Robert Kennedy on June 6, 1968), Elvis balked. Filmed in June and airing in December, the show was originally scheduled to close with Elvis singing “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” a plan enthusiastically endorsed by his Machiavellian manager, Colonel Tom Parker.īut in light of King’s assassination (and, as production of the show got under way, the murder of Sen. He really cared deeply.”Ī few weeks later, Elvis began to work on the one-hour TV show now widely known as his ’68 Comeback Special. But according to his co-star Celeste Yarnall, she and Elvis “watched the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr. Presley was unable to attend the funeral in person as he was filming Live a Little, Love a Little, one of his many movies. King was not a great admirer of rock ‘n’ roll, but Presley greatly admired King, who was killed less than nine miles from Presley’s home at Graceland. Presley was just six years younger than King, and both were born and raised in the Deep South (King in Georgia and Elvis in Mississippi), where they were surrounded by institutionalized racism. He recorded the song “If I Can Dream” just two months after the murder, and the emotional intensity with which he delivers it still brings back the shock and grief that gripped America in the wake of King’s murder. And in the aftermath of his assassination, millions of people paid tribute to his courage, his eloquence and his determination.Įlvis Presley was one of them. In the months that followed, younger and more militant members of the civil rights movement grew increasingly frustrated with King’s caution and his commitment to non-violent resistance, but King pushed on.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ‘I have a dream’ speech.

Elvis tell me why oh why