Rocker Ian Anderson snubbed a chance to party with Elvis – telling him he needed an early night.
The Jethro Tull frontman revealed he left The King, notorious for his drug abuse, feeling Lonesome Tonight after seeing him slurring on stage in 1969.
Ian, famed for swerving drink and drugs, said: “He was clearly out of his box.” The flute-playing prog rock icon – famed for wearing a codpiece on stage – said Elvis wanted to meet him when they were both playing Las Vegas.
He said he was approached by Presley’s entourage, recalling: “They said, ‘Elvis would like to see you in his dressing room’.
“I replied, ‘Tell Mr Elvis it’s an honour to have been here but we’ve got a show tomorrow, we’re a bit tired and we need an early night’. He was slurring, he didn’t know where he was – he’d stop the band halfway through a song. It wasn’t the way to see Elvis.”
Ian told Classic Rock magazine that Presley’s entourage replied: “You’re not listening. Elvis will see you in the dressing room.” He said: “I thought, ‘This isn’t an invitation, it’s a f***ing instruction’.”
Ian, 75, had hits including Living in the Past and Life is a Long Song with Jethro Tull, whose 22nd album, The Zealot Gene, was out this year.
Elvis was found dead in the bathroom of his Graceland mansion in 1977, aged 42.
