Priscilla Presley Shared 1 of the Few Times Elvis ‘Bucked Heads’ With Colonel Tom Parker 

Priscilla Presley tried her best to stay out of Elvis’ career. He grew upset with her whenever she offered suggestions or advice. Still, it hurt her to watch him muddle through increasingly consistent career pitfalls. She felt Colonel Tom Parker was responsible for his problems. Elvis rarely questioned his controversial manager. Priscilla recalled one of the few times Elvis pushed back against him, though.

Priscilla Presley recalled a time Elvis grew frustrated with Colonel Tom Parker

Elvis had been one of the biggest artists of the 1950s, but his career had stalled a bit in the 1960s. There were newer, more exciting musicians, and Elvis kept getting stuck making movies he disliked. Colonel Parker handled the business side of things and kept agreeing to movies that made little impact. Elvis still liked the music he was making, but Colonel Parker eventually asked him to change this too.

“[Elvis] liked to work as a team — with his voice, the backup singers, and the instruments all recorded at the same volume,” Priscilla wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “He didn’t want his voice out front alone. He liked the impact of the whole group. It was his sound, and it was a fabulous sound until one day Colonel said there were complaints from fans and from RCA that they couldn’t hear Elvis well enough.”

Colonel Parker wanted Elvis’ voice to shine through in the songs. Elvis disagreed, and it was one of the few times in his career that he pushed back against his manager.

“This is one of the few times Elvis bucked heads with him, stating, ‘I’ve been singing that way all of my life. What do a few heads in RCA know about music? I’ll sing the songs the way I hear them.'”

Still, the recording engineer went forward with Colonel Parker’s request, much to Elvis’ irritation. According to Priscilla, he frequently complained about Colonel Parker “tampering” with his artistic vision.

Priscilla Presley said Elvis grew angry when she told him to stand up for himself

Priscilla recognized Elvis’ frustration and encouraged him to stand up to Colonel Parker more often. Though he likely recognized the truth in her words, he refused to listen to her.

“I wanted desperately to help him, but I wasn’t sure how,” she wrote. “In my innocence, I kept trying to convince him to argue with the Colonel. But he would only get angry, saying I didn’t know what I was talking about.”

While Elvis likely wouldn’t have felt as disillusioned with his career if he advocated for himself, he didn’t want to hear this from Priscilla. He firmly believed that it wasn’t a woman’s place to share her opinions. 

“Whenever I stated my own opinions too strongly, especially if they differed from his, he’d remind me that his was the stronger sex, and as a woman, I had my place,” Priscilla wrote. 

Elvis grew disillusioned with Colonel Tom Parker’s vision for his career

Elvis didn’t accept Priscilla’s advice and continued to follow Colonel Parker’s vision for his career. As a result, he grew increasingly disillusioned with his work. He didn’t want to make movies, and he wasn’t thrilled with his music. 

“He could have demanded better, more substantial scripts but he didn’t,” Priscilla wrote. “Part of the reason was the lavish lifestyle he had established and become accustomed to. The main reason, however, was his inability to stand up to the Colonel. In Elvis’ personal life, there were no stops in letting anyone know how or what he felt. But when it came time to stand up to Colonel Parker, he backed off. Elvis detested the business side of his career. He would sign a contract without even reading it.”