In the new book Being John Lennon: A Restless Life, author Ray Connolly recounts the surprisingly awkward first — and only — meeting between two of music’s massive megastars: Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
The meeting took place on August 27, 1965, at Elvis’s Bel Air home, where Priscilla Presley and a few of her friends were “overdressed” in party attire. When the four shaggy-haired English rockstars arrived, they did a lot of staring, but not a lot of talking. Connolly writes that Elvis joked, because he was uncomfortable in the silence, “Well, if you guys are just going to stare at me, I’m going to bed.”
Lithub published the full excerpt from the book, which details the events that followed: John Lennon employing a mock German accent, George Harrison sitting stoned and silent, Paul trying to make conversation and Ringo, who “went off to play pool with some of Elvis’s Memphis Mafia entourage.”
Not exactly a great first impression — and when The Beatles invited Elvis to join them at their Beverly Glen rented home for a party the next night, the King did not oblige.
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