In the spring of 1995, Sting and Trudie Styler invited Bruce Springsteen to perform at their annual Rainforest Foundation benefit show. This year’s theme: Elvis.
“Oh no,” Bruce said, “Because when you sing Elvis, you lose. You’re not going to sing those songs better than he sang them.”
But Bruce couldn’t and wouldn’t decline the invitation, of course, and he did end up singing a few Elvis covers at the show. But the idea of trying to imitate Elvis got stuck in his mind, and one afternoon at home he wrote the words:
I’m turning into Elvis, and there’s nothing I can do.
“I thought it would be a funny way to contextualize the entire event,” he told interviewer Neil Strauss in 1995. “It was very easy to write.”
Also fun.
“I’m Turning Into Elvis” unreels like a shaggy dog story, each verse its own I-can-top-that vignette. It needs no analysis, because there’s zero subtext. So just enjoy:
I woke up in the morning, and I had on blue suede shoes
The pillow crushed my hair into a shiny black pompadour and on my arm was one blue tattoo
Well my wife, she brought me breakfast and I said, “thank you ma’am… god bless you”
I’m turning into Elvis, and there’s nothing I can do
Well now, my closet was filled with uncounted jewels and a suit of gold lame
And I put on a belt the size of Memphis, It was inscribed “Love Priscilla, Yours Always”
In the pocket there were some little white pills… yeah, I did them too
I’m turning into Elvis, and there’s nothing I can do
Well I went downstairs, and I kissed the babysitter. She screamed and I told her it was just the beast in me
And on my way out of the house, I shot out my TV
I went down to the corner luncheonette and said “fried peanut butter and banana, ma’am, that’ll do”
I’m turning into Elvis and there’s nothing I can do
Well, I threw out my wife and family and I took off my wedding ring
I told my friends and neighbors to refer to me now as “King”
I put a chain link fence around my ranch house and on the gate a sign that says “Graceland II”
I’m turning into Elvis and there’s nothing I can do
I visited my mama’s grave and I headed out to Hollywood and I signed a picture with MGM
I play a rebellious beach boy racecar driver who fucks a nun in the end
In the last scene, I whip out my big guitar and show her a little Memphis-style kung-fu
I’m turning into Elvis and there’s nothing I can do
Well, then I drove on straight to Vegas and I stopped in the first good old stripper bar
Found me a little hooker that looked just like Ann-Margaret and we rumba-ed in my sports car
Well me and my drinking buddies turned my lovin’ home into a freakin’ zoo
I’m turning into Elvis and there’s nothing I can do
Well he came to me last night in a dream, looking just like he did in 1957
He said “Son that guitar is a wonderful thing but it can be the devils’ friend.
On the other hand there’s sex-starved women, millions of dollars, and anything you want to do…”
I’m turning into Elvis and there’s nothing I can do
That performance was actually from Bruce’s show in Memphis in November 1996–the only time Bruce has performed “I’m Turning Into Elvis” on tour, and the only known complete recording of the song. (Bruce previewed his work-in-progress at a private show at Sony Studios a week before the Rainforest gig, playing only a few verses parceled out over the course of the show, and then debuted the song at Carnegie Hall the week following.)
Bruce envisioned the song as “a talking blues… You could have a competition where everyone could send in their own verses.”
He took that notion to heart–over the course of the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, he’d use that same concept (and sometimes the same melody) to write other talking blues songs like “Sell It and They Will Come” and “Pilgrim in the Temple of Love.” (Hey, a rock star/family man’s gotta do something to entertain themselves at night on the road.) A decade later, in fact, he was still using it for songs like Yankees Win.”
But “I’m Turning Into Elvis” was where it started. One wonders just how many other variations are scrawled through the pages of Bruce’s notebook, unheard except for the hotel guests in the room next door.
I’m Turning Into Elvis
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: April 5, 1995 (New York City, NY)
Last performed: November 19, 1996 (Memphis, TN)
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