Elvis Presley - Pieces Of My Life

by Bert Carson

I must have looked at two hundred Elvis pictures before I found one that I thought was truly a happy picture.  As luck would have it, it was a candid from his Army days.  I can remember laughing a lot when I was in the Army, but my hair was never that long in those days—that's understandable, I don't sing.

I am an Elvis fan, probably more rabid now than back in the day.  I owe that shift to Sirius XM satellite radio's Elvis Radio Channel.  And there are other connections.  My grandmother, a native of Tupelo, Mississippi, went to school with Elvis's parents.  That's not like knowing The King, but its near the ball park, sort of an Elvis tail gate acquaintance.

And when I was a kid, my parents took me to an all-night gospel singing in Birmingham where I met J.D. Sumner, who, along with the Stamps Quartet, ultimately joined Elvis as his primary back-up group.  Another tail-gate acquaintance link. And finally, fifteen years ago, Christina and I had our cassette tapes dubbed in Nashville, at a studio owned by a man who played guitar on a number of Elvis's records.

All of that, plus I just plain like Elvis's music, is why I was listening to Elvis Radio this afternoon and heard Pieces of My Life.  When I got home, I found a version of the song, with great photos, on YouTube and I listened again...and again...and tried to forget it, and failed.

So I thought I'd share it with you to see if you can forget it any quicker than I have.

I'll leave you with a quote from Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden that seems rather fitting: 

"To understand this part, you have to understand the whole thing." 

Bert Carson