Originally Posted by BeatleGod:
“Elvis was alright - bob dylan did far more influential songs though. I prefer Cat Stevens and Neil Young as well - Elvis is not bad, but hugely overrated.”
“When I first heard Elvis' voice I just knew that I wasn’t going to work for anybody; and nobody was going to be my boss...Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail.”
Bob Dylan
Neil Young wrote a song about elvis in homage to him...Prairie Wind
I found this on a webpage just now...
Quote:
“Jeliel's comments on how he feels about Elvis this, or Elvis that, sounds like the reaction of the guy who interviewed Bob Dylan about nine months ago, live and on TV. He was totally surprised, his face somewhat showing all the sings of someone who is not really versed on the effect Elvis has, even today, on most of the greatest musicians in the latter half of the 20th Century.
He was trying to make Dylan say how he felt about how people in the sixties, and beyond felt about him( the fact that they saw him as the saviour, as the prohphet, whatever). Dylan told him (and the guy could not believe it..), that if he ever wanted to be someone, that that person was Elvis.
Luckily, there are smarter interviewers, like Larry King. When he asked Mc Cartney, about a year ago in his show, who was the one who had really influenced him, his favourite of all the founding fathers of rock, McCartney said it was Elvis. King knew, from way back, that Lennon considered Elvis his favourite, but he obviously was also taken aback when he heard Mc Cartney's reply, so just to be sure, he asked him again, back-to-back. That was smart.
Mc Cartney's second reply, to what essentially the same question, was equally convincing.
"He was the one, Elvis, the one I loved the most, from the start".
Now, if Lennon, McCartney and Dylan not just loved Elvis, but also wanted to be him, why a song written by Neil about Elvis be so surprising a fact for Jeliel to digest?”
Bob Dylan, a legend in his own right, wanted to BE elvis
As for Cat Stevens, I can't comment as I have never heard him speak of any other artists.
But Dylan, Lennon, McCartney and many others who I also consider legends, have all agreed that Elvis was the One, The Only, The King.
Elvis sang THOUSANDS of songs and to say that Dylan did far more influential songs isn't very fair.
Yes Dylan WROTE many influential songs, but Elvis recorded many influential songs, and not only that he did what Dylan hasn't done.....
Elvis influenced an entire generation, an generations since.
To this day Elvis is still VERY influential to people from all walks of life. Dylan too is influential to song-writers, i myself being one, BUT i don't hear many people saying Dylan is an inspiration to them or an idol or a hero.
Comparing all these legendary acts is perhaps not fair on the musicians themselves or the fans.
There will always be people who consider Elvis the King, and there will always be people who consider Lennon/McCartney or Dylan more important.
I ask the same question i ask anyone who says this......
Who inspired Dylan, Lennon, and McCartney? Funnily enough the answer is always the same
”
