I saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue...

TresHappy

Just got back from Memphis you guys - it was great! Great to be back though - now I have to catch up on my sleep!

maxwell

I guess his ghost floated up from Graceland along Bellvue/Elvis Presley Boulevard. I drove up and down Union Ave quite often when I lived in the area. Glad you enjoyed my old stomping ground.

Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the delta blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
WC Handy won't you look down over me
Yeah I got a first class ticket
But I'm as blue as a boy can be

Then I'm walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off a beel
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel

Saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue
Followed him up to the gates of Graceland
And I watched him walk right through
Now security they did not see him
They just huddled round his tomb
There's a pretty little thing waiting for the King
Down in the jungle room

Then I'm walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off a beel
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel

Then I'm walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off a beel
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel

They got catfish on the table
They got gospel in the air
Reverend Green be glad to see you
When you haven't got a prayer
But boy you got a prayer in Memphis
Now Gabriel plays piano
Every Friday at the Hollywood
And they brought me down to see him
And asked me if I would

Do a little number
And I sang with all my might
He said tell me are you a Christian child
And I said man I am tonight

Then I'm walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off a beel
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel

Then I'm walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off a beel
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel

Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the delta blues
In the middle of the pouring rain

[www.STLyrics.com]

rocketman

Until now, I never could decipher the "on Union Avenue" phrase in that song.

gitasatsangha

TresHappy,

Glad you liked memphis. Sorry I didn't know you were in my town, we coulda had a minifest.

maxwell

I've heard that song many times but never noticed that line either.

What's a "beel"? or do they mean Beale as in Beale Street. That's what I always thought he meant.

TresHappy

Beel must be Beale Street - I got the lyrics off the web - probably a typo.

I love the trolley which goes around downtown.

The Peabody Ducks - aren't they adorable?

gitasatsangha

some more memphis stuff

That Day on Beale Street (4/4 time)

Rain shower rain night,
we're alright. Kinda
tired, that's all.
The band is playing, the
crowd ain't paying, despite
the looks of the front man,
he's there for the music
He's not mad. And anyway
they're happy to be sad.
Playing hag instruments, guitars
that droop and sag their shoulders
drum kits that lay about like piles
of windswept boulders,
smegma atomic saxophones, mostly
the harmonica man who
breaks it all up like a
novelty cup. He talks into the
reeds and valves, something about
that dollar store train sound.
Did you ever play an instrument,
friend asks me. No,
I lie dead seriously.

-J.G. (me) - www.jonathongrimes.com

I Can't Believe I Live Here

My Love is busy helping people.
What shall I do but watch
her go, as a flower's petals strip
from the tree, falling to a graceful end.
If only I had some habbit.
I resolve to smoke, as I watch her go.

Your car is sputtering blue oil fumes
at me, as you drive away in the cold
I stare from the cover of the carport
tired sun going home out west
where are you going
where am I going
I'll see you soon.

In the here and now of this connectionless
living. Memphis is basted and turned over
to get more flavor.
Citysmoker, hosted by the jollyAlRoker,
But it's just more WalMarts, and Olive Gardens.
Then in the eyes of the department store Johnsons
Tamiquas and hooknosed Flannigans
is that calm cool
"Why you lookin at me?"
It's laughably easy.
to be kind. None of us will ever venture.

Take today's offender,
last week mowing lawns, watching who goes on vacation
Two weeks worth the salary from selling
fifty pounds worth the Hitachi and Hewlitt Packard
At least he didn't shit on the floor.
He catches his end in the rain. Falls hard.
waterdrops turning to steam on the concrete
he caught the evil eye of someone
I looked at earlier, maybe.
I like to think the thief and the nobody
ogled the same ass on the same silly broad
we passed the same body over with
lecherous eyes. Only he had things to do,
and I had the sense to window shop.
He broke into the next home, with an old
man in it, and old arm clutching an even older '38.
Out stealing third.
The cops kicked his arm over the threshhold.
"There you go, pop, it's a legal shot now.
"Donchu go telling no one what we just done."
"God bless you, Officer."

See it as a town of rape, theft, murder
music, passion, filth, and miracles
The people sway back and forth in the
pews of the Memphis Churches
where faith and dharma means loosing control
I look at the Pyramid from an office window
I should be working. Instead I see
a barge boat pushing ore up north, and I wonder
where boatmen get their groceries, and what
it's like to sleep on the river.
I'll never know, because
I don't care enough to find out.
Day over. Two hits, one man left on base.
I am a monkey swinging from cat-5 cables
I am an ape jumping on sturdy plastic tables
I'll throw shit at you, if you look at my face
I'll turn human again, if you promise not to look.
Praise Jesus, Jon's healed, hallaluya.

Moon I can't see you over roof of Rum Boogie.
Kee and Me brush past the armpits and the
sandals and shoes of Beale Street
New Years eve
countdown, a kiss, chilly air, black sky.
Black sky heaven, black city trying
to get somewhere on trolly wheels.
I wish you well. You'll never let me in,
and I'll never adopt you. But
it's been real, Memphis.
The city I sleep in.

-J.G 2003 (www.jonathongrimes.com)

TresHappy

Today I went into the Shelby County Tennessee District and was looking for an address of someone I knew and I decided to type in "Elvis Presley" in the name of the owner search box. It came up that Elvis owns three mobile homes in Memphis. And we thought he was dead!

Billygoat

Tres,

I love that song! Whatever happened to that singer? Was it Mark Cohn???

Andi

I saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue...

I Can't Believe I Live Here

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