This conversation took place in a restaurant in Memphis in 2000. All of these guys now grizzled old geezers, looking back on 1955/56.
Sam Phillips [owner/founder of Sun Records]: [Elvis] tickled me when we got into Shrevesport, Louisiana going on the Louisiana Hayride and Elvis couldn’t get his hair combed. His hair, every hair grew in a different direction, people didn’t know that who didn’t know Elvis early on. Let me show you the power of positive thinking. Elvis didn’t do all of that with his hair and the brush and spray…. He did that by saying “I want hair like you, Sam”. Now you folks are not gonna believe this. Elvis Presley made his hair beautiful by thinking and knowing that he wanted it so bad. He had the worst hair in the world. He had plenty of it. Now do you all believe I am telling you a lie, or am I hallucinating? Scotty, do you believe that?
Scotty Moore [Elvis’ original guitarist]: I never thought of it from that perspective. But he was that vain about his hair, he was constantly working with it. He couldn’t pass a mirror. Absolutely not.
Sam: No way! Absolutely not!
Sonny Burgess [Sun Records artist, known mostly for the song “Red-Headed Woman”]: If I was that pretty, I wouldn’t pass a mirror either!
Scotty: That’s what Carl [Perkins] said. Carl said the first time he saw him, he said, “That’s the best-looking man I ever seen.”
— conversation between Sam Phillips and his Sun artists, in the American Masters special: “Good Rockin’ Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records”. I love how Sam Phillips 1. takes credit for Elvis’ famous hair and 2. turns it into a sermon on positive thinking.
This is not only related but extremely important.
That profile picture is so beautiful. Classic. It should be on money– a coin or something, except it would have to be big, a dollar or more to get all the hair in. If it were on money, I’d never spend it. I’d keep it in my pocket.
Even the photo can’t get all the hair in – it’s just too damn tall!
There’s an interview I saw with Jerry Reed where he was talking about being called in by Elvis to recreate his original guitar part on GUITAR MAN. He said he was out carp fishing but got to the studio in about sixteen minutes, and that Elvis was “the prettiest man I ever seen. I thought I’d been born wrong.”
I wouldn’t pass by a mirror either.
“I thought I’d been born wrong.”
hahahahahahaha
I love all of those anecdotes with Jerry Reed – but I’d never heard that quote. Awesome!
I think I love Sam Phillips–for various reasons! Just the idea of Elvis taming his hair by willpower and vision, and wanting to “have hair like yours, Sam.” It’s so funny, and also a testament to who Elvis was. I enjoyed reading about The Comb, too–I find myself now looking for things like that when trying to gauge a performance, so thank you, Sheila, for your writing.
On a personal level, I can sympathize with Elvis on the hair. He may have been vain about his hair, or his hair may have just been so uncontrollable as to justify checking it whenever he saw a mirror. I can relate. I long ago gave up on things like blow driers, curling irons, combs, etc in favor of hair gel and finger-combing. And still, I will pass by a mirror and have to stop, because the hairs are not at all how I last left them!
Elvis with the comb!! Ground that song in reality – of that character’s life – Elvis KNOWS what to do with a comb, and that knowledge he couldn’t help but bring to that moment.
Love it!!
I honestly think Elvis was one of the vainest men alive. And, as Sonny Burgess observes, with admiration, who could blame him? Having perfect hair was so important to him – I mean, he permed his hair in high school. Hard to believe, but he did. Getting that hair right was one of the major parts of his day!
I think it’s so funny that Sam Phillips had to insert himself into the Hair conversation and take credit for that too. He can’t help himself!!
//I honestly think Elvis was one of the vainest men alive. //
–Well, if anyone had cause-