Wanda Jackson and Elvis Presley, 1955
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Wanda Jackson (whom I was so lucky to see live a couple years ago – hell, she’s still out there, still touring, still recording) dated Elvis in 1955, in his early days as a regional star, working out of Shreveport, Louisiana on the radio show The Louisiana Hayride. When I saw her at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, during “Elvis Week” (which was such a great coincidence), she talked about Elvis, about how he is the reason for her success, because he pushed her to think outside the strictly country genre she was in at the time, he pushed her to consider going into this new sound, the sound they didn’t really have a name for yet. She resisted at first. But then went for it. And now, well, she’s known as the Queen of Rockabilly. It was an extremely male-dominated field in Elvis’ day, and she pushed herself as a songwriter to write songs from the woman’s side of things, a sorely-needed counterpoint to all the gyrating duck tailed boys. Elvis thought she was fabulous. He was invested in her. They also dated. He was dating about 5 people at the same time, par for the course, but also par for the course, his connections were true. Their relationship was based on a shared devotion to music, their careers, and being the best they could be.
Wanda Jackson stands in her own light, as well, taking up space she demanded for herself. And yet she pays tribute to Elvis in every one of her shows, because he was the one who pushed her to try something a little bit different. After Elvis died, Wanda Jackson came out with an album of Elvis covers called I Remember Elvis. And on the album Jack White produced, she sings “Like a Baby,” a song she had always wanted to do.
Here, she describes her relationship with Elvis.
The first time I met Elvis was at a radio station the afternoon of the first show that I worked with him in Cape Girardou, Missouri, in July of 1955. I was impressed when I first met Elvis. I had never heard his name. I never heard him sing. So I had no idea who I was working with. But when he walked in the station I was impressed. Of course he was a tall dark-haired good-looking guy. But he was dressed kind of different. He had on a yellow sports coat and in 1955 men didn’t wear yellow sports coats. And his hair was longish, with the long sideburns and the ducktail, which was different than my friends in Oklahoma were wearing.
So we did our interview and then when we left the station I saw another surprising thing. Elvis got into a pink Cadillac. Now you have to remember. That was before the days of Mary Kay. I had never seen a pink car.
The night of our first show I had already been onstage and I was in my dressing room. My dad traveled with me in those days. He and I were in my dressing room, and all of a sudden we heard this screaming, and screaming, and it kind of scared me. Daddy said, “Gosh, I wonder if there’s a fire.” So he runs out, he says, “Get your stuff,” so I was gathering up my purse and everything and then he walks back into my room and says, “Wanda, you’re not gonna believe this. You gotta see it for yourself.” So he took me to the wings of the stage and sure enough there was Elvis singing and rocking and rolling and gyrating and all these girls down at the foot of the stage screaming and screaming and screaming. That was quite a sight.
Elvis had been talking to me about trying to sing this new rock and roll or rockabilly – I don’t think we even had a name for it yet – and I didn’t think I could, I told him No, I’m just a country singer. But it seemed like he knew something I didn’t know. He said, “You can do this. I know you can. And you need to.”
So we were working in Memphis and one afternoon he picked me up and took me to their house, the one on Audobon, the small house. And we went there, and we played records all afternoon, we sang, and he was trying to give me the feel for this, the way he sang songs. I was impressed that he just really seemed to care about my career. He just put a lot of time and effort in helping me to see that I could stretch myself and be a little bit more than I thought I could. He even made me promise to try.
But you know what? Now I’m sure glad I did.
There was one very special day in my life at that time. Elvis and I were working in Shreveport, Louisiana. We had a matinee and then an evening show. So after the matinee, we had to kind of hang around there, but he asked me to step outside with him, which I did. We walked over to his car and he asked me if I’d be his girl. And I said Yes, I would be glad to be his girl. He took a ring off of his hand and gave it to me and asked me to wear it around my neck and I did, for over a year.
So needless to say, Elvis’ ring is one of my prize possessions.
In 1964, my husband Wendell and I were in Las Vegas for just a weekend of fun. We checked into our hotel, we were staying at The Sahara, and we went out the first evening and we came back in a little bit early, I think. When we got off the elevator, there stood a security guard, and he wanted to see the key to our room. We showed it to him and we said, “What’s the big deal?” He said, “Elvis and his entourage is on this whole floor, with the exception of the suite that you and your husband have.” And I said, “Oh, gee, I would love to just be able to say hi to him. If he comes in while you’re on duty, tell him that Wanda Jackson is here and we’d just love to say hi.” So we went on to our room and it wasn’t 20 minutes til the phone rang and someone was asking would it be all right if Elvis came down to our room, that he would also like to say Hi to me. So in a few minutes, there Elvis stood, and I hadn’t seen him in a long time, and I was very glad to see him and he was glad to see me.
And I’m so glad that my husband got to meet him. He was impressed with our friendship and the fact that we just really liked each other, and that was important that he know that – because for the rest of my life, probably, I’ll be talking about Elvis on every interview, and fans ask me these questions, but now he understands the importance that Elvis Presley had in my career, and in my life.
That was the last time that I got to see Elvis.
We still miss you, Elvis, and always will.
Two songs to close this out.
In 1958, Elvis recorded “Won’t You Wear My Ring.” There was a lot of discussion beforehand about whether or not he should do it. He was 22, 23 years old. He was beyond high school stuff like exchanging class rings and “going steady”. Maybe he should be focusing on more adult material? But Elvis insisted he would record it. And when you hear the song, it is not hard to figure out why.
He gives a great rock and roll performance, one of my favorite tracks of his. Ferocious, raw. Teeny-bop material sung this way? Rowr.
Wanda Jackson wrote a song called “I Wore Elvis’ Ring,” a great and rockin’ example of how “kissing and telling” isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes it’s sweet, sometimes it’s a tribute.
