Elvis Presley Wanted to Start a Band With The Beatles and 1 Other Singer
Classic rock is filled with missed opportunities. In one example, Elvis Presley wanted to form a band with The Beatles and another 1960s star. The star didn’t think the Fab Four would have been interested. The real question is: What would the band have sounded like?
Elvis Presley wanted to form a band with The Beatles and Tom Jones
During a 2021 episode of WTF with Marc Macron, friend of Elvis and pop star Tom Jones discussed a fascinating conversation he had with the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. “Elvis says to me, ‘Is that right? The Beatles have split up?'” Jones recalled. “I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘Wow, what a shame.’ I said, ‘Yeah, they’ve done some great music.’
“He [Elvis] said, ‘Oh no, I’m not talking about that,'” Jones remembered. “‘I thought it would be great if we had them as our backing band. Wouldn’t it be great to do a show and have The Beatles play for us, you do some of your songs, I do some of my songs.'”
Jones was skeptical of the proposal. “And I said, ‘I don’t know whether that would happen, even if they were still together.'” Jones put Elvis’ remark into perspective. “You could only get away with that if you were Elvis Presley,” he said.
John Lennon discussed resurrecting Elvis Presley and The Beatles
Elvis died in 1977. During a 1980 interview in the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, John discussed collaborating with the “All Shook Up” singer. “Well, would it be interesting to take Elvis back to his Sun Records period?” he said. “I don’t know. But I am content to listen to the Sun records. I don’t want to dig him up out of the grave.”
John related his comments to his feelings about reforming The Beatles. He knew there was magic in the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership. However, he felt that he, Paul, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr would not be able to recreate the dynamic that existed between The Beatles when the band was still together.
What kind of music would this band have made?
Jones’ comment raises an interesting question: What would Elvis’ hypothetical band have sounded like? He wanted his songs and Jones’ songs to be part of the band’s live sets. Would those tunes have remained faithful to the originals or would they have been reinventions? Fans can only imagine if tunes such as “That’s All Right” and “It’s Not Unusual” would work with a psychedelic Beatles twist.
The band could have recorded music in any number of genres. The Beatles dabbled in folk, country, ska, avant-garde music, children’s music, rock ‘n’ roll, pop, soul, and so much more. The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll was similarly versatile. While Jones is mostly known for pop tunes, he probably could’ve sung in a way that complemented the voices of Elvis and The Beatles.
A band with Elvis, The Beatles, and Jones could’ve been a number of things and they all would have been incredible.
