Memphis: Wed 3rd April

Memphis: we are booked in at Graceland RV Campground, on the Elvis complex. The campsite sectors are all named after Elvis songs. We’re in Hound Dog Street. We approached the campsite along Lonely Street, past Heartbreak Hotel, which is a real hotel.

We start with Elvis’ house, Graceland. It was built in 1939 and bought by Elvis in 1957. This is it, an impressive 23 room posh house, but it’s not the fabulous vast mansion you’d anticipate from possibly the world’s most successful singer (i.e. one billion record sales). He stayed on there because he liked it.

The décor in the rooms was all chosen by Elvis. A selection of photos tells the story. This is the lounge & music room.

Billiard room next. Walls & ceiling are covered in pleated material.

The Jungle Room, another lounge. Waterfall running down opposite wall, off camera.  Shagpile carpet on floor and ceiling.

TV room, in cellar, next to billiard room. On being told that President Johnson watched three tv’s at once, so he didn’t miss anything important, Elvis did the same, hence the 3 sets, all on.

There are many more rooms, all done out in similar top-of-the-range 70’s style bling. Other commentators have been less than kind to Elvis’ furnishing taste and said it was typical rags-to-riches white trash glitzy tat. Depends on whether you’re an Elvis fan, I suppose!

But there can be no argument about his success: a billion records sold. This is just one side of his gold disc gallery, for the USA.

But back to the glitz. There were numerous (say, 30) white jumpsuits on display from his Las Vegas years, 1969-1976. It’s always these that Elvis impersonators wear, which usually turn him into more of a comic caricature than the charismatic professional that he had become by that time.

More glitz! The pink Cadillac. The car museum held about 20 of Elvis’ vehicles, mostly OTT cars like the one in the photo, but also included buggy types and even a digger that he loved to use on the estate.

Planes goes with the lifestyle, and Elvis had two: a Convair 880 converted passenger jet and a Lockheed Jetstar executive jet. Both were part of the exhibits. Here’s the bigger one, the Convair.

More glitz. Inside were real gold trimmed fittings, like taps and sinks, and seat belt clasps. This is the dining room with Jane taking the part of honoured guest.

This blog's been rather lengthy, but it’s a big exhibition and very visual. It was all very well presented and  enjoyable. We finish with the Musical Gates through which you enter Graceland.

Jane & I wouldn’t have said we were great Elvis fans before this visit, but he emerged as a much more talented artiste than we thought. We saw videos of performances throughout his career demonstrating a greater range of material and ability than we had given him credit for. His films excepted. These were pretty dire, but then Elvis himself thought so too. So we now we’ll close the (musical) gates on Elvis, and move on.