Elvis & Charlie Hodge

Elvis said to Charlie Hodge:

„That every king needed a court jester and Charlie was his“‘, but Charlie was much more than that, I think out of all of them Charlie loved Elvis the most.

Charlie was the singer with the Foggy River Boys, he used to stand on a crate because he was so small, Charlie and his group and Elvis were both on the Red Foley show in Memphis in 1956. They didn’t meet again till they were stationed at Fort Hood and then on the voyage over to Europe I have read Charlie kept Elvis sane on the voyage and kept his spirits up, you must remember it was a really dark time for Elvis as he had just lost his mother, once in Germany Charlie found out where Elvis was, it wasn’t difficult as the papers were full of it and Charlie became Elvis’s lifelong friend.

Most people think of Charlie as the guy who got the water and scarves, put the cape on, and sang back-up, but most people have no idea how nervous Elvis was about going on stage and some have said without Charlie there to back him up Elvis might not have got back on stage, that is how much Elvis relied on Charlie, in some ways it was like there was a special connection or code between them, whatever Elvis was about to do on stage Charlie was intuitively ready for it, like throwing his guitar to Charlie. When most of the other MMs moved out of Graceland and /or went to L.A. Charlie stayed with Elvis, he was always there for Elvis and Charlie kept true to Elvis’s ethos, he never bad-mouthed any of the people in Elvis’s life in public as some did and he had lots of stories to tell so I have been told.

Charlie always defended Elvis unlike so many of the rest.

In Charlie’s book he tells a story of how one day he told Elvis to get into the car and when Elvis asked why to begin with Charlie he wouldn’t tell him, but after they had driven a bit Charlie told Elvis he was taking him to hospital cause that was where he needed to be, how sad none of the others ever did that for Elvis, only Charlie looked out for Elvis like that. Many have claimed to have been Elvis’s best friend, but I think only Charlie was.

„This is an excerpt from the book Elvis Aaron Presley; The Man, The Truth“