Bruce Springsteen: Elvis Presley Fan’s Graceland Fence Jump

There was a day when the admiration that Bruce Springsteen felt for Elvis Presley turned into fanaticism. And that led him to do something that later himself would call it “stupid”. At 3 a.m. on April 30, and after a 4-hour concert in Memphis, took a taxi and showed up at Graceland. He was accompanied by his friend (and E Street Band guitarist) Steve Van Zandt. When he saw that there was light in the house, the ‘boss’ had an irrepressible impulse. I had to meet the ‘king’ and, Neither short nor lazy, he jumped the fence.

At the age of 7, Elvis changed his life forever

We know, because he himself has revealed it many times, that Elvis Presley was Bruce Springsteen’s first musical hero. I was only seven years old when she saw him on the ed sullivan show and changed his life forever. He told BBC Radio 4 that the first song he heard was hanging dog: “When I heard it, it shot right through my brain.” And he continued: “I suddenly realized that there was more life than I had. I couldn’t imagine there was anyone who didn’t want to be Elvis Presley.”.

His dedication continued and his “winks” to Elvis they were a constant in the trajectory of New Jersey. The iconic cover of Born to run (1975) shows a smiling Springsteen holding a Fender Esquire while leaning on the shoulder of E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons. Well, curiously, On his guitar strap is a badge bearing the image of Elvis Presley, from a New York fan club called “The King’s Court”.

“I jumped over the fence and started running”

born to run represented the Springsteen’s biggest commercial success until there. Many consider it one of the best rock albums of all time. Bruce toured tirelessly to present it, touring the United States up and down, as well as Europe. On April 29, 1976, he stopped at the Ellis Auditorium in Memphis. After a four-hour concert, always charged with adrenaline, he and Steve Van Zandt (friend, guitarist of the E Street Band and also a fan of the ‘king’), They decided to pay a “visit” to Graceland. They got into a taxi and at 3 a.m. on April 30, they arrived at the locked gates of the property.

Bruce himself shared his adventure with the public during one of his concerts in 1985: “I remember we got out of the taxi and we stood there, in front of these doors with the great guitarists. And when you look, on the second floor of the house, it was light and i imagined that elvis was reading or something”. He couldn’t resist the urge: “I said to Steve, ‘Dude, I have to go check it out.’ And I jumped over the fence and started running down the driveway to the mansion.… now when I remember it, I think which was kinda dumb because i hate it when people do the same to me”.

“Is Elvis home?”

“I got to the front door, and just as I was about to knock, the security guards came out of the woods and asked me what I wanted. I told them, ‘Is Elvis home?’ They replied: “No, no, Elvis is not at home”. It’s in Lake Tahoe. Although he was disappointed, he didn’t give up and tried all sorts of strategies to get in. “I started telling them that I was a guitarist, that I had my own band and that we had played that night in the city, and that he had recorded a few records. I even told them it was on the cover of Time and Newsweek. I had to try everything to impress them. I don’t think they believed me. The impassive guards held firm. “They grabbed my arm and put me back on the street with Steve”.

Bruce with Steven Van Zandt. / Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns

Later, I often wondered what he would have said if I had knocked on the door and if Elvis had gone to open it“.

“Not a Good Night”

Just one year after the jump over the fence, on May 28, 1977, Springsteen and Van Zandt finally saw Elvis Presley. Both attended his concert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. The last song he sang that night was Can’t help fall in love. Bruce would later recall this show saying: “It was not a good night.” For him it was. Because that night, when she returned home, she conceived the Fire. He wrote it the way he thought his idol might record it, and the vocals in his 1977 studio version sound like Bruce trying to sing like Elvis. According to Clinton Heylin’s book, “E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band”, Bruce said: “I sent a demo to Elvis, but he died before it got to him.”

Elvis died suddenly just three months after Springsteen saw him at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. On August 16, 1977, when he heard the news, he was particularly devastated. He shared his feelings during a concert: “I remember when a friend called me and told me that he had passed away, it was very difficult to understand how someone, whose music took away the loneliness of so many and gave reason and meaning to the lives of so many, could have ended so tragically“.

Elvis Presley, during a 1976 show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. / Ron Galella Collection/Ron Galella via Getty Images

The boss and the king they never met in person. Even if the admiration was mutual. Presley knew Bruce and had heard his music.. A childhood friend of Elvis, George ‘GK’ Klein, spoke on SiriusXM Elvis Radio: “He loved Springsteen…He came on the scene very quickly and very powerfully and Elvis loved him because he was a ‘rock’n’roller.

“Elvis is my religion”

For years, and still today, Bruce Springsteen includes songs by Elvis in his concerts and expresses his gratitude to the rock star. Perhaps he is the artist who covered Presley the most. From Jailhouse Rock to All Shaken, to Suspicious Minds, Hound Dog, All Shaken, It’s now or never, Don’t be cruel, I can’t help but fall in love or Long live Las Vegas, which Springsteen recorded in the studio and appears on the tribute album Last Temptation of Elvis (1990).

There’s plenty of praise Springsteen has given to who was his first and foremost musical influence. Perhaps one of his most popular quotes is the one he uttered on the 25th anniversary of the “king’s” death.: “ELVIS IS MY RELIGION. For him, I would start selling encyclopedias right now.