The Ways of Elvis

Author: John Dawson

Publisher: Tapestry Press

ISBN: 1-930819-21-8 (hardback, 90 pp.)

Elvis was not a great public speaker. He didn't get a lot of opportunity to speak in public, of course, other than to mumble the introductions to the songs he performed and, in later years, to undertake fairly rambling monologues during his concerts. In spite of this dearth, or perhaps just because of it, his relatively few interviews and press conferences have attracted an inversely proportional amount of interest and several books have already been published on the subject, including Osborne's "Word For Word" which attempts to document every public utterance of Elvis.

What Osborne's book does not do, however, is to offer any commentary to its many Elvis quotes, nor does it present its contents as anything other than things that Elvis said and when and where he said them. John Dawson's "The Ways of Elvis" is subtitled "Lessons From His Life" and the subtitle reveals more about the nature of the book than the main title. Dawson uses a selection of quotes from Elvis to, as it were, look deeper into his "raison d'être" and to somehow pass on, in the words of the back cover, "the techniques he used to become the icon that he is today." Quite a challenge, I'd say, especially as the book purports that the tips that can be gained from Elvis's words can also be applied "to improve your confidence, social, and communication skills."

I have to admit that I have never looked upon Elvis as some kind of teacher or guru. I certainly agree that his public persona and what I read about him as a fan when he was still alive, made me grow up with an awareness of the importance of respect and politeness, but that's about as far as his influence on my personal attitudes and mores extend. Clearly, however, John Dawson is of the opinion that a lot more can be learned from what Elvis said and to show this, he has collected a selection of quotes from throughout Elvis's professional career, arranged them into ten sections (examples: Elvis on Show Business, Elvis on Friendship, Elvis on Sports) and expanded them with his own commentary. In addition, the book contains numerous black-and-white photos of Elvis, the majority of which seem to come from 1974, as does the very nice colour photo used on the front cover.

Maybe I take things too much at their face value, but I honestly don't see any significance in Elvis introducing his first record while appearing at the Louisiana Hayride in 1956 ("Friends, we're too pooped to pop..."); nor do I read anything special into his outbursts at College Park, Maryland in 1974, against a journalist who commented on his increased weight (...I am a federal narcotics agent, I am. Swear to God...). Should I see these in a wider context? I don't know, but this seems to be Dawson's message. I'm sure that some fans will agree with him, for I know fans who just about worship every word that Elvis said. I'm not one of them, but if you are, then this book might be just right for you. Despite its relatively short length, there's quite a lot in it, though whether this justifies what to me seems a high price (US$ 19.95), you must decide for yourselves.

In addition to the main body of the book, as described above, there is also a brief foreword by David Stanley, an introduction by and some information about the author, a list of Elvis Firsts (though some may dispute the claim that he is the only recording artist to have sold more than one billion records worldwide), an extremely brief bibliography (just eight titles), and a membership application form for Dawson's own "Taking Care of Business Elvis Style" Fan Club.

David Neale

copyright August 2002

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