#79 – Elvis Presley Blues

by Stacy Loves Buffett · January 8, 2024

#79 – Elvis Presley Blues

Elvis Presley Blues was released on JB’s 2006 album Take The Weather With You. This album was a bit different for Jimmy because it had more covers than songs written by himself. The majority actually, with ten of the fourteen songs being covers, songs I believe that Jimmy loved from artists that he admired.

This song was written by husband-and-wife duo David Rawlings and Gillian Welch (I am listing him first only because alphabetically he is listed first on the songs writing credits). It was performed and released on Gillian’s 2001 album called Time (The Revelator). If you enjoy music, I recommend you try to find Gillian’s original version to listen to, as well as the entire album, which received critical acclaim. I remember hearing it while I was visiting a friend in Billings, Montana and went out and bought myself a copy of the CD. If you like the folk-americana sound that is absolutely timeless, Gillian Welch is an artist you might like.

“I was thinking last night about Elvis…”

Of the many songs that Jimmy has written, recorded, or performed, the reason that I picked this one for today, is that today is Elvis Presley’s birthday. It is also the birthday of several friends, but I always think of January 8^th as the day that the universe gifted us with Elvis Aaron Presley.

I am not sure how Jimmy decided on this song, but I like to think he was honoring both the song writers as well as the subject of the song.

“And he shook it like a chorus girl, And he shook it like a Harlem queen, He shook it like a midnight rambler, Baby, like you never seen, never seen…”

I believe that Jimmy was influenced by Elvis Presley, just as many others of his generation, and generations since, have been. Jimmy was both an artist and a fan of music, and there is a lot about Elvis to admire and aspire to be like, regardless of his complicated career and early death. Actually, maybe because of those things.

This isn’t the first time Jimmy has put Elvis on one of his records’, since “The King of Rock and Roll” shows up as the title star of another of Jimmy’s songs, yet another cover song, called Elvis Impersonators, which was written by two of Jimmy’s friends in the music industry – Steve Goodman who we just touched on last week, and John Prine, a true gem of a singer and songwriter. It’s a fun song, and I think Jimmy enjoyed covering it. Now, it’s not a song about Elvis specifically, but it’s certainly touches on a phenomenon that has everything to do with the life and times and death of Elvis Presley.

Elvis also shows up in at least four songs written by Jimmy himself. There may be more, but these are the ones that came quickly to my mind:

Life Is Just A Tire Swing –

“And Elvis would sing and then I’d dream about expensive cars…”

Off To See The Lizard –

“Elvis up in Michigan or maybe out on Mars…”

Permanent Reminder Of A Temporary Feeling –

“Is this really Elvis spinning round the ceiling…”

Oysters and Pearls –

“Elvis was the only man from Northeast Mississippi who could shake his hips and still be loved by rednecks, cops and hippies…”

“I think it was all Elvis’s fault” – Jimmy Buffett

In 2010, while performing on CMT Crossroads performance with The Zac Brown band, Jimmy mentioned that Elvis was supposed to “do this song”, as an introduction to Margaritaville, but instead he went on to “Graceland in the sky” and left the song for Jimmy, ending the statement with, “thanks, King”. So, this statement mentioned that Elvis Presley was set to record Margaritaville, but before he could record it, he unfortunately died. Is this rumor, truth, or part of a myth that touches on The King himself? No one seems to know for sure, but it seems like a song that Elvis might have liked, and also one he thought he could do something amazing with.

Jimmy recorded Margaritaville in November of 1976; Elvis rented studio time in Nashville in January of 1977 but did not make the session. Jimmy’s version was released in February of 1977 on Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes and quickly became a hit. Elvis died in August of 1977. Even if Elvis had planned to record it, it is hard to say if he would have continued to do so after Jimmy turned it into his own first notable hit. Maybe? Maybe not? I don’t think Elvis was afraid to put his own spin on a song, but we can really never know what might have been.

Another interesting tidbit that ties this story together is Norbert Putnam. Who, you might ask. Some of you may know, other’s might not, but for those who don’t know, or need a reminder, Norbert Putnum produced five of Jimmy’s albums, from 1977 to 1982, including Changes In Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, Son Of A Son Of A Sailor, Volcano, Coconut Telegraph, and Somewhere Over China.

In an interview by Neil Kelly in February of 2023 from popmatters.com, Norbert Putnam mentions Elvis Presley as being one of the artists that inspired him to pursue music as a career, going on to be a well-known bass player on many Nashville studio albums. He did this for about a decade, before he started to direct himself into the record producing career, and his early producing success included Joan Baez’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” while also working on producing a Dan Fogelberg album. It was 1973 and he was still in limbo between playing bass and producing and he had the chance to play bass in studio with Elvis Presley in 1973 in what is known in Elvis lore as the Stax Sessions. In actuality, according to Putman, he played on 122 Elvis Presley recordings from 1970 to 1977. Putnam speaks well of Elvis and seemed to have a good rapport with The King.

Of course, in late 1976 and early 1977, Norbert Putnam was producing a little album by an up-and-coming young artist named Jimmy Buffett, and that album was Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes, and it had a gem of a song on it called Margaritaville. Norbert Putnam says he knew that song was a hit from the moment he heard it. With Norbert Putnum’s connection to both Jimmy and Elvis, could he have tried to encourage Elvis Presley to record Jimmy’s beach bum song? It is certainly all believable. But maybe some truths are never meant to be known… and just become part of the myths of two fabulous performers.

While I am certainly glad that Jimmy had the opportunity to expand his career with the hit song Margaritaville, which may have changed the trajectory of his career, a little part of me wonders what Margaritaville might have sounded like under the crooning charm and soft soulful drawl of Elvis Presley. Again, maybe some questions are never meant to be answered?

“And he shook it like a hurricane, He shook it like to make it break, And he shook it like a holy roller, Baby, Like you never seen, never seen…

Even without the Margaritaville and Elvis Presley connection, the quote, “I think it was all Elvis’s fault” could tie to simple admiration from a young man who also dreamed of a performing career… or just meeting girls. In interviews, Jimmy did mention watching Elvis in King Creole, which was certainly an influence on Jimmy. It may have led Jimmy to his early music stomping grounds of New Orleans, where King Creole was set, with a young singer working his way up the music chain, one Bourbon Street bar after another. Sound like anyone else we know? King Creole was released in 1958, so Jimmy would have been eleven going on twelve at that time, which is a very impressionable age.

Is the Elvis connection to Margaritaville true? Maybe it’s a “semi-true story”… but true or not, I am happy for the rabbit hole of research it sent me down.

My parents are just around Jimmy’s age, and they too admired the music of Elvis Presley. In many ways, his music changed the world. I grew up listening to Elvis, my dad used to sing Elvis’s songs all the time, and I remember watching Elvis’s movies with my mom. My Dad tells a great story about his aunt who screamed so loud when she seen Elvis on television that he and his cousin, who were in another room, thought someone must have been murdered. This Christmas, I gifted my family with some vinyl. The record I gave to my Mom was an Elvis Presley album, and she hugged it when she got it. It was the first record we decided to listen to too, after listening to Jimmy’s bright red Christmas Island that I gifted to myself. The King’s influence is long, and it touches regular people living in rural Montana, just like it touched a young Jimmy Buffett growing up on the Gulf Coast.

Which leads us back to today’s song, Elvis Presley Blues, which is a song that both honors the King of Rock and Roll, but also ties to his rise to fame and a little to the sadness at the end of his career, although I think none of the honest truths of the later years of Elvis’s career show through in Jimmy’s version of the song- all I get is pure joy and admiration. I think Jimmy’s admiration for Elvis as a person and an artist shine through several times in Jimmy’s own music. And isn’t that a beautiful thing!

I hope you enjoy Jimmy’s cover of Elvis Presley Blues. It is a great song, and this is a really enjoyable version. And it touches on two artists whose music has touched my life in so many ways.

“I was thinking last night about Elvis…”

So, Happy Heavenly Birthday Elvis Presley, and yet again, thank you for the music, Jimmy Buffett.

Stacy

Please enjoy Elvis Presley Blues. I have included the link below. Enjoy!