Saturday 9: All Shook Up

Saturday 9: All Shook Up (1957)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

Chosen because January 8 is the anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth.

1) In this song, Elvis shares quite a list of maladies: he's itching, his hands are shaky, his knees are weak, he has chills ... How are you feeling this morning?  Pretty good, actually. I slept great and I'm looking forward to trying out Guy Fieri's new restaurant tonight in the casino not too far from here.

2) He also mentions being "tongue tied." The dictionary defines it as, "unable to speak freely, as from shyness." Do you often find yourself tongue tied?  I used to suffer from that quite a bit when I was younger. It doesn't bother me nearly as much now, though I still hate to actually be in front of a crowd as a speaker and will freeze up then. Otherwise, I guess there's confidence and freedom in age.

3) Even after he was wealthy, Elvis never lived away from his parents. At one point Graceland Mansion was home to four generations of the family: his grandmother, his father and stepmother, Elvis, his wife and daughter. Have you ever lived in a multi-generational household?  Well, we all have, haven't we. Just living with our parents is two generations. Tim and I also lived with my grandmother for a short time when our son was a baby so that was 3 generations.

4) Thinking of family, Elvis Presley was a distant cousin of President Jimmy Carter. Both of their family trees can be traced back to the 18th century and Thomas Preslar (before the surname was changed to Presley in the early 1800s). Have you traced your ancestry? If not, is it something you'd like to do?  I'm lucky to know my ancestry. All, and I do mean ALL, of the branches have been researched out the wazoo so I can just sit back and read all the work others have done. That includes both sides of my mother's family, my adopted father's families, and even my newly found biological father's families.

 

5) As an adult, Elvis never wore denim (except for a movie role). That's because when he was in school, his classmates teased him for "dressing poor" in jeans and coveralls. Is denim a big part of your wardrobe today?  I do wear jeans quite a bit, but in recent years I've become about 50/50 between jeans and leggings/yoga pants. My dad had the same mentality about jeans as Elvis. He thought they were only appropriate for after school and chores. They were not good enough to go anywhere in. I used to take them to school and change into them when I was in jr. high.

 

6) Before becoming famous, Elvis drove a truck in and around Memphis. Have you ever had a job that kept you behind the wheel most of the day?  I was a school bus driver for 16 years.

7) In 1957, the year this song was a hit, the Allstate Mechanical Freight Set was popular, too. Kids would wind up the engine and watch it pull two cars and a caboose around the track. To enhance the realism, sparks would shoot from the engine's smoke stack as it rumbled by. Did you ever play with a toy train? If not, tell us about a childhood plaything you remember fondly. My family had trains. Three of them. I kept one set in my room for a while (it was a small postage stamp scale) and Dad had the other two set up in the basement. I think all three sets are boxed up in Mom's basement. Last year we got our youngest grandson a big Lionel train for his birthday which is right before Christmas. 

8) The best-selling book of 1957 was Peyton Place, a scandalous tale of life in a small New England town. Do you suppose there are enough steamy stories behind closed doors in your town to fill a novel?  I would suppose there are enough steamy stories to fill a novel in every community.

9) Random question: Can you do 10 push ups?  Bahahahaha! Can you?

Thanks goes to Sam at the Saturday 9 for the music and questions!