Daytrippin' Beatles Magazine

The Latest Beatles News, Travel, Biography and Discography


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Paul McCartney’s lifelong admiration for Elvis Presley

Like John Lennon who had a healthy obsession for Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney had his own epiphany about The King of Rock and Roll in 1956 and started playing the guitar.

“I started to see pictures of Elvis, and that started to pull me away from the academic path,” McCartney recalled. “‘You should see these photos…’ Then you’d hear the records – ‘but wait a minute, this is very good!’ – and then the tingles started going up and down your spine, ‘Oh, this is something altogether different.’ And so the academic things were forgotten.”

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Why Elvis Presley got paid much more than The Beatles for The Ed Sullivan Show

Elvis vs. The Beatles
Surprisingly, inflation did not play a role in the fee The Beatles were paid for performing on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. When compared to the amount Elvis Presley was paid, $50,000 for three performances in late 1956/early 1957, The Beatles worked for peanuts, a measly $10,000 for three shows.

The fact is The Beatles were paid five times less than The King of Rock and Roll for the same number of appearances eight years later. Was it simply due to the superior management skills of Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, compared to The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, or were additional circumstances at play?

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John Lennon’s lifelong obsession with Elvis Presley

lennon-elvispin-color75It’s no secret that John Lennon was a huge fan of Elvis Presley when he was a teenager. Lennon formed his first band, The Quarrymen, which would later become The Beatles, as a result of his love for Elvis Presley and rock and roll.

“Without Elvis, there would be no Beatles,” John Lennon stated matter-of-factly in a 1980 interview.

But Lennon’s teenage love for Elvis didn’t stop when he became an adult. In fact, throughout his life, even though he criticized Presley in his later years, Lennon never stopped being a fan. Just like any other passionate music fan, Lennon had a lifelong obsession for The King of Rock and Roll.

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The Five Beatles songs that Elvis Presley sang

elvis-beatlesMost people think that The Beatles and Elvis Presley were rivals in the music business. However, it was quite the opposite. The Beatles, of course, looked up to Elvis as their biggest musical idol. But as soon as Beatlemania hit the States in 1964, it was rumored that Elvis Presley, The King of Rock and Roll, felt threatened by The Beatles and their success.
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My new book, ELVIS AND THE BEATLES: Love and Rivalry Between the Two Biggest Acts of the 20th Century, proves otherwise detailing how Presley and his manager, Colonel Parker, were quite welcoming to The Beatles during the 1960s.

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