Dolly Parton is a comedian, and you can’t convince me otherwise.
And back in 1983 at a stop on her The Dolly From London tour at the Dominion Theatre, Dolly delivered an incredible impression of the one and only Elvis Presley while performing his massive hit “All Shook Up.”
“All Shook Up” was composed by Otis Blackwell, and there’s a little bit of ambiguity in terms of how much of a hand Elvis really had in writing the song.
He did receive a songwriting credit, however, Elvis himself said during a 1957 interview that it was the only song idea he ever had, and that it came to him in a dream. So while, technically, he really didn’t write the song, it was his idea:
“I’ve never even had an idea for a song. Just once, maybe. I went to bed one night, had quite a dream, and woke up all shook up. I phoned a pal and told him about it. By morning, he had a new song, ‘All Shook Up.'”
Released as a single in 1957, the song peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Top 100 chart, where it stayed for eight weeks. It also topped the U.S. Billboard R&B chart and the country chart, as well, and was certified two times platinum by the RIAA.
Dolly was always a fan of Elvis, and desperately wanted him to record her massive hit “I Will Always Love You,” which he intended on doing, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out, and you can read more about that here.
But she remained a huge supporter of Elvis and his career, and like the rest of the world, was greatly impacted by his insane talent and charisma.
And though he tragically passed away at the young age of 42 on August 16th, 1977, Dolly decided to pay tribute to the iconic musician by doing an impression of him singing the aforementioned “All Shook Up.”
She said the inspiration came form her imagined what Elvis would’ve been like if he was a women, and because he caused such a stir when he first came onto the scene shaking his hips like a mad man, Dolly joked that they probably would’ve had to shoot her from the neck up on camera to avoid showing her chest:
“I went back home and I’d get up on the hill above the barnyard and I’d pretend like I was Elvis. I thought about Elvis, had he been a woman, especially one like me.
If I’d have been on television, they’d of had to shot me from the neck up back then, right? Well anyhow, this is sort of how I used to entertain them chicken ad hogs and stuff. And this is sort of how I looked.
God knows I ain’t no Elvis, there never will be another one, but I just thought this might be fun. And he might be watching us, he might get a kick out of it. So this is how I pictured Elvis back then, of he’d of been a girl.”
From the mannerisms to the voice, she has it down pat.
Just one more example of why this woman is a national treasure:
And for comparison’s sake, here’s Elvis performing “All Shook Up” for his iconic ’68 Comeback Special:
