Elvis

I don't like Elvis.

Am I missing something?

I don't know. When I was younger, I didn't much care for country music, bluegrass or classical music? Now, I like lots of it. I went to the Symphony on Saturday night. I've been to the Country Music Hall of Fame more than once. I own lots of bluegrass cds.

But I still don't like Elvis.

Maybe it's because of the stories I heard my parents and other black people say when I was younger about how they went or know people who went to Elvis concerts and they were refused admission. Maybe these stories are apocryphal. Maybe it wasn't Elvis, but just the times.

I don't know.

Maybe it's Chuck D and Flavor Flav. You remember the song:
Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant (bleep) to me you see
Straight up racist that sucker was
Simple and plain
(bleep) (bleep) him and John Wayne

But back to Elvis. I guess there's no accounting for taste. I grew up the way I did and that colors the way I see things. But I mean no disrespect to Elvis fans the world over. I'd like to understand. Why do people feel this man is so great?

A friend of mine recently told me she only likes three Elvis songs, but she reveres him as a "white trash hero." It's still OK in this day and age to make fun of poor people and Elvis was a poor white person who made it big. Nobody makes fun of Elvis anymore. At least not the young Elvis.