Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 23. September 12 1977

Eulogy to Elvis

Eulogy to Elvis

O 'Elvis
You hound dog
You did do a bit of sniffin'
And when I read
That you died at Graceland
Even my black heart
Almost forgave you
But then I thought about
All that money you'd made
You were such a bold white nigger
That you didn't even blacken your face
To put some shade on your act
I almost bought one of your records By mistake once—
I don't know how the lady confused you With James Brown
But Elvis, my mother always told me,
Never speak ill of the dead
So I'm not going to accuse you of 'rippin'
But I still can't forgive you
For what you said in the 1950s
The only thing a nigger could do for you
Was to clean your blue suede shoes

L.E. Scott

(Afro/American poet)