Bruce Springsteen jumped Gracelands wall before Elvis | Music News

Nearly 50 years in the past, rock icon Bruce Springsteen jumped the wall at Elvis Presley‘s Graceland property just months before the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll died in 1977.

Like every rock star, the now-75-year-old began out as a starry-eyed fanboy who had many inspirations, including, of course, the Heartbreak Hotel singer.

On April 29, 1976, Springsteen, who was just starting to style success with 1975’s Born To Run, nearly obtained into severe hassle for pondering he may have an impromptu go to with one of his musical heroes.

Springsteen had wrapped up a live performance in Memphis, Tennessee, on his Born To Run Tour that day. Being in Elvis’ neck of the woods, the singer spontaneously determined to bounce in a cab and pay a go to to Graceland.

After approaching the gate, Springsteen observed that there was a mild on inside the mansion, yards away.

Springsteen shared the story at one of his live shows back in 1985, “I bear in mind we obtained out of the cab, and we stood there in entrance of those gates with the large guitar gamers on ’em. And when we seemed up the driveway, in the second story of the home, you would see a mild on, and I figured that Elvis has gotta be up readin’ or somethin’.

“And I told Steve [Van Zandt], I said, ‘Steve, man, I gotta go check it out.’ And I jumped up over the wall, and I started runnin’ up the driveway, which, when I look back on it now, was kind of a stupid thing to do because I hate it when people do it at my house.”

Springsteen continued, “Anyway, at the time, I was filled with the enthusiasm of youth and ran up the driveway. I got to the front door, and I was just about to knock, and guards came out of the woods and asked me what I wanted. I said, ‘Is Elvis home?’ Then they said, ‘No, no, Elvis isn’t home. He’s in Lake Tahoe.’”

The singer added, “So, I started to tell ’em that I was a guitar player and that I had my own band, and that we played in town that night, and that I made some records. And I even told ’em I had my picture on the cover of Time and Newsweek.

“I had to pull out all the stops to strive to make an impression, . I don’t suppose he believed me, though, ’trigger he just kinda stood there noddin’, and then he took me by the arm and put me back out on the road with Steve.”

Despite being escorted out of Graceland, Springsteen’s love of Elvis never wavered.

He went on to write the track referred to as Fire as a tribute to the King in 1977, after witnessing one significantly unhealthy efficiency from the getting old icon at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

Much to his disappointment, Springsteen later recalled of the show, “It was not a good night.”

A bit more than a 12 months after Springsteen’s break-in to Gracelance, Elvis died the identical 12 months Fire was written.

Robert Gordon would later report the track, as would The Pointer Sisters, who would rating a No. 2 hit with the tune in the United States.

As a baby growing up in New Jersey, Springsteen attributed Elvis’ 1956 track Hound Dog as a main turning level in his musical training.

“When I heard it, it just shot straight through to my brain,” he recalled (per Far Out). “I realised, suddenly, that there was more to life than what I’d been living. I was then in pursuit of something, and there’d been a vision laid out before me.

“You were dealing with the pure thrust, the pure energy of the music itself. I was so very young, but it still hit me like a thunderbolt.”