The Night John Lennon (and The Beatles) Met Elvis Presley

The mansion was Elvis', and The Beatles (in a caravan of individual limos) came to him - a fitting protocol for young superstars seeking to pay tribute to the older star who'd been such an inspiration for the group, and for John Lennon in particular. Lennon and Paul McCartney had both expressed a desire to try to meet with the King when The Beatles first came to the U.S. in February of 1964 and Beatles manager Brian Epstein reached out to Elvis Presley's manager, the wily and formidable Colonel Tom Parker. But schedules could not be aligned and the only star-to-star contact was by way of a congratulatory telegram from Elvis and the Colonel that Ed Sullivan read on-air to the group after their debut performance on his show.

Towards the end of The Beatles' '65 tour, though, everything fell into place. The group was in L.A. for shows at the Hollywood Bowl, and Elvis was in town after having completed the filming of Paradise, Hawaiian Style in Hawaii. Epstein and Parker quickly worked out some crucial ground rules: a low-key get-together at Elvis' place with no pictures taken and no press present (though Parker would make sure to leak word to a few fan clubs so that there'd be the requisite screaming throng outside Elvis' gates). The four Beatles would be accompanied by Epstein and road manager Mal Evans. Elvis would be with his wife Priscilla, and a few trusted members of his 'Memphis Mafia'. For diversions, there'd be a pool table, a Colonel-provided roulette wheel, a craps table, and (Elvis not being much of a drinker) a lightly-stocked bar.

John Lennon walks to his car after meeting Elvis Presley. Elvis can be seen talking far left.

A little after 10 p.m. on August 27, the line of limos containing John, Paul, George, Ringo, Epstein and Evans rolled through the crowd and onto the grounds of Elvis' Perugia Way home. Within minutes, the two greatest forces in rock 'n' roll were face-to-face. Introductions were made and seats taken. But what was supposed to happen now? The Beatles themselves seemed a little star-struck, and there was a moment of awkward silence.

'You walk into Elvis Presley's house - it's different', said Jerry Schilling, who was present as one of Elvis' inner circle of Memphis Mafia guys. 'No matter how talented or confident you are, his presence put things on a certain level. You could see The Beatles felt that. But Elvis knew just what to do. He looked around the room and said, 'You know, if you guys are just going to sit there and stare at me, I'm going to bed'. Everybody laughed and that broke the ice'.

Elvis and John Lennon soon discovered they shared an appreciation of Peter Sellers and began reciting lines from Dr. Strangelove, which had come out earlier that year. 'Elvis loved crazy, almost absurd humor, and I think that really surprised The Beatles', recalled Schilling. 'He loved doing the move where the doctor can't stop from choking himself with his own artificial hand, and I remember John had a pretty strong Dr. Strangelove impression, too. Personality-wise, John really reminded me of the more cutting side of Elvis - the side you never saw in his movies. Elvis was sharp and fast and could cut through you with a remark, but usually, only the few of us who lived with him ever saw that side of him. It came out that night with John, though'.

More On John Lennon And Elvis: In mid-1980 John Lennon raced into Yoko Ono's home office in the mammoth old Dakota building with a copy of Donna Summer's new single, 'The Wanderer'. 'Listen!' Lennon shouted as he put the 45rpm on the record player. 'She's doing Elvis!' I didn't know what he was talking about at first. The arrangement felt more like rock than the singer's usual electro-disco approach, but the opening vocal sure sounded like Donna Summer to me. Midway through the song, however, her voice shifted into the playful, hiccuping style Elvis had used on so many of his early recordings.

'See! See!' John shouted, pointing at the speakers 'That's Elvis!'

Lennon plugged in one of his prized possessions a vintage jukebox. He then punched one Elvis Presley record after another and bopped around playfully.

Lennon ended up spending so much time talking about Elvis and other favorites from the 1950s that I was afraid we weren't going to get to the Beatles and his solo career.

As Elvis sang 'Don't Be Cruel' in the background, John recalled his first and only meeting with our mutual rock hero. It was a story he relished sharing as much as he did his Beatles memories.

'It was probably 1965 and we had a break in L.A. during a tour. We went up to his house and we were terrified. I can't remember the first moment I saw him, but Elvis looked great. We started singing some of his songs. That's what we always did when we met Chuck Berry or Carl Perkins or any of them'.

I asked if Elvis had known how big the Beatles were and if he had felt any hint of competition.

'Are you kidding?' John replied with a laugh. 'Elvis knew damn well who we were -- from the word 'go'. He was terrified of us and the English movement because we were a possible threat to him. To us, Elvis was a god. We'd like to beat his record and become the champion, but we would always give Elvis credit. It always hurts and infuriates me when Mick Jagger puts Elvis down. Maybe he's jealous because Elvis was the original body man in rock and it's too near to Mick's game for him to admit that Elvis' movements were at least as good as his and that maybe Elvis could sing a damn sight better than he could'.

We had such a good time over the three days that Lennon invited me to his and Sean's birthday party. I knew what the perfect birthday present for John was. I had mentioned in the studio that there was a great new Elvis photo book by Alfred Wertheimer, who had spent a couple of weeks with Elvis around the time of 'Hound Dog' in 1956. John hadn't seen it.

I didn't want to bother John, so I left the book with the doorman.

Two months later Lennon was dead'.

John Lennon quotes about Elvis 

To Jerry Schilling: The three Beatles had their heads wrapped in towels, getting their moptops ready for that night's show in San Diego. At one point, Lennon leaned towards Jerry with a message he wanted him to deliver to Elvis. 'John Lennon said, 'I didn't have the nerve to tell Elvis last night, but when I was in high school I wanted to do everything I could to look like him. I almost got kicked out of school for it. Tell Elvis, without him, we'd be nothing'.

John Lennon stated: 'When I first heard 'Heartbreak Hotel' I could hardly make out what was being said. It was just the experience of hearing it and having my hair stand on end. We'd never heard American voices singing like that. They'd always sung like Sinatra who enunciated well.

Suddenly there's this hillbilly hiccupping with echo and all this bluesy background going on. We didn't know what the hell Elvis Presley was singing about or Little Richard or Chuck Berry. It took a long time to work out what was going on. To us, it just sounded like great noise.

It was very exciting, we were all nervous as hell, and we met him in his big house in L.A. - 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 from 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. 

'I always wanted to be this tough James Dean type, but Elvis was bigger than religion in my life. When I heard Heartbreak Hotel it was so great I couldn’t speak, I didn’t want to say anything against Elvis, not even in my mind'.

'I’m an Elvis fan because it was Elvis who really got me out of Liverpool'.

'There's only one person in the United States we ever wanted to meet ... not that he wanted us. And we met him last night. We can't tell you how we felt. We just idolised him so much. ... You can't imagine what a thrill that was last night. Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been an Elvis, there wouldn't have been the Beatles'.

About meeting Elvis - 'He had his TV going all the time, which is what I do; we always have TV on. We never watch it - it's just there with no sound on, and we listen to records. In front of the TV, he had a massive 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. 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'.

It was nice meeting Elvis. He was just Elvis, you know? He seemed normal to us, and we were asking about his making movies and not doing any personal appearances or TV. I think he enjoys making movies so much, We couldn't stand not doing personal appearances, we'd get bored - we get bored quickly. He says he misses it a bit. We never talked about anything else - we just played music. He wasn't bigger than us, but he was 'the thing'. He just wasn't articulate, that's all'.

Marty Lacker and Billy Smith talk about Elvis and The Beatles

Marty Lacker and Billy Smith talk about Elvis and The Beatles in their book 'Elvis and the Memphis Mafia'.

Marty Lacker: In 1965, Colonel knew what he was doing about the meeting. He said to Elvis, 'If you'd like, you could go to their house'. And Elvis said, 'No, no. Let Them come over to Perugia Way'. Elvis told us we could bring our wives and kids over to meet them if we wanted.

Billy Smith: Jo couldn't believe the Beatles were coming to meet us. We were all really excited. We'd say, 'The Beatles, hell, they're hot! This is a big thing!' But around Elvis, we knew not to let on too much because he'd get really pissed.

Marty Lacker: Somehow, the word got out about the meeting. And it caused a problem because Perugia Way is a very small circle. Before the Beatles even got there, the entire cove was packed with people hoping to see Elvis and the Beatles. The Bel Air police had to come so the Beatles could get their limousine in the courtyard.

When they came in the house, Elvis and some of the guys waited for them in the den. He wasn't going to go to the door because he didn't want to make a big deal out of it. So they came in the den, and when they met him, it was like they were in a trance, just looking up at him and shaking his hand. On TV, they were so boisterous, and here they were really quiet. After they said, 'It's such a pleasure to meet you', they didn't know what to say. So Elvis said, 'Let's go sit down'. He had on a red shirt and gray slacks, and he sat in his usual place on the couch in front of the TV. And the Beatles sat on chairs around the room, as did our families.

Billy Smith: At first, they didn't know what to do. They were just sittin' around staring at Elvis. Everybody was looking at each other like 'What the hell's going on here? Who's going to do something?'

Marty: Finally, Elvis looked at one of them, and he said, 'Hey, I didn't mean for this to be like the subjects coming to the king'. And then he said, 'Quite frankly if you guys are going to stare at me all night, I'm going to bed. I thought we'd talk a while and maybe jam a little'. And when he said that, they went nuts.

They all went to the piano, and Elvis handed out a couple of guitars. And they just started singing - Elvis songs, Beatles songs, Chuck Berry songs. Elvis played Paul's bass part on 'I Feel Fine', and Paul said something like 'You're coming along quite promising on the bass there, Elvis'. I remember thinking later, 'Man if we'd only had a tape recorder'.

Billy Smith: We tried to join in the fun as casually as we could, without paying too much attention to 'em. Ringo wanted to shoot some pool, so we did that. Alveena, this heavy maid, brought some drinks and little hors d'oeuvres, and she stepped on Ringo's foot. He screwed up his face like he was in all kinds of pain, and he said, 'I think she's broke my bloody toe'.

He was funny. He'd get up there with Elvis and impersonate him with a cue stick for a guitar. Then he'd shoot the ball. It turned into a real good night. Seemed like everybody had fun.

Marty Lacker: In a little while, Colonel Parker walked in. Which meant it was casino time. Because we had this coffee table that could be converted into a gambling table. You reversed it and turned it into a roulette wheel. So Joe and Alan and Colonel opened up the casino in what we called the 'round den' because it used to be an outside courtyard. Alan said Colonel was throwing money around like crazy. And I remember Colonel and Joe bragging that they took Brian Epstein to the cleaners, that he owed 'em about two or three thousand dollars.

They didn't leave until about two o'clock in the morning. Colonel used to have a thing about covered wagons. He used one as a kind of logo for his company - he had one on his stationery, I remember. And as souvenirs, he gave the Beatles these little covered wagons that lit up on the inside.

Billy Smith: Jo was pregnant with our second child, and, of course, she was wearing maternity clothes, and her stomach was sticking out. We were all standing outside when the Beatles were leaving in their limousine, and somebody took a picture of Jo, and Patsy Lacker, and Jo Fortas, and Joanie Esposito. And it turned up in some magazine, with the headline THE NIGHT ELVIS SHARED HIS WOMEN WITH THE BEATLES! Jo laughed like crazy, man. She saved that magazine for a long, long time.

Marty Lacker: As they were saying goodbye, John and Paul said, 'We're staying at this house on Mulholland Drive, and we'd like to invite you all to come up tomorrow'. And Paul looked at Elvis and said, 'I hope you'll be able to come'. And then he looked at us and said, 'But if he can't come, you fellows are welcome'.

When they left, Elvis said, 'I'm not going up there'. He said, 'I did my duty. I met them, and that's it'.

The next afternoon, Jerry Schilling, and Richard Davis, and Billy, and I went up to where they were staying. And they were overjoyed to see us. They really were. John pulled me over by the picture window, and he said, 'Last night was the greatest night of my life'.

In subsequent years, the guys visited the Beatles three or four times when they came over here. Of course, Elvis never went. In the summer of '66, we saw Brian Epstein lying out on the chaise lounge by the pool. He was zonked out of his brain. And Paul and the other guys were sitting by the pool, and there were people all over the place - girls running around naked, people dropping acid.

About twenty minutes later, the Mamas and the Papas showed up. All four of them - Mama Cass, John, Denny, and Michelle - came marching in a row, like soldiers. And John and George immediately got up and went into the house with them. I was talking with this guy, Mal Evans, who was the Beatles' road manager and bodyguard. Big guy. And I said, 'Where are they going? Are they talking business?' He said, 'No, no, they're just going to get blown out of their skulls'. It was party time.

Just before we left during one of those visits - I can't remember if it was '66 or '67 - I went in this side room, where Paul was singing songs and playing piano. He looked up at me and he said, 'Do you think Elvis would ever cut one of my songs?' The Beatles were the biggest thing in the universe right then. But that goes to show you, they still thought Elvis was bigger. 

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