There are Elvis imitators, and then there's a Dutchman named Bouke Scholten

[highplainsdem]

Last edited Sun Feb 26, 2023, 12:00 AM - Edit history (1)

whom I hadn't heard of till this evening. Wow... (Cross-post from the Lounge.)

2011:

2017:

2020:

Early February 2023:

Live on Radio Veronica today:

EDITING to add another video from the talent competition earlier this month - the Tribute Battle of the Bands - that the "Suspicious Minds" video is from. You see the three judges in that video, but I'd paid no attention to them when I saw it earlier. Then tonight, seeing the longer video, I finally noticed the white-haired judge was Golden Earring drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk. I googled his name and Bouke's and found an article in English on a Dutch news site about Bouke winning the contest: https://netherlands.postsen.com/live-style/137082/Bouke-the-Elvis-from-Emmen-wins-The-Tribute-final-on-SBS6-and-is-allowed-to-perform-in-the-Ziggo-Dome.html .

Here's that longer video, which includes a fabulous performance of "My Way":

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. HOLY COW, as someone who does an Elvis impression (not professional or very good) and as someone who

saw Elvis perform in Tahoe and as someone who listened to almost every recording of his, if not all...

WOW

[highplainsdem]

4. Bouke's so good that listening to him gave me chills and

brought tears to my eyes.

I've edited the OP to add a longer video from the contest the "Suspicious Minds" video is from, a contest Bouke won. As one of the judges said, "Elvis is back in the building."

How cool that you do an Elvis impression!

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Sure sounds like Elvis.

[highplainsdem]

5. Yes. If I'd just heard the audio, I would have been sure that was Elvis.

[highplainsdem]

3. I've edited the OP to add some information and another video.

[Eliot Rosewater]

7. I did NOT know that this song was about what it was about, when I was a kid.

That Elvis wanted to sing this song written for the memory of MLK Jr just after his assassination.
That it also had meaning for the RFK assassination, etc.

Elvis had faults, tons of them, and the movie did not bring them out, but he also was amazing in many ways.


I was at an RFK rally a week or so before he was killed, I got real close to him.

[highplainsdem]

8. "If I Can Dream" is an incredible song that almost didn't get recorded:

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Can_Dream

Composer Billy Goldenberg and lyricist Walter Earl Brown were asked to write a song to replace "I'll Be Home for Christmas" as the grand finale on NBC's Elvis, taped from June 20–23, 1968 (now also known as ‘68 Comeback Special).[3] Knowing about Presley’s fondness for Martin Luther King Jr., and about his devastation related to his then-recent assassination in Memphis, Brown wrote "If I Can Dream" with Presley in mind. After Presley heard the demo, he proclaimed: "I'm never going to sing another song I don't believe in. I'm never going to make another movie I don't believe in".[4]

Goldenberg removed his name from the credits to avoid a publishing dispute.[3] The song was published by Presley's company Gladys Music, Inc.

After Colonel Tom Parker heard the demo of the song sent by Earl Brown, he said: "This ain't Elvis' kind of song." Elvis was also there, and he countered Parker's argument, then he pleaded: "Let me give it a shot, man." Earl Brown said while Elvis recorded the song, he saw tears rolling down the cheeks of the backing vocalists. One of them whispered to him: "Elvis never sung with so much emotion. Looks like he means every word."[5] Presley associate Jerry Schilling has said, "I consider Elvis to be a writer on this song. That song was him expressing how he truly felt."[6]

After filming for the TV special was complete with its eventual editing, the song was released as a single with “Edge of Reality” as the flip side on 22 November 1968, with the TV special airing 11 days later. It charted on Billboard's Hot 100 for 3 months and a week, peaking at #12, with more than one million sales;[4] although the RIAA certified the song as only gold (500,000 units shipped) as of March 27, 1992.[7] In Canada, the song peaked at #6 on RPM's top singles chart, maintaining that position for two weeks.[8]

Bouke's cover of it is incredible, too. I just listened to Elvis's original and then Bouke's version again, and both gave me chills.

[Eliot Rosewater]

9. When I saw him he introduced what had to be a 4 or 5 year old Lisa Marie in the audience.

He was amazing.

[highplainsdem]

10. What a great memory!

[highplainsdem]

6. Another from that contest - In The Ghetto: