April 13 - Canzoni di Elvis Presley

Marco Durzu published a flexible and an hardback edition of his 539-page book 'Canzoni di Elvis Presley'. This Italian book contains the lyrics, and some additional information, on all the songs Elvis Presley recorded, rehearsed and performed, and more. 

Description (through Google Translate): This book contains the complete list of Elvis Presley's Songs in alphabetical order, 898 songs in total! It is the ideal companion to my previous Elvis Presley book entitled 'Elvis Presley Concerts and Rehearsals from 1944 to 1977'.

It is a useful tool for reading the lyrics of Elvis Presley's songs both when listening to studio recorded in the studio and performed during live performances. All songs are presented in alphabetical order and perfectly indexed and recallable with a direct link to the initial letter of the song.

For completeness, the songs sung by Elvis Presley between 1944 to 1977, including the songs he rehearsed for the planned tour in August 1977, but for which we currently have no recorded audio or video evidence are included too. 

Also added were the songs that other singers from Elvis Presley's group (Kathy Westmoreland, Sherrill Nielsen, The Stamps, VOICE) sang at his concerts and rehearsals from 1968 to 1977. 

For each song I included: the songwriters, the recording date, reference to the film in which Elvis Presley sang the song and first release (on a single, Extended Play or album). For the songs for which we do not have audio/video recordings, I have reported the authors of the song, the year in which the song was recorded and the references of the concerts and rehearsals in which Elvis Presley sang the song.

Tabloids

This weeks National Examiner tabloid featured another article on Elvis and Ann-Margret: "Forbidden Love Revealed!". 

Not Sold

An Elvis Presley owned and stage played Martin D28 Acoustic Guitar was up for auction at Gotta Have Rock and Roll.  

Description: This beautiful Martin D28 acoustic guitar was owned and stage used by Elvis Presley and comes with a detailed letter of provenance from his close friend Charlie Hodge. Elvis used the guitar in the mid-1970's and was his personal property. According to Charlie, Elvis played the guitar both on stage as well as during jam sessions. Charlie specifically states, "When Elvis first came on stage he would always do two songs and then he would always take his guitar and flip the guitar to end the song and then toss the guitar over his shoulder without looking at me and throw it for me to catch." You can see Elvis tossing the guitar in two of the images shown in this listing. According to Charlie, he nearly always caught it, and a few times it fell on the stage. One of the times he didn't catch it, it hit the stage floor and cracked the guitar towards the bottom - it's a crack that really looks more like several scratches (see picture shown in this listing). After that night he stopped using this particular Martin guitar and gifted it to Charlie.

Elvis Presley first met Charlie Hodge when he was with a group called the Foggy Mountain River Boys, and then the two met again when both were called to Germany in service in the U.S. Army. They became good friends and Elvis converted a space at Graceland for Charlie to live in, which he lived in until Elvis's tragic passing. He was Elvis's stage director, sang harmony and played guitar on stage with him, handed Elvis his scarves, and helped with the set lists for the shows. Charlie also appeared as an extra in many of Elvis's films.

Condition: Overall very good condition with the exception of the surface crack/scratched on the body of the guitar, towards the bottom. There are also scratches on the back of the guitar, and Charlie states in his letter that they came from his big belt buckle which would rub against the back of the guitar when he played (also shown here in this listing).

Authentication: Real Game Used (RGU) Letter of Authenticity, a Letter from Charlie Hodge and a Gotta Have Rock and Roll Certificate of Authenticity.

(Source: Amazon / Lucky Jackson on Facebook)