Wild in the Country

I'm a bit too young to have been an Elvis fan. My only real memories of him in the news are of the bloated, drug-dulled parody of a star that he became in the years leading up to his death. Just because I took this picture, I skim-read a bit of his life

First surprise was that his young ambition was to be an actor, not a musician. He actually made twenty-seven films in the 50s and 60s. Most of them were virtually plotless musicals, but he yearned for something more serious. Wild in the Country was one of the two or three that had a little more dramatic content to them but, whatever his ambition, he seems to have had little acting talent, and these were his least successful. Almost without exception, his films were critically panned and commercially profitable

He was extraordinarily prolific: 24 studio albums, 17 film soundtrack albums, 118 singles (including Wild in the Country)

He took his military service seriously and declined the option to become an entertainer-in-uniform. He was promoted several times and reached the rank of sergeant before his discharge. Army service introduced him to karate, which he took seriously and studied, and to amphetamines, which he regarded as having health benefits and promoted to his friends

He was, however, vocally opposed to street drugs and, himself drank little alcohol. This was a real surprise, as I was dimly aware that he died of a drugs overdose (though the actual, immediate cause of his death is still somewhat mysterious, especially as there are suspicious circumstances surrounding his autopsy). His addiction in the last years of his life was in fact to prescription drugs, that were supplied in jaw-dropping quantities by his personal doctors - at least one of whom was later debarred from practicing

This dummy has been in a patch of woodland, at the end of a short residential cul-de-sac on the edge of the village for years. No idea why, who or how. I've never seen it mentioned in the village magazine or heard it talked about in the pub. Most of the time it is hidden by leaves but, in winter, it is visible (just!) from a few spots on the footpath. The fact that it is instantly recognisable from the haircut, sideburns and stance, just emphasise that he is the icon of the moment when the West flipped from inter-war stagnation and wartime privation to prosperity, optimism and the burgeoning of youth culture

One other detail I like. On his third appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, in January 1957, he defied the wishes of Sullivan and closed the set with the black spiritual 'Peace In The Valley', to an audience of almost 55 million. He dedicated it to refugees from the Russian invasion of Hungary. He appealed for aid to be sent to them and the response yielded $49.5 million, in today's value

There will be peace in the valley for me, some day
There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray
There'll be no sadness, no sorrow
No trouble, trouble I see
There will be peace in the valley for me, for me