Growing up with the Beatles, then Bowie, I used to think Elvis Presley was an old-fashioned crooner, someone your auntie liked, a hillbilly rocker with greasy hair who starred in cheesy films. I had no idea that before Elvis, blues music was played by black people, country by their white neighbours, and gospel by both, but never together. I was blind to the fact that, before Elvis, radio stations and record labels, like everything in the south, were divided by colour. It was Elvis who, as if by magic, merged the blues, country and gospel and created the soundtrack to the modern world. He didn't “steal” black music. He absorbed it from an early age, growing up in poor neighbourhoods in Tupelo, MS, then Memphis TN. He lived and breathed rhythm and blues. He had soul.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Growing up with the Beatles, then Bowie, I used to think Elvis Presley was an old-fashioned crooner, someone your auntie liked, a hillbilly rocker with greasy hair who starred in cheesy films. I had no idea that before Elvis, blues music was played by black people, country by their white neighbours, and gospel by both, but never together. I was blind to the fact that, before Elvis, radio stations and record labels, like everything in the south, were divided by colour. It was Elvis who, as if by magic, merged the blues, country and gospel and created the soundtrack to the modern world. He didn't “steal” black music. He absorbed it from an early age, growing up in poor neighbourhoods in Tupelo, MS, then Memphis TN. He lived and breathed rhythm and blues. He had soul." in the context of "Susan Dalgety, Scottish Civil Rights writer, for the The Scotsman, as published in July 21, 2018 in an article entitled "Embrace legacy of Otis and Elvis in the name of freedom"" to mean that wisdom is timeless.