Elvis Is Dead and I Don't Feel So Good Myself

by Lewis Grizzard

Overview

The 1950s were simple times to grow up. For Lewis Grizzard and his buddies, gallivanting meant hanging out at the local store, eating Zagnut candy bars and drinking "Big Orange bellywashers." About the worst thing a kid ever did was smoke rabbit tobacco rolled in paper torn from a brown grocery sack, or maybe slick back his hair into a ducktail and try gyrating his hips like Elvis. But then assassinations, war, civil rights, free love, and drugs rocked the old order. And as they did, Grizzard frequently felt lost and confused. In place of Elvis, the Pied Piper of his generation, Grizzard now found wormy-looking, long-haired English kids who performed either half-naked or dressed like Zasu Pitts. Elvis Is Dead and I Don't Feel So Good Myself is the witty, satiric, nostalgic account of Grizzard's efforts to survive in a changing world. Sex, music, clothes, entertainment, and life itself receive the Grizzard treatment. In this, his sixth book, Grizzard was never funnier or more in tune with his readers. He might not have felt so good himself, but his social commentary and humor can still make the rest of us feel just fine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781588382719
Publisher:	NewSouth, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/05/2012
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	480,054
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Lewis Grizzard, Jr., was an American writer and humorist known for his commentary on the American South. Although he spent his early career as a newspaper sportswriter and editor, becoming the sports editor of the Atlanta Journal at age 23, he was much better known for his humorous newspaper columns in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a popular stand-up comedian and lecturer.

Table of Contents

1 A Last Toast to the King 9

2 When Life was Black and White 17

3 Guilt Trip in a Cadillac 35

4 Camelot in Bloody Ruin 48

5 Where Rock 'n' Roll Went Wrong 57

6 They Call It Blue-Eyed Soul 73

7 Hairy Ode to the Goat Man 88

8 The Great Double-Knit Dilemma 102

9 One Table Daintz to Go 117

10 Eddie Haskell is Still a Jerk 141

11 Who Does My Butt Belong to Now? 153

12 Women Don't Wear Jocks 174

13 Romancing the Turnip Green 196

14 Somebody Pull the Plug on Modernity 212

15 You Can't Trust a Psychiatrist with Cats 232

16 Maybe Someday, Rainbow Stew 248

Credits 256

Editorial Reviews

"A warm, welcome return to [Grizzard’s] witty, satiric chronicle of coming to grips with the changing times as the idyllic 1950s of his youth gave way to the turbulent ’60s, the disco ’70s and the ‘awesome’ ’80s." —Neil Pond, American Profile

From the Publisher