Man who wrote Elvis hit
From
CLODAGH HARTLEY
in Nashville
THE
man whose song put Elvis Presley on top of the charts again
25 years after his death told yesterday of his delight. A Little
Less Conversation by Elvis vs JXL is a sensational remix of
a composition Billy Strange wrote for The King 34 years ago.
It shot to No1 after almost constant play in Nike’s TV commercials
featuring Eric Cantona and stars of the World Cup. Yesterday
Billy said The King would have been thrilled to be singing for
a whole new army of young fans. Elvis’s success means he has
now had the greatest number of No1s in the UK with 18, beating
the record previously held by The Beatles. Now aged 72, Billy
spoke exclusively to The Sun at his studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
He said: “Elvis would have been 67 this year. I’ve got great
memories of him and I’m proud my song is making young kids admire
him all over again.”
Billy
recalled how The King shook his hips to the beat and snapped
up the song when he first hummed it to him.
He
said: “Elvis asked me for something up-tempo and funky for his
Comeback Special in 1968. “I had already written the melody
for A Little Less Conversation. I played him the tape and hummed
it out. “He started swayin’ his hips and shaking his butt. He
looked at me, smiled and yelled, ‘Yeah Billy, I love it. Let’s
do it’. “So we went into the recording studio and cut it. “I
never dreamed that our work together would be resurrected. But
I am very very pleased and proud of its staying power.” He added:
“It would have been a special delight for Elvis. He would have
been thrilled to bits.” Billy stands to make millions now the
song has gone to No 1 and is set to top charts in America and
across the rest of the planet thanks to the World Cup telly
ads. Helping guide Elvis Presley and Billy into the digital
age has been Dutch DJ Tom Holkenborg — Junkie XL. It was he
who lifted The King’s original vocal from A Little Less Conversation
and layered it on to a modern dance groove. He remixed the song
at his own expense, but Nike bosses quickly snapped it up, turning
JXL into the hottest property in dance. It is the first time
the Elvis Presley estate has given permission for a Presley
song to be tampered with. Elvis’s voice is unchanged on the
track but the rhythm is faster and it begins with a one-minute
upbeat instrumental. Billy Strange co-wrote the song with lyricist
Mac Davis for Elvis’s 1968 movie Live A Little, Love A Little.
But it was best known as part of Elvis’s legendary TV Comeback
Special the same year which relaunched his musical career after
years of making movies. Billy recalled: “Mac was a gifted poet
and he would come up with words on the spot. “I guess he must
have had a girlfriend at the time who he wanted to talk a little
less — but who knows. Mac would just write a song instantly.
“He came to me with the words and I wrote the melody. We didn’t
know it would eventually be sung by Elvis.” Guitarist Billy,
who began performing at the age of five, recalled how he first
met The King in Nashville. Elvis needed a guitar player and
called Billy personally after hearing his work with other artists
including The Beach Boys, The Monkees and Frank Sinatra. Billy
was an old hand at musical arranging and scoring and had warmed
up audiences for Hollywood TV and radio shows. He hit it off
immediately with Elvis. Billy said: “I was staying at a hotel
in Nashville in 1965 when my telephone rang and this unmistakable
voice said, ‘Billy, this is Elvis, I’d like for you to stop
by my studios and play some music with me’. “I was absolutely
thrilled so I went along and he just sat at the piano playing
gospel songs.
“We
had a lot of fun, so much so that we never got around to recording
anything that first day.
“I
then played guitar on Elvis tracks including Viva Las Vegas
and I was scoring on Live A Little, Love A Little when the TV
Comeback special came around. “He first said he needed a ballad
and I suggested Memories. He loved it. Then he asked for the
funky up-tempo beat and that’s when I told him about A Little
Less Conversation.” Three-times married Billy, who grew up in
California, lived the lifestyle of a millionaire playboy with
Elvis. He said: “I got along very well with Elvis’s manager
Colonel Parker. He was a great man.” Billy and Elvis used to
ride their Harley Davidson motorbikes around the Hollywood Hills
in the early hours — the only time the singer could escape his
screaming fans. Billy laughed and said: “Elvis used to call
me up at around 2am or 3am and say, ‘Hey Billy, let’s go for
a ride’. All other hours of the day he was mobbed by hundreds
of girls. “I would meet him at his Beverly Hills mansion and
we would ride for hours until sunrise all over Hollywood. Elvis
loved his Harley. He said he felt free on it. “He was happy
back then. He had a beautiful wife and a baby daughter he doted
on. “I also used to drop by to see him at Graceland, Memphis,
any time I was traveling to Nashville from LA. “The place was
always surrounded by people so I would ring ahead and he would
instruct the guards to let me in. We would just lounge around
playing records. He had a great collection.” Billy added: “I
lost touch with Elvis around four years before he died in 1977.
He just crawled into this hole and was not able to communicate
with any of his friends.
“We
didn't stay away, we just couldn’t get through to him. It
was a very sad time.”
Elvis
died at Graceland on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42. Billy
recalled: “I was at Nancy Sinatra’s house when the call came
through that Elvis had died. “Nancy took the call and told me
we were requested at the funeral. I couldn’t go. I wanted to
remember him as the young, vibrant success that he had been.
“I lost a dear friend when Elvis died. I couldn’t bring myself
to go to the funeral of one who expired so needlessly and tragically.
“Nancy couldn’t face it either. It was a very emotional time.”
Billy, who lives in Nashville with his third wife Jean, will
rake in a fortune from the airplay of A Little Less Conversation.
He said: “I stand to make millions if it goes to No 1 all
over the world — and I’ve certainly got my fingers crossed for
that.”
2002/06/19
Sun Newspaper/ Ep.Gold
