Elvis is Dead...

and I Don't Feel So Good Myself.

Working in the bookstore, I never minded shelving Lewis Grizzard titles from the cart. (Shoot Low Boys-- They're Ridin' Shetland Ponies. Chili Dogs Always Bark at Night. Does a Wild Bear Chip in the Woods?)

He's gone now, and if you don't remember his humor, think a Southern version of Garrison Keillor.

Quite prolific, he didn't really have an easy life of it. Hence the humor. I don't know how Grizzard would have fared in later times, had he been born 20 or 30 years later. You read something like this Don't Forget to Call Your Mama I Wish I Could Call Mine, and naturally wonder.

Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal

YA-- The title may come from Coach Bear Bryant, but the text is pure Grizzard. The first and last chapters are poignant descriptions of his mother's long battle with scleroderma, a battle she lost just two days before her 77th birthday. The remaining narrative is the story of their lives, written by a son whose life she shaped and who obviously loved her very much. He recounts his Southern youth with expected humor, but with such a respect and appreciation for his mother that the laughter is tinged with nostalgic memories. A bittersweet tribute.

Katherine Fitch, Thomas Jefferson Sci-Tech, Fairfax County, VA

Copyright 1991 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

I also have to wonder how Elvis would have turned out had Gladys not died while he was away in the service. August 14, 1958, a heart attack brought on by hepatitis. She was only 46.
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'I'd like to say that I learned very early in life that 'Without a song, the day would never end; without a song, a man ain't got a friend; without a song, the road would never bend - without a song.' So I keep singing a song..."

~ Elvis Presley, Jaycees acceptance speech
(January 16, 1971).

For that, we thankyouverymuch.