12.19.2012

Elvis Presley is Not That Interesting

Oh! There is a yuletide star in the sky...

follow it, and you'll find, not a manger....
but Youtube videos! Of Charlie Rich and Elvis Presley!




"Well, I make it alright/
Monday morning to Friday night/
but oh...
Those Lonely Weekends".
Don't be 'so sorry Charlie'! Christmas is around the corner; then you have a few days off... so it's like Every Day is the Weekend! (...oh, ah, ... nevermind)

"you said you'd be good to me, said our love would never die/
said you'd be good to me, but baby-- you didn't even try".

I pulled this Charlie Rich sound out of my vinyl stacks for you, because I heard the following song on the ol' radio :



(live version of Elvis' "Blue Christmas")

Well, of course I heard this on the radio, 'tis the season, right?
Now I like this song, even though I have heard it a time or two. I once sang the most Elvis-y part ("bluuuuuuuuhuhuhuhuhuhuuue") to my cousins, some far ago Xmas, and it cracked them up. At least that is how I remember it!


Anyhow, Charlie Rich's singing and playing covers a vast swath of styles: country-gospel; rockabilly-y;


straight old country;

early RocknRoll or RnB (you know, with the "Blues" still in RnB).

But on "Lonely Weekends", as you can clearly see/hear, he is doing a little Elvis impression. And he's so good at it, and just flat out so good, as one YouTube comment said, "Who needs Elvis?"
Me, I couldn't be bothered to give Elvis coal for Christmas: I just don't care about him. But Charlie Rich? If you see a Rich-Record, for Christ's sake (it's his b-day after all), get me the damn thing!
What do you all think: please tell me someone else out there prefers Charlie Rich to Elvis.
Any takers?