Ringo Starr recalls wild meeting between The Beatles and Elvis Presley

A surprising encounter between The Beatles and Elvis Presley was shared by Ringo Starr, who called The King “edgy”.

The music legends had a chance meeting with one another during the 1960s, with The Beatles apparently “nervous” to meet the Blue Suede Shoes hitmaker. Presley, a rock legend who inspired the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, left quite an impression on Starr. He recalled the meeting with The King and also shared his love of Presley’s work, saying that without him, there would have been no interest in pursuing a music career. Even though Starr met his music hero, he has since called the encounter “weird” and says The Beatles were starstruck when meeting the legendary musician. Despite that, Starr recalls the time he first laid eyes on The King, who was playing a bass guitar along to the beat of a television.

Starr said: “It was very weird. He was The King and he turned my head around. I always thank him for being born, you know, because I was into Johnny Ray. So then Elvis came out, and he was like the first ‘teenage’ rock-and-roller for me.

“So, it was the Fab Four meets Elvis. And we were all a bit nervous, you know. You get a bit edgy, and he probably was a bit edgy. So we walk in, and he’s playing bass (guitar) to the television.

“I don’t know, you know. But it was probably just a way of handling his nervousness. I don’t know. I don’t remember too much of the dialogue. ‘Hi. Hi. Hello.’ You know, ‘Good to meet you. Loved your early records.'”

The meeting proved to be a nervous one for The Beatles, whose love of Presley was shared by fellow music legend Bob Dylan. Though a huge fan of Presley, Dylan opted not to meet the man and reportedly spoke to nobody for days when news broke of The King’s death in 1977.

He said: “I never met Elvis, because I didn’t want to meet Elvis. Elvis was in his Sixties movie period, and he was just crankin’ ’em out and knockin’ ’em off, one after another. And Elvis had kind of fallen out of favour in the Sixties.

“He didn’t really come back until, whatever was it, ’68? I know the Beatles went to see him, and he just played with their heads. George [Harrison] told me about the scene. And Derek [Taylor], one of the guys who used to work for him.

“Elvis was truly some sort of American king. His face is even on the Statue of Liberty. And, well, like I said, I wouldn’t quite say he was ridiculed, but close. You see, the music scene had gone past him, and nobody bought his records. Nobody young wanted to listen to him or be like him.

“Nobody went to see his movies, as far as I know. He just wasn’t in anybody’s mind. Two or three times we were up in Hollywood, and he had sent some of the Memphis Mafia down to where we were to bring us up to see Elvis. But none of us went.

“Because it seemed like a sorry thing to do. I don’t know if I would have wanted to see Elvis like that. I wanted to see the powerful, mystical Elvis that had crash-landed from a burning star onto American soil. The Elvis that was bursting with life. That’s the Elvis that inspired us to all the possibilities of life. And that Elvis was gone, had left the building.”