Last Train to Memphis: The rise of Elvis Presley

By Peter Guralnick

A book review by Leslie Leman

April 2010

When I looked at the reviews list and trying to find the topic and book that I was drawn toward the topic of Elvis Presley. I was not per say a huge Elvis fan, did like his music and films as a child. What really made me want to read more was that my late Aunt Debbie was a huge Elvis fan. I could remember her getting so excited when he came to C-U in the seventies. So when she passed away this February I decided that I was going to find out about the man that she so love to see. I went to the book store after looking on the internet and saw this book and knew right away that I wanted to find out about this man that my Aunt loved. When I was looking at the list, I was drawn to Peter Guralnick’s book Last Train to Memphis: The rise of Elvis Presley. I also wanted to find the history of a man that was so famous and how he got his start. How is Elvis such a famous man with such hard beginnings? Peter Guralnick’s book definitely does start form the beginning of Elvis life and lets us know that he does come from humble beginnings and becomes famous. He also tells of the relationship he had with his family.

Peter Guralnick’s says this is not the story of Elvis but his story of Elvis. He found in his research that when he interviewed people he was able to find stories within stories. How the influences of church and others around him shaped the man the Elvis would become. Peter took the approach in writing his book to me as a biography. He was able to talk to the people in Elvis life from the time that he was young. He also didn’t just talk of Elvis but of the family he had such as aunts and uncles and cousins. I believe that he wrote the book to give people a story of Elvis that was not glamorous and the he over came huge obstacles to become the man he was. He gave me a sense that Elvis Presley was a person that might not have made it if it were not for the people he was with and the contacts that he had. Being in places for people to hear his music was crucial for Elvis to become such the star that he was.

I think that the author used as many sources that he could to truly tell of the man he was writing about. He used interviews, public records and other books and articles that were written about Elvis as sources to this book. In the back of the book he lists the sources he used. I found this to be helpful and to see what other book I might want to read about Elvis. In his notes at the back he also goes into detail about where he got the source and also a brief history and explanation of why he used it. He also included a lengthy biography and index. It made it very useful to see if there were other references in the book on the same topic. He definitely wanted the reader to feel that he was really trying to find out the true information of Elvis Presley.

I found it interesting that the author definitely wrote chronologically but he also broke it down into months of Elvis life. I do believe that to do it this way was helpful to see his life in little parts. To know that Elvis’s family was so poor and he moved around a lot helped to relate to him. He was not born into privilege. He begins with how Elvis parents meet and what type of people they were. He also lets you know why the family might have treated him the way they did. I was intrigued to find out that Elvis was a twin. I could see how because of his brother death when they were babies that his mother and father didn’t want to have anything bad happen to Elvis. It was interesting to find out that Elvis was drawn to the blues music even though he grew up going to church and singing in the church. His father really had a hard time with jobs. In today’s world it is really easy to see why his parents treated him that way. I found it interesting that he would take is guitar to school when he first go it. He would put on performances but not call them that. He was so nervous when he played in front of people. I was glad to see that he had a close friend circle when he finally moved into the housing project called the courts. When they moved there they were doing ok. These were the friends that he had in school. The book also talked about his first real girlfriend and how serious it had become. He also goes to depth of how Elvis got started in his career. He takes us through the ups and downs of Elvis until the time his mother passes and when he goes into the armed service. He was asked if he would ever sell Graceland and his answer was no because that was his mother’s home. Peter tells of Elvis life from the years1935-1958.

Peter Guralnick is an American music critic, American music Historian, and a writer on music. He was born in Boston in 1943. After graduating fromBoston University with a masters degree in creative writing he began to write about all kind of music. Most of his writing was based in the time period of the 1950’s and 1960’s. The music he wrote the most about was history of blues, country, rock and roll and soul. Peter Guralnick wrote 11 books. Two of which were all about Elvis. Before peter wrote the two books on Elvis in 1994 and then the next book in 1999, he wrote about Elvis in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll.

I believe that Peter Guralnick tried to stay neutral as he could when writing as book about someone. I believe that with his back ground and his love of music that he did a great job. I am intrigued to read the next book Careless Love that he wrote on Elvis to truly get the life of Elvis Presley. In reading this book I want to research Elvis more or to see other people’s view of him and make my own decision on the type of person he was. Most people believe he was a king of rock and roll and I do believe that he was. He changed people’s lives in how music was played and changed the views of music. Elvis was one of the first musicians to have girls swoon over him. His pelvic movements made parents scared. As like today with music that our children like and we as parents don’t like. To say that movement is going to change and corrupt our child. We need to be in tune with our children and understand why they like the music hat they like.

I truly found Last Train to Memphis: The rise of Elvis Presley to be easy to read. I found that the book was broke up into specific months of Elvis life. This made it easy for me to read and understand. Each had a specific time and event that happened in his life. I was intrigued to see what as going to be the next thing that happened in his life. Peter made the book easy to follow. One intriguing chapter that I found was the one called ”The Court” When I first saw the title I thought it was going to be about his family going to the court house. Not knowing much about Elvis I found that was not about going to the courthouse but it was the name of the housing Project that they lived in which he made friends and started to come out of his shell not be shy and alone.

I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to find out what Elvis Presley’s life was like and the type of person he was. To get another persons view of a famous person is so helpful. So many people say they are experts on someone. Peter Guralnick because of his use of others findings and his interest in music truly makes me think that he knows what he is writing about. I would say this book could be read by people who do not know much about him. This book is for the general educated instead of experts. It would also probably be helpful to also read Careless Love to truly get the whole life of the King of Rock and Roll. I would use this book as a informational biography to teach music and about Elvis Presley’s life to my students to show that you could come the worst of places and still make something of yourself if you follow your dream and make it come true. So many of us have dreams but don’t make them come true.