It’s no secret that Elvis Presley and The Beatles are some of the most successful music acts of all time. Both had the kind of cultural impact that can’t be put into words, but can be felt in heaps even today.
When it comes to commercial success, the Fab Four have sold more records than The King. However, The Beatles have often spoken about the significant influence Elvis had on them while they were growing up as children in the 1950s.
Sir Paul McCartney took his first ever trip to Graceland – Elvis’ home and the place where he’s buried– in 2013 and the visit held a deep significance for him. Sir Paul made his historic stop at Graceland during the Memphis leg of his Out There tour and paid a heartfelt tribute to The King, which he shared from his official X (formerly Twitter) account.
Graceland’s official Instagram account reposted the sweet tribute and shared that The Beatles legend had placed a personal guitar pick on Elvis’ grave and said it was “so Elvis can play in heaven.” Sir Paul also briefly played Elvis’ 1956 Gibson J200 guitar during his iconic visit.
Sir Paul shared his thoughts on exactly what he felt about The King after visiting Graceland, saying: “I thought the Beatles had gold records until I had a private tour of Graceland. The Hall of Gold says it all. Elvis has the most Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum sales of all of us… amazing man.
“Whenever I listen to Fifties Elvis, I’m blown away every time. I doubt very much if the Beatles would have happened if it was not for Elvis. God bless you Elvis. I still love him, particularly in his early period. He was very influential on me.
“Elvis is truly a great vocalist. And you can hear why on Heartbreak Hotel, His phrasing, his use of echo, it’s all so beautiful. It’s the way he sings it too. As if he’s singing it from the depths of Hell. It’s a perfect example of a singer being in command of the song. Musically, it’s perfect too. The double-bass and the walk-in piano create this incredibly haunting atmosphere. When The Beatles were recording, we’d often ask George Martin for “the Elvis echo.” I think we got it down perfectly on A Day in the Life.
“I love Elvis so much that for me to choose a favorite would be like singling out one of Picasso’s paintings. I have my days when I’ll only listen to early Elvis and, when I do that, I’ll be telling myself that nothing comes close to him in terms of brilliance. That’s when I covered All Shook Up for my Run Devil Run album. There’s a lot of emotion involved in revisiting songs that have formed you. Something like All Shook Up has so many great emotions attached to it. That stuff doesn’t go away.”
The Beatles and Elvis had only one meeting in 1965, when The King invited the Fab Four to his Bel Air home in Los Angeles. However, the band was so in awe of their idol they were left speechless. Eventually, Elvis broke the ice by joking that he would have to go to bed unless conversation started, which amused everyone.
According to the story, they then jammed together – and one could only hope to be a fly on the wall for possibly the most iconic moment in music history. In his later years, Elvis would often cover The Beatles’ songs during his Las Vegas performances.
The King of Rock and Roll stunned fans when he labelled The Beatles as anti-American during his visit with President Richard Nixon at the White House in December 1970. Elvis’ remark came while expressing his desire to connect with hippies and combat drug use.
Sir Paul had reflected on this in ‘The Beatles Anthology’ and shared that he felt a sense of betrayal by Elvis’ remarks. Reminiscing after Elvis’ death in 1977, McCartney shared: “[I] felt a bit betrayed.” He wryly went on to comment: “The great joke was that we were taking [illegal] drugs, and look what happened to him.”
McCartney was alluding to Elvis’ dependency on prescription drugs before succumbing to a fatal heart attack at the young age of 42.
Despite past grievances, McCartney seems to have forgiven The King, a sentiment which was made abundantly clear after his 2013 Graceland visit to Elvis’ resting place.
Reflecting on The King’s profound impact on his life, Sir Paul once said: “There was an advert for Heartbreak Hotel. Elvis looked so great: ‘That’s him, that’s him – the Messiah has arrived!'”.
He added: “Then when we heard the song, there was the proof. That was followed by his first album, which I still love the best of all his records.” Emphasising the significance of that era, Sir Paul shared: “It was so fantastic we played it endlessly and tried to learn it all. Everything we did was based on that album.”