Places, Everyone!…Venue #18/25: Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee

With the publication of this post I will have published one thousand posts on WordPress. If I had one dollar for every post that was published I’d have…..well, one thousand dollars, which is a nice, round number and we, as humans, tend to like our nice, round numbers. But way back in the beginning, I made the decision not to monetize this account. It was always my hope that by sharing the stories from my life, my role as a teacher and from being a fan of modern music that I would be able to create a gathering spot for folks who enjoyed reading a story or two to start their day. I am pleased beyond measure to have met so many wonderful people through WordPress over the past few years. I have enjoyed getting to know each of you through your comments and opinions expressed. I appreciate the fact that each of you takes time out of your busy lives to read my words. Your willingness to interact in positive and thoughtful ways means more to me than dollars and cents ever could. Thank you to all. A huge thank you goes out to my copy editor, Andrea. Five hundred posts ago, you came to me with an offer of assistance. I never knew how much difference a good editor could make until you showed me. Thank you very much for polishing the rough gems of each post and making my words shine. A good portion of any credit that comes my way for these thousand posts also goes to you. Thanks. Finally, over these first thousand posts, I have had many readers comment on a regular basis. You have no idea how much your consistent support means to me. Your kind words are the fuel that propels me forward. Without you, all of this would have far less meaning. From my family of regular readers I dedicate this thousandth post to someone who was there for Post No.1 way back when I first retired in September of 2018. Thank you JoAnn Kropf-Hedley for your unwavering support. And for your pies! In addition to being a fan of my words, JoAnn is also an unwavering fan of someone named Elvis Aaron Presley. So, to celebrate my one thousandth post and to thank JoAnn, on behalf of all of you, let’s spend this post by walking in Memphis. Here we go!!!!

“Walking in Memphis” was a song released by a man named Marc Cohn back in 1991. That song was Cohn’s one big hit, earning him a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. The story of how the song came to be revolves around Cohn searching for inspiration from somewhere, anywhere other than where he was in Cleveland and then, Los Angeles. Cohn had dreams of becoming the next James Taylor or Jackson Browne, but as he entered the final year of his twenties, the songwriting magic possessed by his heroes had eluded him. Following a piece of advice that he had heard from James Taylor, Cohn left his place of residence and traveled somewhere else. He did so with no preordained agenda but simply to go somewhere new and dance with the ghosts he might find. Luckily for Marc Cohn, he opted to shake his writer’s block in the city of Memphis, Tennessee.  While he was there, he went to hear Reverend Al Green preach at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church. Like many tourists, he toured the Beale Street entertainment district. He visited the Hollywood Café to hear a lady named Muriel Wilkinss sing. She spoke with Cohn and then invited him to sing on stage with her. In doing so, she taught him the structural cadence of many Gospel spirituals. Finally, Cohn made the pilgrimage that many do by going to Graceland. For anyone unaware, Graceland was the estate where Elvis lived after he had become a star. It was also the spot where he died in 1976. Now it is a museum and has been designated as a national historic site. After Cohn had taken his walk through Memphis, he felt a renewed sense of energy. By soaking in the voices from past giants of genres such as Jazz, Blues, Gospel and Rock n’ Roll, Marc Cohn found his own voice and, as a result, was able to write his one big hit song, “Walking in Memphis”. For the purposes of this post, it is instructive to dissect Cohn’s song to a certain degree because part of what made the song so successful was that it is such a musical and historical bit of storytelling. Let’s begin.

Verse No. 1 and chorus: “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn

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

W.C. 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

Was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale

Walking in Memphis

But do I really feel the way I feel?

In terms of places with cultural and musical significance in the U.S., Memphis would easily make any Top Ten list. If you have been following my series on Jazz, you may remember that one of the original cultural centres for people of colour following the Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery was New Orleans. Within a generation or two, there was a great northward migration of black families in search of a better, safer, happier life. If you were to look on a map you would see that four hundred miles directly north of New Orleans sits the City of Memphis, Tennessee. Further north and slightly west takes you to St. Louis and Kansas City. Further north still and you wind up in Chicago. Directly east would have taken those who eventually ended up settling in Harlem in New York City. It should not surprise anyone to note that the afore-mentioned cities on the route of the Great Migration of the late 1800s ended up becoming the birthplaces of Gospel, Blues and Jazz. Wherever black people settled in numbers, they took their music with them and worked to see it develop into the mighty genres that each became. 

When it comes to understanding the significance of Memphis, Tennessee, one need look no further than the lyrics of Cohn’s first verse when he mentions three things: 1- Delta Blues, 2- W.C. Handy and 3-Beale Street. Memphis sits on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River. It also rests on the northern tip of an area of prime agricultural land known as the Mississippi Delta. The Mississippi Delta was an area used primarily for cotton production and, as a result, had much to do with plantation life and with slavery. The genre of music that is called The Blues arose from the experiences of those who grew up in this area and knew what it was to be a black person near the cotton fields. Over time, Memphis became known as a place that welcomed black entertainers and businessmen. Like New Orleans, certain areas within the boundaries of Memphis became known for brothels and bars and hotels. In Memphis, that area became known as Beale Street. This street was named after a man named Edward Beale, who was a hero to some for his role in the Civil War. Beale Street was established as a safe place for black musicians to play in the 1800s. However, a yellow fever epidemic brought on by ships docking along the Mississippi nearly wiped out the population of Memphis. (On a separate but related note, The Tragically Hip song “Lake Fever” is an historical account about an identical epidemic that killed nearly two thousand people in Toronto, on the shores of Lake Ontario). With the population of Memphis decimated, opportunities for real estate speculation appeared. One man who saw the financial benefits of rebuilding Memphis was a black businessman named Robert Church. Church purchased the land and many of the businesses that had existed on Beale Street prior to the yellow fever outbreak. He even built a new opera house that eventually came to be called The Orpheum Theatre. In order to bring music back to Memphis, Mr. Church recruited a man named W. C. Handy to train local musicians. Handy was a Jazz and Blues man. He specialized in the cornet (like the one Louis Armstrong played) and the piano. W. C. Handy helped local musicians develop a style of Blues that came to be known across the country as Memphis Blues. He even composed a song of the same name. Legendary Bluesmen such as B.B. King earned their early fame by playing in the clubs on Beale Street. It was also into this rich cultural environment that a young man named Elvis Presley was born.

Verse No. 2 of “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn:

Saw the ghost of Elvis

On Union Avenue

Followed him up to the gates of Graceland

Then I watched him walk right through

Now security they did not see him

They just hovered ’round his tomb

But there’s a pretty little thing

Waiting for the King

Down in the Jungle Room

Graceland is the place that most people associate with being Elvis’ home. However, it is not where he grew up. Elvis was born in Tupelo, MIssissippi, and moved to Memphis as a teenager. Initially, he and his family lived in an ordinary house on an ordinary street. While Elvis was enjoying his teenage years, the earliest rumblings of rock n’ roll were starting to appear. Sam Phillips of Sun Records was busy looking for singers who could play/sing in the same style as many of the Bluesmen who populated Beale Street. Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash were some of the first singers that Phillips signed. But the biggest of them all was young Elvis. Many of you know the life story of Elvis Presley, so I won’t go into that much biographic detail here, but one thing to note is that he was raised in times that featured a state of cultural transition. On the one hand, Elvis very much loved his family, particularly his mother, and was very aware of the role of the church in his life. It is not by fluke that he sang so many hymns throughout the entire course of his career. But at the same time, he was a teenage boy who found the musical offerings on Beale Street to be to his liking. That young teenage Elvis immersed himself in the sound of Blues, Jazz and Gospel and became peers with B. B. King, Little Richard and the others who played on Beale Street. Eventually, he was invited to join in on late night jam sessions. His talent became obvious to all. His respect for those who had taught him so well was obvious in reply. When he started performing at county fairs organized by Sam Phillips, it was the lessons he had learned on Beale Street that appeared on the stages of those fairs and so shocked/entranced the nation. As Elvis’ fame and notoriety grew, crowds began staking out his residential home. It became apparent that having someone like Elvis living in an ordinary neighbourhood was not going to cut it. Once Elvis began earning enough money, he directed his parents to search for a new location for a home. He wanted it to be a place away from the city, with room to breathe. That new home eventually became what we now know to be Graceland.

Contrary to what some believe, Graceland was not built for Elvis. It already existed. Vernon Presley purchased the property from a man whose daughter had been named Grace, hence the property was already known as Graceland before Elvis and family came on the scene. But once they bought it, the Presely family had some measure of the privacy that they longed for. Unfortunately for Elvis, his beloved mother Gladys soon passed away. Between her loss and the time he spent in the military coupled with his father taking a new wife, Elvis endured a series of dramatic changes to his life. This was on top of his career, which had begun to shift toward movie roles above singing. What Graceland represented to Elvis more than anything else was a safe harbour. He was always family-oriented and longed for stability in his life. So as his personal and professional life became a whirlwind, Graceland became a refuge from it all. Eventually, Elvis ended up living there on his own (and then with Priscilla, his bride) and placed his own decorative stamp on the estate.

As much as Graceland is known as the home Elvis Presley lived in during his adult years, Graceland is also known for its decor. Looking at the various rooms in Graceland from a modern perspective makes their decor style seem almost garish. But truth be told, as a child of the 1970s, I grew up in homes furnished with dark colours, rich shag carpets, lots of wood everywhere and heavy, weighted, hulking pieces of furniture. While much of how Graceland looks may seem dated by today’s standards, at the time it was all pretty modern. Many people are aware that Elvis dedicated certain rooms or areas of the property for specific purposes or themes. Thus, the most famous room of all has turned out to be a room in the basement known as the Jungle Room. The Jungle Room was put in after Elvis returned from filming the movie Blue Hawaii. The decor, which includes an indoor waterfall, was designed to emulate the environment he found to be so enjoyable while in Hawaii. In some ways, the Jungle Room was one of the original “man caves”. 

Luckily Graceland is more than just colourfully designed theme rooms. There are exhibits of memorabilia from his career, including gold records, guitars and his famous white jumpsuit. Many people stop to admire the iron gates in the shape of sheet music that guard the entrance to the property, as well as his two personal airplanes. But more than anything else, what fans most come to Graceland for is to pay their respects at his gravesite. Elvis is buried on the grounds of Graceland and is laid to rest beside his mother and father and several other family members, including his daughter Lisa Marie, who recently passed away.

Verse No.3: “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn

They’ve got catfish on the table

They’ve got gospel in the air

And Reverend Green be glad to see you

When you haven’t got a prayer

But, boy, you’ve got a prayer in Memphis

A five minute walk from Graceland will bring you to the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church. This small church was the one that was purchased by singer Al Green, who had a religious epiphany after a domestic dispute resulted in him being scalded and hospitalized with burns. Reverend Al Green preaches and performs regularly from a specially designed pulpit fit for a king. From what I have read, many visitors become quite emotional in the presence of a man possessed of Gospel fervor as Rev. Green has become. If you want to experience a true Memphis Gospel service, then make sure to visit the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church…Reverend Green will be glad to see you.

Verse No. 4: “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn

Now Muriel plays piano

Every Friday at the Hollywood

And they brought me down to see her

And they asked me if I would

Do a little number

And I sang with all my might

She said

“Tell me are you a Christian child?”

And I said “Ma’am, I am tonight”

The final verse of “Walking in Memphis” concerns an encounter that Marc Cohn had with a woman named Muriel Wilkins who was singing at a place called the Hollywood Café. Wilkins was singing in the background while customers ate their meals. Her music was Gospel themed. By this time, Marc Cohn had come to recognize the spiritual nature of Memphis and how religion wove itself through so much of the music that was produced there. He became enthralled with Wilkins, even if everyone else was ignoring her. He approached her and asked to talk. The two conversed about what had brought Cohn to Memphis. Mrs. Wilkins offered to teach him something about Gospel music by inviting him to join her on stage and sing with her. Although Jewish and unfamiliar with many Christian spirituals, Cohn agreed. Muriel Wilkins taught him the words, and most importantly, she offered instruction on the proper rhythm and cadence. Eventually, Marc Cohn began to pick things up and left the encounter feeling that he had gotten a better understanding of the structure of good songs but also the spiritual underpinning that anchored these songs, too. He has stated in interviews that when he wrote the lines “Tell me are you a Christian, child? And I said, “Ma’am, I am tonight” that he had found his voice.   

Ask any writer of songs or of poetry or of little blog posts such as mine, and we will all tell you that finding your own voice as a writer is the key to everything. I would like to think that by now, after one thousand posts have come and gone, that my stories have a certain tone or feel that comes across as being my voice in print form. I am by no means a perfect writer, but I try to write from the heart, and I try to write for you so that you will learn something new or read something that will brighten your day and uplift your spirit. Marc Cohn’s journey to find his voice took him all the way to Memphis, Tennessee. He found his voice in the stories of so many who have traveled so far and endured so much yet still face life with song. There is a lesson in that for all of us should we care to look. Whether it be a belief in God or the church or in the human spirit, there is always hope in times of trouble and strife. If hope seems far away or even lost, one of the best ways to discover it again is through song. Sometimes the lessons of the world are easier to see or to digest when they are sung by someone as kind as Muriel Wilkins or as passionate as Rev. Al Green or as sincere as Elvis Aaron Presley. Perhaps we should all go walking in Memphis, eh?

The link to the official website for the Beale Street Entertainment District can be found here.

The link to the official website for the city of Memphis, Tennessee can be found here.

The link to the official website for the Orpheum Theatre can be found here.

The link to the official website for Graceland can be found here.

The link to the official website for the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church can be found here.

The link to the official website for the Hollywood Café can be found here.

Finally, the official website for singer Marc Cohn can be found here. The link to the video for his song “Walking in Memphis” can be found here. The lyrics version is here.

***Thanks again to you all for reading these words. One thousand posts are now officially in the books. Let’s all do this again when the next thousand are done.

As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post…or the previous 999 before it…shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com