Roger McGuinnn has a clear memory of what went down when The Beatles met Elvis Presley on August 27, 1965. He appeared on Louder Sound to talk about his interactions with John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison. Roger recalls the day and states that while he wasn’t invited for the meeting, he was told that Lennon cornered Presley when the two parties met.
One time I was hanging out at The Beatles’ house in Bel Air when they were invited to go and meet Elvis. I asked George if I could tag along, but he said he just didn’t think it would be right. So I waited at the house until they got back.
When I asked them later how it was, they told me he was sitting on the armrest of a couch and had a bass guitar plugged into his stereo. John had said: ‘Hey, Elvis, you used to make some really great rock’n’roll records. What happened to you?’ Elvis just sort of mumbled: ‘Well, I’m making movies now.’ And that was the extent of the meeting.
Beatles – Elvis v The Beatles#Beatles #TheBeatles pic.twitter.com/7z38PVqGck
— Beatlemania (@BeatlemaniaUK) October 31, 2023
According to RockCelebrities.net, Presley felt threatened, according to McGuinnn, and even tried to exile the band from America. The Byrds frontman was hanging out at The Beatles’ house in Bel Air when this happened. Elvis even talked about it to President Nixon, and said that the band came to America to make money, and post completing their plan they wish to continue with their ‘promoting an anti-American theme.’
I see The Beatles are reaching Elvis levels of milking the corpse.
— Dirk Belfonte (@Bagpuss29300189) November 2, 2023
It’s worth noting that the two parties were huge names in the business at that time, and hearing about such a situation only raises speculations if this is true. Presley had a mark in his own way, as did The Beatles. The possibility of them having a bone to pick or a possible envious approach is hard to remember or even fathom.
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