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Excerpts from The Interview portion of We Remember, Elvis - revised edition

In this interview, conducted by Wanda June Hill, over a period of months, (1976-77),
Elvis was able to open up and be candid much more than he would have with someone he didn’t know. A co-worker introduced her to him via telephone in 1963; he learned she didn’t know much about him; her husband was the fan and that she was interested in getting a job at MGM studios. He invited her to visit the set, she did and he gave her his telephone number and asked her to call if she had the time. She did, he answered, and they talked. He said, please call me again, if you have the time. She did; he asked for her telephone number and then called her husband to ask permission to talk to his wife. He said yes, and the rest as they say, is history.
(This snippet from The Interview is at the beginning where Wanda June has asked Elvis to “go back to the beginning, when you first started singing and tell me, what was it like; how did you feel and what was happening in your life.)

Q: What kind of things were you doing on stage-other than wiggling your legs and jumping around?

A: Singing…(Laughs) jus’ doin’ things like movin’ from one leg to the other ‘n walkin’ stiff kinda, few times maybe rock my hips side to side, shake my knee and bend it sideways some, you know- I still do it; jus’ refined some. Ma clothes were loose, ‘n made outta that sleazy stuff so it looked like I did more ‘n I did. An’ then I watched the girls, ‘n winked at ‘em an’ bounced on my toes some ‘n that’s about all. Course layin’ on the stage kinda got ‘em crazy too…(Laughs and giggles) didn’t haff ta do much-the human brain can picture what it wants ‘n the girls were just havin’ fun too. Man it could have been any guy doin’ it, they didn’t need me to show ‘em! (Laughs) All I did was move to the beat ‘n jiggle ‘n shake a little. It was all in fun, never had sexy thoughts or nothin’ really, that’s the truth. Didn’t cross ma mind, too busy tryin’ to sing an’ make ‘em like me- man, nobody would’ve liked me if-if I done somethin’ vulgar an’ obscene – an my momma would’ve killed me or worse! (Giggles) She never told me to stop doin’ anything – she’d tell me to do it some more, this or that, ya know. Hell, momma taught me things…she was real smart, never told me wrong that I can remember…funny, she never did…less I never listened. Sometimes I didn’t…like layin’ on the floor an’ rollin over the mike stand. She told me not to do it- but I did a few times ‘n gawd, that made a headline! So never did it again like that! That’s the time lost all ma clothes ‘n nearly ever thing else too- in Kansas City. Guess that was-was too suggestive or somethin’… didn’t think about that really…at the time. Man, I was tame compared to what’s goin’ on now!!

Few times it got kinda outta hand ‘n yeah, I did defend myself if they wouldn’t listen. A few times…usually though, we jus’ hit the gas an’ left ‘em in the dirt. One time we had to run like hell, an’ they came after us but we came upon a police car on the highway an’ I whipped up to it an’ fortunately, he’d been in town an’ seen us settin’ up so he real quick turned on the siren and waved me on while he come in behind blockin’ ‘em off. So after that, we had some other fellas with us jus’ in case ‘cause I sure didn’t want to get somethin’ like that goin’ on.