1965

GEORGE: Meeting Elvis was one of the highlights of the tour. It  was funny, because  by the time we got near his house  we'd  forgotten where we were going.  We  were in a  Cadillac limousine,  going round and round  along Mulholland, and we'd  had  a couple of'cups of tea' in the back of the car.  It didn't really matter where  we  were going: its like the comedian Lord Buckley says, "We go into  a native village and take a couple of peyote buds,  we might not find  out where  we  is, but we'll sure find out who we  is.

   Anyway,  we were  just  having fun, we were  all  hysterics.  (We laughed a  lot.   That's one  thing we forgot about for a few years- laughing.  When we went through  all the lawsuits, it looked  as if everything  was  bleak,  but when I think back to before that, I  remember  we used to laugh all the time.)  We  pulled up at some  big  gates  and someone  said, "Oh yeah, we're going to see Elvis, and we  all fell out of the car  laughing,  trying to pretend we  weren't silly: just like a Beatles cartoon.

JOHN: It was very exciting, we were  all  nervous  as hell,  and we  met  him  in his big house  in LA-probably as  big as  the one we were staying in,  but it  still  felt  like,  "Big  house,  big  Elvis."  He  had lots of guys around him,  all these guys that used  to live  near  him(like  we did  for Liverpool, we  always had thousands  of Liverpool people  around us,  so I guess  he was the same).  And he had pool tables!  Maybe  a  lot of American houses  are like that, but it seemed amazing to us,  it was like a nightclub.

NEIL ASPINALL: The Colonel was  there and  all of Elvis' buddies,  the so called 'Memphis  Mafia'  and Priscilla. The first thing they  did  was show  us their pool table that swivelled and became a craps  table.

   We  went into this other  room  with a  television  set  that seemed  to be  twenty foot by  twenty  foot.  Then Brian walked in and the Colonel said, 'A  chair  for Mr.  Epstein' and about  fifteen people came  with chairs.

RINGO: I  was pretty excited about it all,  and   we  were lucky because  it  was the four of   us,  and we had each other to  be  with.  The house  was very  big  and dark.  We  walked  in and Elvis  was  sitting down on a settee  in  front of the  TV.  He was playing a bass  guitar, which even   to this  day  I find very strange.

PAUL: He  said,"Hello  lads-do you want a  drink?'  We  sat down  and  we  were watching telly and he had  the first remote  switcher  any  of  us  had  ever seen.   You just aimed it  at the  telly and -wow! Thats Elvis!    He  was playing 'Mohair  Sam'  all evening  -he  had it on  a jukebox.

JOHN: He had his TV going all the time,  which is what I do, we  always have TV  on.   We never  watch it-just there  with no sound  on,  and we listen to records.  In  front  of the TV he  had a  massive  big amplifier,  with a bass plugged  into  it,  and he  was up playing bass all the time with the picture up on the TV.  So we  just got in  there and played with him.  We  all  plugged in  whatever was around and we played  and  sang and  he had a jukebox, like I do,  but I think  he  had  all  his  hits  on it- but if I'd made as many as  him, maybe  I'd have all mine  on."

At first we couldn't make  him out.  I  asked him if he was preparing  new ideas for his next film and  he  drawled,  'Ah  sure  am.   Ah play  a country boy with a guitar who  meets a few gals along the way,  and ah sing  a  few songs.'  We  all  looked  at  one  another.   Finally  Presley and Colonel  Parker laughed  and explained that the only time  they  departed from  that formula-for Wild in the Country-  they lost money.

PAUL: We played a  bit of pool with  a few of his motorcycle mates, and at about ten  o'clock Priscilla was brought  in.  To demonstrate the  respect that  country and western  people  have for  their wives?  Sometimes  it's  a bit on  the surface-as maybe  their  situation was  shown to be  later.  It  was  like,  'Here's Priscilla.'

She  came in and  I got this picture of her as  a sort  of Barbie  doll- with a  purple  gingham dress,   and a gingham bow  in her  very beehive  hair,  with  lots  of makeup.  We all said 'hello'  and then it  was,  'Right  lads  ,  hands off-she's going. ' She  didn't stay long.

RINGO: I saw him again.  I  remember one  time  I got really  angry  with him because he just  wasn't making   any music.   He'd  stopped everything and was just playing  football  with  the guys.  So I  said, 'Why  don't you go  into a studio and give us some music here?  What are you  doing?'  I can't remember what he said- he probably  just walked  away and started  playing  football again.

1970

ELVIS TO NIXON:  The drug culture, the hippie elements, the SDS, Black Panthers, etc. do not consider me as their enemy or as they call it, the establishment. I call it America and I love it.

I am registered under the name of Jon Burrows. I will be here for as long as it takes to get the credentials of a Federal Agent.  I have done an in-depth study of drug abuse and Communist brainwashing techniques and I am right in the middle of the whole thing I can and will do the most good.

I believe that you, Sir, were one of the Top Ten Outstanding Men of America.

The Beatles have been a real force for anti-American spirit. They came to this country, made their money, and then returned to England where they promoted an anti-American theme.

Nixon to Mao: Seize the hour! Seize the day!