W. Herbert Brewster, African American Baptist minister, composer, dramatist, singer, poet and community leader, explaining both how he changed the format of many gospel composed songs that led to him writing legendary Gospel songs many iconic Gospel legends such as Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin and others would go on to record, as well as the chance of fate that led to him meeting a yet unknown teenage Elvis Presley when radio DJ Dewey Phillips reached out to him in the early 1950's to integrate his All-Black Church services with some of Dewey's White listeners of his R&B music station, and as quoted in both "Elvis Presley & The Black Community – That Echo Will Never Die" and in his book "People Get Ready!: A New History of Black Gospel Music".

Like most black people in the South, and to whom God has pressed down the harp of a thousand strings, that harp only needed tuning. Elvis' voice was that type of voice that agreed with the thought of Calvary. He had that type of bent and that type of inclination, AND ATTITUDE, that suggested that God could use him. I gave the music a different approach, a new beat, one beat, two beats, high or low, it didn't matter. So, I said come on in here and put your things together. And it was a glorious experience and Elvis was in that group. And when Elvis passed away it was a saddening thing. It was as if the clouds themselves started crying.

— W. Herbert Brewster

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Like most black people in the South, and to whom God has pressed down the harp of a thousand strings, that harp only needed tuning. Elvis' voice was that type of voice that agreed with the thought of Calvary. He had that type of bent and that type of inclination, AND ATTITUDE, that suggested that God could use him. I gave the music a different approach, a new beat, one beat, two beats, high or low, it didn't matter. So, I said come on in here and put your things together. And it was a glorious experience and Elvis was in that group. And when Elvis passed away it was a saddening thing. It was as if the clouds themselves started crying." in the context of "W. Herbert Brewster, African American Baptist minister, composer, dramatist, singer, poet and community leader, explaining both how he changed the format of many gospel composed songs that led to him writing legendary Gospel songs many iconic Gospel legends such as Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin and others would go on to record, as well as the chance of fate that led to him meeting a yet unknown teenage Elvis Presley when radio DJ Dewey Phillips reached out to him in the early 1950's to integrate his All-Black Church services with some of Dewey's White listeners of his R&B music station, and as quoted in both "Elvis Presley & The Black Community – That Echo Will Never Die" and in his book "People Get Ready!: A New History of Black Gospel Music"." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Elvis Presley" (Quotes about Elvis Presley: The last names, or first or given names by which people are best known and whose quotes are included below are arranged alphabetically, for ease of reference. When the person being quoted has a royal, or religious title, they can be found by looking for their first or adopted name. Examples: Bhumibol King of Thailand; Elizabeth II Queen of England; Albert II Prince of Monaco; Astrid, Princess of Norway; Deborah Duchess of Devonshire; Pope Benedict XVI ., B) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 05, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Elvis Presley

About Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley (8 January 1935 – 16 August 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor. Popularly known by his first name as "Elvis," as "The King of Rock and Roll" or simply as "The King," he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century.