know what it was.
Red: Yeah, well, I'm glad to hear it's all straightened out. I really am.
Elvis: It's been straightened out for a long time. It's just a failure to communicate. What we had, Red, was crazy. Like that song Roy Hamilton did Understanding Solves All Problems?.
Red: Yeah, we didn't...
Elvis: It's a good folk song.
Red: Yeah, that's right, we didn't have much understanding there for a long time.
Elvis: Well, I don't know if it was you and I as much as it could have been coming from somebody else. You know, negative vibes.
Red: Right, well, that could very well be too. I'm, I'm not really in to the psychic thing.
Elvis: Well, I'm not either, but I do know, ah, that ah, we are constantly ah, sending and receiving. All the time.
Red: Right, yeah, we've discussed this. Minds, if they can put a picture through the air, I guess they can put a thought wave through the air too.
Elvis: So that's why I was feeling, I was feeling the negative things but, and couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was. So I just reached a boiling point, hoped that, ah, you'd understand. It was a temporary thing.
Red: Well.
Elvis: And ah, that was what it was Red, see, I didn't try to get, communicate with anybody. I felt terribly lonely. You know like that number eight. (Red: yeah.) The thing that says they're intensely lonely at heart. For this reason, ya know, they feel very lonely, but when in reality they have warm hearts towards the oppressed. But hide their feelings in life but do what they please. Well, I'm a number eight person and so are you.
Red: Yeah, that's true. And it's been lonely. (Laugh) It's been lonely man, I'll tell ya. It's been... Down right scary.
Elvis: Well, I can see it.
Red: But listen, ah, I just, I'm old enough, I just chalk it up to life man, It's another step down that railroad, ya know, and ah, I have to learn to cope with it, and go on and try and do something. But ah, what can I say. I don't ah, you know, feel sorry for myself. I'm a grown man. I can do something else, do other things. But ah, like you said there was a failure to communicate there at the last. Maybe I didn't, I wasn't around, and around enough when you wanted to talk to somebody or whatever.
Elvis: Well yeah, maybe all that, Like maybe according to that song Aubrey, Maybe I Was Absent And Listening Too Fast?. But ah, but ah, it just kinda, it bugged me when you said, that was a cruel thing or whatever to Charlie.
Red: I can't hear you, E. I'm sorry.
Elvis: About being f***** up.
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: Cause I'm not. I got a daughter and a life. You know, what profiteth a man if he gains the world and loses his soul?
Red: Yeah.
Elvis: I love to sing, that's been my thing, since I'v been two years old.
Red: Yeah, I know.
Elvis: You know, we were sitting here playing the guitar and everything, singing old songs, 'Love Is A Many Splendored Thing', and ya know, me and Charlie talked about that harmony part, missing that harmony part. (laugh)
Red: Yeah, well, what can I say, I miss singing it. (Laugh) You know, but that?s the way the ball bounces.
Elvis: Well, you take care of yourself and your family. And if you need me for anything I, ya know, would be more than happy to, to help out.
Red: I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
Elvis: I mean it. I don't give a deleted - see guidelines #2, the articles or publications or none of that shit, That I've heard. I just heard rumors, bits and pieces. I don't know nothing, ya know, I was on tour and ah, just heard bits and pieces. I have never really sat down with anybody and had it laid out to me. I don't ah, nothing, I just know that you as a person, and Pat, and ah, if there is anything I can do, anyway of getting a job, anything else. You know, know, I'm still here son.
Red: Well, I appreciate that. I really do. And ah, I'll tell Pat what you said, that will make her feel better, she was hurt. You know, she couldn't understand it. My kids, my kids really, especially...
Elvis: All of us...
Red: Huh.
Elvis: All of us were hurt in different ways. It's like that song Desada Deraida, 'Listen To The Dull And The Ignorant, For They Too Have Their Story'. And then Hank Williams wrote 'You Never Walked In That Mans Shoes Or Saw Things Through His Eyes'.
Red: Right, that?s true.
Elvis: So you know, after analyzing the f*** thing, ah, I can see it, I can see it clearly. That's why I'm saying, anything I can do at all, I'll be more than happy.
Red: Ok, I appreciate it, and ah...
Elvis: You take care of yourself son.
Red: OK, and if, let me say one more thing before you hang up. If everybody is worried about the book, tell them not to. Man, I mean including yourself. Ah, we're writing the good stuff Elvis, people, the things...
Elvis: Worried about, worried about the book? Well ah, I don't think so.
Red: OK.
Elvis: Not on, not on my part.
Red: OK. Good. Because I was ah, out, I was broke. I was made an offer to write the book. I said I'll write the book if I can tell all from day one the good, good days. He said all right, whatever.
Elvis: Well, you do whatever you have to do.
Red: Okey doke.
Elvis: I just want you and Pat to know... I'm still here.
Red: Ok, I appreciate that. And you take care of yourself.
Elvis: OK.
Red: OK.
Elvis: Take it easy.
Red: Bye-bye.
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