Tuesday, April 5, 2011

This week in inappropriate Elvis lyrics

So, maybe someone older than me can help me out here. Did words have a different meaning in 1960? Was this ever okay?

From Elvis Presley's Stuck on You:

     Hide in the kitchen, hide in the hall,
     Ain't gonna do you no good at all,
     'Cause once I catch you and the kissing starts
     A team of wild horses couldn't tear us apart.

Now, I know what you're going to say. That it was a simpler time, and this was just some playful romping involving two consenting adults. That it is just from our jaded and cynical 2011 viewpoint that this looks like a manifesto for sexual violence (or at least for misdemeanor sexual misconduct, if you're in Elvis's tax bracket). In fact, it is disgusting to try and tar such a nice, wholesome song with that association.

To which I say, just remember, this is the dude who used to host pajama parties for 13 and 14 year old girls, wrestling with them, groping them, and kissing them.

Update: Here are a couple of on-point quotations from the article in the second link:

"'He pretty much groped me,' she recalls, 'I was overwhelmed. He came on like Godzilla.'"

"Then they'd lie on the beds and roughhouse and have pillow fights, Elvis tickling and kissing them until they couldn't take it anymore."

"His friendship with the trio of Memphis teenagers lasted through the early 1960s, about the time he met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, his future wife."

No comments:

Post a Comment