“A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man’s music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis.”
I’ve seen this quote, attributed to Jackie Wilson, all over the internet. But does anyone know if Jackie really said it? It would be quite impressive if so.
Once an oft-quoted remark gets attributed to anyone, it becomes nearly impossible to dispel it unless you can find an earlier attestation of it. We do know one thing for sure-- It was not Mark Twain or Abraham Lincoln.
Whether or not Jackie said it, it might not even be true.
Don’t know about that but I saw a clip of Mick Jagger yesterday saying he blatantly stole moves from James Brown (as best he could). IMO I don’t think Elvis had much of anything that James Brown wanted to copy since the whole James Brown thing was about being James Brown. And so what if Jackie Wilson said it, doesn’t make it true. In fact I’m not even really sure who Jackie Wilson is (or was) without looking him up.
For what it’s worth, Jackie Wilson was a black soul/r & b/rock singer of the Fifties through the early Seventies. The songs you’d probably remember him for are “Lonely Teardrops” and “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.”
Why would this quote be interesting IF it were proven that Jackie Wilson really said it (I have no idea whether he really did.)? Because Elvis has been accused countless times of stealing the sound, look and moves of black artists, INCLUDING Jackie Wilson.
The famous “Million Dollar Quartets” recordings prove that Elvis knew of Jackie Wilson, had gone to see him perform, and had admired Wilson greatly. Elvis can be heard saying that Wilson did one of Elvis’ songs a lot better than Elvis did.
If a black contemporary of Elvis really did say complimentary things about ELvis, it would prove that black artists of the Fifties didn’t regard Elvis as a mere copycat but as a fine artist and a very influential artist in his own right.
Whereas Pat Boone was merely doing tamer, lamer white bread versions of black music, Elvis was adding something to the songs and giving them a personal flavor that even black artists liked and tried to emulate.
Elvis had seen Jackie Wilson when he was still a member of Billy Ward and the Dominoes. The two acts were playing Las Vegas concurrently, and Elvis saw them perform a version of his current hit “Don’t Be Cruel.”
He was so taken with Jackie’s delivery of the line “at least please telephone” (with a dramatic pause between the last two words and a very mannered pronunciation of “telephone”) that he performed it that way in all of his own subsequent live renditions.
It’s hard to assess the veracity of Wilson’s comment (if indeed he said it at all). Black acts were certainly highly choreographed prior to Elvis, but I’m not sure if vocalists performed with quite his degree of abandon, though I could easily be proven wrong. (We do know that “honking” saxophonists would play while lying and writhing on the floor and would also jump on bars and tables.)
There is one note of truth to the statement. While the politically correct view is that white artists ripped of black artists all throughout musical history, the fact is that the exchange worked both ways. Blues artists from the turn if the century forward regularly incorporated white pop songs into their repertoire, and the vast majority of blues artists of the first half of the 20th century will affirm that they listened religiously to the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night, copping the songs they heard and adapting them for their own purposes.
Howlin’ Wolf stated many times that his patented wolf howl came to him courtesy of Jimmie Rodgers.
And more recently, one of the pioneers of today’s dance/pop/urban sound was… Kraftwerk, of all people.
Elvis certainly DID copy a lot of black entertainers. But he copied all kinds of WHITE entertainers, too.
Elvis’ favorite singer was Dean Martin! He copied Dean’s hairstyle, he tried to sing like Martin, and he even recorded a few Dean Martin songs in his early Sun sessions.
And yet people who accuse Elvis of “ripping off” black artists would never accuse him of “ripping off” Italian-American artists!
Artists copy/borrow each other all the time. You can see James Brown moves in early Michael Jackson dancing. But no one accused MJ of stealing from JB.
Probably because MJ gave JB credit for inspiring him. Proper crediting makes all the difference.
Jackie Wilson also said “I’m in heaven when you smile.”
I saw Wilson in concert in the early 70s in a Miami hotel. I think I was the only one in the audience who loved it.
So, what’s Thomas Jefferson, chopped liver?
Thing is, even old-time bluesmen like Robert Johnson weren’t living in a hermetically sealed world where all they heard was the blues!
Johnson made his living playing all kinds of songs for all kinds of audiences. His repertoire included all the (then) current pop tunes, a lot of Tin Pan Alley songs, a lot of country songs, even Bing Crosby and Gene Autry tunes! All those things inevitably worked their way into his own compositions.
In America, nobody is “pure” anything. Elvis mixed and matched a wide variety of influences, and so did Robert Johnson.
I wasn’t just a fan, I was his brother. He said I was good and I said he was good; we never argued about that. Elvis was a hard worker, dedicated, and God loved him. Last time I saw him was at Graceland. We sang Old Blind Barnabus together, a gospel song. I love him and hope to see him in heaven. There’ll never be another like that soul brother. - James Brown
Elvis had an influence on everybody with his musical approach. He broke the ice for all of us. - Al Green
Elvis was a giant and influenced everyone in the business. - Isaac Hayes
That’s my idol, Elvis Presley. If you went to my house, you’d see pictures all over of Elvis. He’s just the greatest entertainer that ever lived. And I think it’s because he had such presence. When Elvis walked into a room, Elvis Presley was in the fucking room. I don’t give a fuck who was in the room with him, Bogart, Marilyn Monroe… - Eddie Murphy
A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man’s music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis. - Jackie Wilson
I remember Elvis as a young man hanging around the Sun studios. Even then, I knew this kid had a tremendous talent. He was a dynamic young boy. His phraseology, his way of looking at a song, was as unique as Sinatra’s. I was a tremendous fan, and had Elvis lived, there would have been no end to his inventiveness. - BB King
Describe Elvis Presley? He was the greatest who ever was, is or ever will be. - Chuck Berry
People don’t realize what they had till it’s gone. Like President Kennedy - nobody like him. Like The Beatles, there will never be anything like them. Like my man, Elvis Presley - I was the Elvis of boxing. - Muhammad Ali
There was something just bordering on rudeness about Elvis. He never actually did anything rude, but he always seemed as if he was just going to. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate him eleven. - Sammy Davis Jr.
A messiah comes around every few thousand years, and Elvis was it this time. - Little Richard
Calling wacko jacko MJ is really just an insult towards the one and only true MJ –> MICHAEL JORDAN
They were one of the pioneers of electronic music not souchvdance pop or urban.
I’ve been trying to formulate a way to express this point that wouldn’t expose my crankiness or insult the people I think need to understand that the narrative of white theft of black music is simplistic and inaccurate. The problem is that even people who were there back then believe the false narrative. If you listen to top-40’s oldies, there is little there to give the lie to this narrative. Rock ‘n’ Roll gets whiter almost as soon as it starts gaining traction and is more-or-less predominantly white by the end of the Golden Age. But it’s hard to sustain this notion if you listen outside this narrow band of chart hits, especially if you listen to earlier eras of popular music. The influence has always gone both ways.
I’m curious if you’ve got a cite. I’ve read/heard multiple times that Elvis’s favorite singer was Roy Orbison, but I can’t say I have a cite handy. And it certainly is possible he had multiple favorites over his life. Since Elvis and Roy came up together I imagine he certainly had earlier influences.
Here’s a (not very good, admittedly) cite for Elvis calling Roy “the greatest singer in the world”. Here’s another documenting Dean Martin. Can’t say I trust answers.com or elvispresleyphotos.com over either of our own recollections, though.