Elvis Nearly Blew ‘His Fool Head Off’ While Setting Off Fireworks
In Elvis Presley’s early years of fame, he used his money to purchase things like go-karts, fireworks, and roller skates. Some people close to him wondered if he was using his new wealth to enjoy experiences he missed out on as a child. He could be quite reckless with his new toys, though. His bodyguard recalled the injuries everyone got from fireworks, including a time Elvis nearly blew his head off.
Elvis Presley nearly hurt himself while using fireworks
Every year, Elvis purchased fireworks to set off at Graceland on New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July.
“When Elvis first took over Graceland there was a ritual that every New Year and every July Fourth, he would put on these fireworks displays,” bodyguard Red West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “Actually, they weren’t so much displays as they were fireworks wars.”
Elvis and the members of his entourage would don gloves and helmets. He would split them into two teams, and they would fire rockets and Roman candles at each other. Miraculously, no one was ever seriously injured, but they had many close calls.
“I’ve backed into burning rockets and had my ass burned half off,” Red West said. “I’ve seen Elvis bending over a giant rocket and the thing go off while he is leaning over it, nearly blowing his fool head off. Sonny carries a scar on his chest to this day where one of us tried to blow a rocket through him. Roman candles would blow up in our hands. The house caught fire twice in these battles, and one time Sonny had to knock a wall down with a sledgehammer to get a hose to the fire.”
Elvis’ love of fireworks could’ve hurt his father
On one of these evenings, Elvis set out a bowl of explosive pellets in the kitchen. His father, Vernon, thought they were candies, and tried to eat them.
“Well, now these things, I guess, in all these different colors look a little like M&M candies,” Sonny West said. “Anyway, Vernon is standing there and talking to us important like and reaches behind him. He was making some serious point, and he threw them in his mouth, thinking they were candies. Well, man, you should have seen it. He chomped down on these little bitty things, and they exploded in his mouth.”
Vernon responded with shock and horror.
“Man, the look on his face. He didn’t know what was happening to him,” Sonny West said. “First this explosion inside his head, and there is smoke boiling out of his mouth. He could not speak; his lips had been numbed by the shock, and he still doesn’t know what he did wrong to deserve all this.”
Luckily, he walked away completely unharmed. Once everyone realized this, they began to laugh.
“I mean, right to this day when I picture that scene I nearly collapse,” Sonny said. “Vernon used to tell that story and when he told it, it was even funnier. You know, that night he stood next to that bowl the entire evening trying to get someone else to fall for it, but nobody did.”
Vernon Presley looked at his son’s antics in horror
While Vernon was able to laugh at this incident, he typically looked at Elvis’ antics with horror. He received the bill when their games got out of control.
“He would just gasp with horror at our antics, but Elvis was just having fun,” Red West said. “Whatever would happen, he would say, ‘Give Daddy the bill,’ and there would be poor old Vernon going white. Old Vernon can be pretty tight with a buck, whereas Elvis just never thought about the price of anything. It was hilarious to see Vernon clap his hands to his head when he saw the spending and the damage and the waste and say, ‘Oh, Lordie.’ He could be a very funny dude without trying.”
