der originaltext:

Charlie Hodge Interview Part 2 - Elvis Is Back

The Foggy River Boys always ran out on stage to begin their show. I started carrying an empty Coke case out on stage with me to stand on. I was only five feet and three inches tall. The other guys towered over me if I didn't have something to stand on top of. The Coke case gave the audience a reason to chuckle. It had them on my side from the start.

And that was the way Elvis and his cousin, Billy, saw me singing on the Ozark Jubilee show at the auditorium in Memphis, just before we both were drafted. Elvis saw me standing on an old crate, singing. The memory always gave him a chuckle. And Elvis liked to have people around him who knew how to bring a chuckle to the world.

"Every great person in history has had a kind of court jester, or a comedian, around him," Elvis told me once. He's always had someone who can make him laugh. "The comic can get away with saying just about anything to him - and he can say anything he wants to his jester and the guy won't get mad at him."

That was to be part of my job for Elvis.

Q : When did Elvis ask you to come work for him?

A : This was after we got back out of the army. And I came to Memphis to do the album with him, the 'Elvis Is Back' album. And Joe was already working for him at that time and was made foreman of the group, because Joe did something... On the trip that I missed to Paris, Joe went with him. And Joe did something that no one had ever done for Elvis. And that's when they'd pay a bill or something, Joe would get all the receipts. And Elvis said, "Why are you doing that?" And Joe said, "Well, you can count this off on your income taxes." Well, nobody had ever done that for Elvis. I mean, all his friends and hanger-ons and whatever just spend the money and enjoy it, you know. And so, he saw a man of value there. And he asked Joe to go to work for him.

And when I went up there, I wasn't working, you know. I just stayed there at the house. And we went up to Nashville, did the session. And then we came back, and they went down to Florida to do the Frank Sinatra TV show. And I went to Alabama because I wanted to spend some more time with my parents. And then I came back. And we went and recorded the second half of the album. And then Elvis was going to go to Hollywood to do the movie he did just after he came out, 'G.I. Blues'. And I was down at the train station. I even left my clothes at his house. And I was down there. And Elvis looked down, and he says, "Do you want to go to Hollywood?" I said, "Why not?" I said, "But I want to have my clothes here. They're out at your house". He said, "We'll buy you some out there. Get on the train". And so that's how it started.

Q : Could you mention the RCA studio in Nashville, and what it was like recording there?

A : Well, I had recorded at Studio B with Homer and Jethro when I was with the Foggy River Boys. I was on the Ozark Jubilee and knew Chet Atkins briefly from him being a guest on the summer months on Eddy Arnold's TV show. But when we went there the first time, I think the Jordanaires and some of the other musicians were here just this new guy with Elvis. "What's he doing?" You know, and then I'm out there singing a duet with him. No one had ever sang a full duet with Elvis like we did on album, 'I Will Be Home Again'. And I think everybody was a little suspicious at first. In fact, I think the Colonel, until he got to know me better, thought that I was going to try to use Elvis to further my career. Because the Colonel was a suspicious man knowing my background of being on the Ozark Jubilee and everything. But I didn't try to use Elvis.

Q : What were the recording sessions like with Elvis?

A : I'd never seen such a relaxed situation. Elvis would go in there, and he might get to the piano and start singing. And maybe the Jordanaires would come around, or we'd do something until he was comfortable, you know. And then he'd be ready to record. But I'd never seen anything like that. Usually like when we went in to do our sessions for Decca and went in there to do this session with Homer and Jethro, you went in there all business. You know, you'd go in and do your songs and get out. But there Elvis was. And we went in there about I guess about 7:00 or 8:00 at night and then didn't start recording till almost 10:00. And then, it was all night long up until I guess about 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning or something like that. And it felt like it was fun. It was relaxed. And Elvis had people around him who were very creative. And somebody would have an idea, and they would give it a try and see if it fits, you know. Elvis was wide open to suggestions. I mean, they stayed as close as the demonstration record as they could. But they came up with some great ideas that were used.

Q : Tell us about Elvis's train trip out to Hollywood. Did he talk about some of the movies he wanted to make? And how was it when you arrived?

A : Well, I know even in Germany, he talked about that he would like to do most serious movies. And I think he had it within him too. Going out on the train, though, to California, it was amazing to me. Every little whistle stop where trains no longer stopped there was mobs of people all the way across the United States of America. Every little whistle stop. And they'd be waving when the train went by, because they knew Elvis was on there. But at every whistle stop in every town, all the way out there. And then when we got there, to Los Angeles, they put us in about five or six different cars. And each car went in a different direction. And they didn't know which one Elvis was in, so they didn't know which one to follow. And then we, of course, went through the hotel there in Beverly Hills.

Q : Which hotel was it?

A : The Beverly Wilshire. Well, it's a famous place in Hollywood. You could go down there in the coffee shop there and see almost any star might be sitting down and having coffee. I never will forget... Of course, I'd been overseas and hadn't seen him here, but Soupy Sales was in one day and sat down. And he said, "This is Soupy Sales". Oh, I forgot who it was. And I said, "Well, nice to meet you. What do you do?" And there he was a big star on television. And then he went and told me. I said, "I'm sorry. I just got back from Europe, two years in the army, I dont know what's going on in television here". And I apologize. He said, "It's all right", you know.

Q : Elvis didn't stay long in a hotel before he rented a home, right?

A : Well, we stayed there for a little bit. And there were residents who lived in that hotel. And we used to get into little water battles. And we'd start out with water guns. And that wouldn't be enough. Then we'd get glasses of water to drip on each other. And then we'd start putting heads on it with shaving cream, just any wild idea. And I think one time we came in water was dripping from the ceiling, you know. And somebody ran down the hall, and somebody had given Elvis an old, cheap guitar. And he threw it down the hall, and the lady looked out and ducked back in, because it went right by her head and broke in all pieces when it hit down there. Well, not long after that, we began looking for a house. I don't think they wanted us to stay there much longer.

Q : What was the first house in Los Angeles?

A : It was the Perugia Way house. And it was a round house, more or less. And you could walk all the way around the garden inside the house. And it was unique. And, you know, it was right on the fairway of the golf course there. That's where Elvis met the Beatles at that house when they came over.

quelle: elvis world japan
http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~presley/elnews239.htm