Fifty years ago today, on 29 April 1976, a 26-year-old Bruce Springsteen found himself outside Graceland, Elvis Presley's Memphis home, at 3am after a concert. Accompanied by E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt, Springsteen had asked his taxi driver to take him to an all-night diner, but upon learning it was near Elvis's house, he insisted on going there instead.
Despite the driver's warning about guard dogs, Springsteen scaled the wall and sprinted across the lawn, driven by a lifelong admiration for the King. He later recalled on The Graham Norton Show that he was let in by a gentleman at the front door, but Elvis was not home—he was in Lake Tahoe. Springsteen told the guard, 'You can tell him that Bruce Springsteen was here – and he may not know who that is, but I was just on the cover of Time and Newsweek.' The guard politely escorted him to the gate.
Springsteen's obsession with Presley began at age seven when he saw him on The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1976, while Springsteen's career was soaring, Elvis was struggling with prescription drug dependency and declining health. Springsteen later wrote the song 'Fire' as a demo for Elvis, hoping to reignite his spark, but Presley died on 16 August 1977 before receiving it. The song eventually became a hit for The Pointer Sisters in 1979.
Springsteen did see Elvis perform once in Philadelphia, where Presley focused on gospel and ballads. 'That's as close as I ever got to Elvis Presley,' Springsteen said, though he added that Presley had known of him and 'liked' him, according to a childhood friend.
