ELVIS PRESLEY revealed in a candid interview that he felt he "had" to
carry out certain parts of his life, and he was not happy with how his
career went. Instead, he wanted to return to the stage and sing.
In
1969, Elvis Presley returned to the stage after years away from performing.
The singer had been away from live singing for almost an entire decade but
eventually returned to a residency slot at The International Hotel in Las
Vegas. On July 31 1969, he was interviewed about his career, where he
confessed he wished he had been back sooner.
Elvis explained: "I've always wanted to perform on the stage
again for the last nine years, and it's been building up inside of me since
1965 until the strain became intolerable." He added that he got all "hyped
up" about singing again. The King added: "I don't think I could have left it
much longer."
Once he had returned to the big stage, he wanted to
be clear about what he didn't enjoy doing throughout the 1960s.
Elvis confessed: "We've now completed all the deals I made when I
came out of the army in 1960, and from now on, I'm going to play more
serious parts and make fewer films." He reluctantly added: "I wouldn't be
being honest with you if I said I wasn't ashamed of some of the movies, and
the songs I've had to sing in them. I would like to say they were good, but
I can't."
The star also opened up about how much he didn't like shooting
movies.
On top of being the star of these films, Elvis would be
enlisted to perform and record the soundtracks for them. This, he revealed,
was a taxing process. The King said: "I've been extremely unhappy with that
side of my career for some time. But how can you find 12 good songs for
every film when you're making three films a year? I knew a lot of them were
bad songs and they used to bother the heck out of me."
He added:
"But I had to do them. They fitted the situation."
Elvis also
touched upon his weight, which had fluctuated massively in recent
years. The star would famously gain a lot of weight in the final years
of his life - around 1975 onwards - but he had lost a significant amount in
1969 for his return to stage.
When quizzed on his weight, he replied: "I don't understand it.
People keep telling me I look young. I don't know how I do it, either."
Elvis
added: "I got very heavy at one time when I was in all those movies, but I
lose it quickly, you know." Of course, Elvis would go on to gain much more
weight in the following decade, just before his death.
He later
died on August 16, 1977 of a cardiac arrest in his home, Graceland.
