Probably one of the few people who really understood Elvis Presley was Stephen Barnard. In his book "Popular Music, Volume I: Folk or Popular?", a publication director Jarecky should have read before trying to make any metaphor, about anything, especially about Presley, he describes him as follows. And I quote 'He never understood the artistic claims that were made for him, probably thought very little of the nature of his appeal or his music; yet, as author Greil Marcus points out in 'Mystery Train', it is possible to see (all that) as a positive factor; Presley viewed his music as for the body, not the mind, so he recorded and performed accordingly; and, if much of his music sounds superficial, it was thanks to his undoubted vocal talent and extraordinary charisma that, at least, it was all gloriously superficial and celebratory; he knew better than to take it seriously and, in doing so, he become the consummate music figure, one that defines its spirit by delighting in its very limitations. Unquote. Too bad neither the documentary nor the reviewer realizes, that it was not just that Presley never took himself that seriously, but that the new title of the documentary, "The King" , as witnessed in 1974 by some 17,000 concert goers at the University of Notre Dame Athletic Center, was what he hated the most. So there is simply no metaphor to be found. It takes two to tango....
Guillermo F. Perez-Argüello