Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger says that he feels “really stupid” for listening to and heeding a piece of advice given to him by John Lennon.
In an appearance on the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast, Jagger reveals that he still has regrets about the fact that he never got to meet Elvis Presley, but confesses that he never sought out a meeting with ‘The King’ because Lennon had advised against it.
Lennon, along with Beatles bandmates Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr famously met Elvis at the mansion he was renting in Los Angeles in August 1965. Following the meeting, Lennon stated, “To us, Elvis was a god”, adding, “We went up to his house and we were terrified. I can’t remember the first moment I saw him, but Elvis looked great.”
The advice that Lennon subsequently passed on to Jagger, however, implies that perhaps he wasn’t quite as impressed by the encounter as he had expected.
“I remember John telling me, ‘You should never meet your heroes. I would never meet Elvis, Mick, if I were you’,” Jagger said during the interview. “And so I didn’t. I took John’s advice.
“It was really stupid of me, really.” Jagger continued. “I’d love to have met Elvis. Maybe my Elvis version would have been different.”
That said, on the Elvis website elvis.com.au there’s a quote from Lennon about Jagger and Elvis which perhaps the late Beatle neglected to say to Jagger’s face.
“It always hurts and infuriates me when Mick Jagger puts Elvis down,” Lennon is quoted is saying. “Maybe he’s jealous because Elvis was the original body man in rock and it’s too near to Mick’s game for him to admit that Elvis’ movements were at least as good as his and that maybe Elvis could sing a damn sight better than he could.”
Ouch.
Watch the full episode below.
