The following article was written by Eamon Carr one of Irelands most famous journalists and broadcasters. Eamon who was a member of Irish rock band 'Horslips' one of the original instigators of Celtic Rock  has written extensively for many of Irelands best known publications and is currently on the staff of the 'Evening Herald' Irelands only national evening newspaper. wpe13309.gif (140507 bytes) Eamons writing's cover many diverse subjects such as music, sport, politics, religion, as well as his many fine articles on the life and music of 'Elvis Presley'  Eamon of course is a great Elvis fan and can be seen at many of the clubs charity events where he also takes his place behind the decks playing the music of 'The King'  Eamonn is seen here pictured with 'George Klein' when George was our guest of honour at one of our charity shows

          This article was published in 'IN DUBLIN' magazine on 6th. August 1987.


                        Elvis "Erin" Presley  by  Eamon Carr.


Ten Years after the death of the King, Eamon Carr presents some startling new evidence which clearly indicates that Elvis Presley was as least as Irish as Ronald Regan. ( please note for those of you who are not Irish, the man that appears in all the black and white photographs with 'Elvis' is non other then the ex. Prime Minister of Ireland Mr.  Charles J. Haughey )

wpe33629.gif (202338 bytes)Before Elvis there was nothing when John Lennon said that he knew what he was talking about.  The famous Sun Studios' echo which drenched the vocals of a young Elvis Presley over thirty years ago still reverberates around the world.  A harbinger of change in 1954, the voice of Elvis had a seismic effect on popular culture.  However the full Elvis experience transcends mere superstardom.  Embodying, as it does, the undying love and respect of millions, the Presley legacy is that of a deity.

Over the years countless fanzines and photo-journalists have been devoted to superficial studies of the man.  A steady stream of cheap -shot biographies and documentaries have exploited the Presley legacy.  While Elvis himself once astutely remarked, "The image is one thing. The man is another" observers of the Presley phenomenon have long being struck by the lack of scholarly studies on the nature of the man who occupies the premier position in contempory mythology.  This situation is finally being remedied.  A recent biography full of fresh insights and new information, has been hailed by one American newspaper as " the best Elvis book yet."  It contains dramatic news.  Elvis was Irish!  Well as Irish as Ronald Regan.  While it behooves the America President to acknowledge his Irishness, Elvis is a leader whose Constituency contains a multi-racial legion of fans, rock'n'roll their manifesto.  But this being a  political world, we must ask ourselves did the scheming Dutchman, Col. Tom Parker, deny Elvis awareness of this important information, this simple joy?  Are we confronted by another sad example of Orange versus Green?  Had he known would Elvis have visited his homeland?  There are so many questions, yet so few answers.  But one thing we now know is that it was Irish blood which pumped in those energetic veins.  And if we believe in what poet and statesman  W.B. Yeats called Anima Mundi  ( The Great Memory ), itself a parallel to Plato's 'anamnesis', then we can be sure that the soft voice of his ancestors reached across the centuries, calling him home.
 

'ELVIS AND HIS IRISH ROOTS'

Described by the New York Daily News as "a literate, careful biographer who cares",  Elaine Dundy presents the results of months of  painstaking research in her new book 'Elvis and Gladys-The Genesis of the King'.  Unearthing previously ignored source material such as 'Lee County Cemeteries' and 'Itawamba settlers' she puts branches on the family tree.  Historians and fans alike have hailed what is possible the single most exciting genealogical discovery in recent times.  What was once suspected is now an undeniable fact.  At last we have the proof.  Elvis's great-great-great-grandfather was Willie Mansell, son of Irish immigrant Richard Mansell.  Of course this was on the mother's side.  Willie marries a Cherokee Indian called Morning Dove so perhaps that's why Elvis didn't look your average Irishman!   Ms Dundy tells us that 'Richard Mansell had been a soldier in the revolution...during the Norman conquest there had been many men from Le Mans.  They went all over England...and from Scotland they went to Ulster to America in the mass migration which began in 1718 and where they became known as Scots-Irish.'

Should the author continue her explorations into Elvis's past, rich discoveries await her.  I've no doubt the Mansell family were distant cousins of both the De Mandeville's of Rotoath, Co Meath and of John ' The Fenian' Manderville whose statute still stands in Mitchelstown.  Edward McLysaght's  'More Irish Families' revels that'...they were located for the most part in Tipperary and Limerick; in both these counties Mansels (sic) held the position of Chief Sergeant in the thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries.'  Information of this calibre contributes much to our understanding of the career of Elvis Presley.  For example, when, in 1970, Elvis accepted the badge of Deputy Sheriff of Shelby County he was simply carrying on the family tradition...

In the light of this remarkable discovery we can perhaps begin to give credence to other more speculative links in the Elvis-Irish connection.

wpe68351.gif (40100 bytes)FACT:  Elvis's natural hair colouring was fair to sandy, like that of his ancestors ( more evidence of his Irish roots ) as clearly illustrated by this photograph of him as a young boy.


'ELVIS SINGS IRISH'


In dressing-rooms after strenuous live appearances, at home in the bosom of his family, while taking time-out in the recording studio, Elvis liked to relax by singing his favorite music, gospel songs. Right?  Wrong!  Elvis first love was Irish music! just listen to his particularly poignant reading of 'Danny Boy' on the album  'From Elvis Presley Boulavard, Memphis, Tennessee' or turn to the Fiftieth Anniversary Limited Edition Box Set where Elvis accompanies himself  on  piano on 'I'll take You Home Again Kathleen'  and you won't question that here's a man at one with Irish musical tradition.  Sean O'Riada, Brendan Shine, Shane McGowan they're only in the ha'penny place!  Is the old dog-catcher from Tampa, Colonel Tom sitting on a pile of unreleased tapes?  Are 'Muirsheen Durkan' and 'The Helicopter Song' the great lost singles?  Will we ever get to hear the legendary albums 'Elvis Salutes The Men Behind The Wire' wpe25226.gif (140797 bytes)or  'Irish Whiskey A-Go-Go?  Who can say.  However it should also be pointed out that one of the reasons Elvis loved to play Las Vegas was because on his night off he could slip down the road for a jar and catch Brendan Bowyer and the Irish Show band recreating the atmosphere of a typical rain-soaked night in a miserable marquee somewhere outside Glenamaddy.  Who knows what plans were hatched when El and the lads got together backstage, apres gig.  To this day Mr. Bowyer remains tight-lipped.  So it's still unclear whether Elvis actually recorded that other Irish anthem 'The Hucklebuck'.


'ELVIS AND THE GAA'. ( Gaelic Athletic Association )


'When I was a kid I used to play football for hours and hours and never feel tired' said Elvis to columnists Paul Denis in '59.  A year later he told the editor of  Movie land Magazine ' I used to lie awake nights and dream of being a football  hero.  I lived football -its still my favorite game.'  No doubt you'll claim that Elvis was referring here to that bizarre sport known as American Football, where grown men dress up as automobiles and spend an afternoon crashing into each other.  But I would contend that given the recent unseemly money-grabbing antics of the GAA, as manifest in their acceptance of homicidal Australian thugs and the destruction of our premier pitch, Croke Park, by crazed teenage pop fans, Elvis was ahead of his time! Because in a couple of years the Central Council will undoubtedly accept Budweiser sponsorship to promote a bunch of American bull-goose loonies in their efforts to demolish the formidable full-back line of future All-Ireland Champions Meath.


'ELVIS NIXON AND RATHMINES'.
 

In December 1970 Elvis, resplendent in purple velvet suit and cape, dropped in unannounced at the White House.  Political historians and pop sociologists have long speculated as to the real purpose of the visit.  One theory gaining ground in recent years is that Elvis, contemplating a visit to the land of his forefathers, requested a report on life in the Emerald Isle from the most famous Irishman of the time, President Richard M. Nixon.  Within a few months the President and his staff arrived on a fact finding mission on behalf of the King and its wpe03148.gif (147997 bytes)believed that they reported back to Graceland that,  yes there were late night movies at the Carlton,  but  only on weekends, and yes, one could get a substantial late-night nosh, served by the ever-genial May, in the intimate surroundings of the suitably named Manhattan, near Kelly's Corner.  Given the favourable nature of the report, how is it Elvis never made it to Dublin, birth place of the cream cracker?  Shredded Oval Room files deny us access to the truth but there are those that contend that while  passing through Rathmines Nixon was appalled  by Rednecks whom he believed to be worse than those in 'Deliverance'.  Even the Memphis Mafia, El's personal bodyguards, blanched when they heard stories of 'culchies',  'bog monsters' and 'muck savages'.


'ELVIS AND BECKETT'

It's being alleged by the gutter press that, like many an Irishman before him, Elvis displayed a fondness for the bed, often taking to it for weeks at a time!  I defy anyone to name one Irish person who's not partial to the odd lie-on.  In refusing to get up for work, Elvis was subconsciously asserting his Irish identity and in so doing he displayed an affinity with the great modern playwright,  Samuel Beckett, the man who conceived a series of contemporary theatre masterpieces while supine in the scratcher.


'ELVIS AND THE FAMINE'


What most people don't realize is that before the Great Famine there were a few minor famines which presented the sort of deprivation which would have indigent farmers lunching on nettles prior to redoubling their efforts   to snare the occasional bull-goose.  No, no, no, I'm not talking about Gerry Ryan.  Anyway in later years when Elvis called for home fries, French fries or the odd single, he was responding to an instinctive hereditary   impulse which demanded spuds.  An arguable Irish trait.  And one which we know can usually be awakened by a few pints of porter.


'ELVIS AND RED COLLIER'


wpe22983.gif (134402 bytes)Elvis might have managed to get away with dying his hair black from an early age if he hadn't agreed to the movie 'Kissing Cousins'.  You'd have to be half -blind not to notice that Elvis au natural had fair-to-sandy coloured hair.  I recently heard a Trinity College Professor in a pub claim that this was due to a chemical quotient inherent in celluloid and that in fact Elvis was a natural redhead whose hair was similar to that of the great Meath half-back from the sixties,  'Red Collier'.


'ELVIS AND MONTHY PYTHON'


It's also true to say that Elvis possessed a quality that we sometimes like to think is exclusively Irish.  Elvis had  a brilliant sense of  humour and loved Monthly Python's Flying Circus.  He also had the greatest white rock'n'roll voice of all time and was definitely the most charismatic performer in the music game.  He will be sorely missed.



                                        
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