On August 20, BMI Records, Universal Republic, and XIX Entertainment hosted a luncheon and a special musical presentation at BMI with Lisa Marie Presley. She is intelligent, insightful, and can be very silly. We sat down with her and asked her questions she called “interesting” and “great” – and sometimes made her fall over in her seat.
What is the dumbest question toi have ever been asked?
“You know, I have been asked everything. It seems nothing is off limits when it comes to me. Rude, sick, invasive … and I don’t even want to go there. It’s just impossible to narrow it down.”
If toi were the journalist, what questions would toi ask yourself?
“I would ask about my writing. Not where I was, where I’ve been, mistakes I’ve made, just me as a human. My écriture is honest, unedited, no filter, and if it has changed lives, that is the reason for doing it.”
When toi were a little girl, what did toi want to be when toi grew up?
“A singer/songwriter. I always knew I wanted to be a singer, even before watching my dad. I would get my little record player out, with all of my 45’s. I spread them all over my room, and sit in front of my record player and just sing! I would be as young as three. At Graceland, they have that little record player on display today.”
Complete the sentence: “I should kick myself for _____”
“Trusting the wrong people. Being really hard and using it as a defense mechanism. At times I have come off as intense and way tougher than I was. I am tough, when I have to be, but I’m not hard. I’ve watched interviews of myself, and I appeared (calloused) but I’m not like that.”
If toi could take your children back in time to any time period, where would toi go?
“Japan! I l’amour that country. Any time period in Japan. I l’amour the culture, the history. It is beautiful and I fell in l’amour with it. I want to take (my children) someday; they have never been. I l’amour England. We live in England now, and we l’amour the history. I’d l’amour to go back to 17th Century – 18th Century France, in the time of Marie Antoinette. Can toi imagine, meeting Marie Antoinette?”
Do toi have a favori song of the new record? One that really illustrates what toi feel to be your best work?
“Soften the Blows really says where I was at that time, lyrically it was the best wording. Others on the record I like, but I keep consistently coming back to this one.”
Complete the sentence: “If people knew I _____, they would LOL.”
“I make up little songs and sing them to our two cats. I use a growling kind of voice. I also make up songs to my children and sing them, and make up names for them and sing to them. The chats (Iris and Splotch) even know what songs are theirs and will come running.”
Would toi sing one of the songs now?
“No, it’s too embarrassing!”
Just two lines?
(Laughing) “No! It’s too silly. I’m not going to sing that here!”
Okay…How about now?
(Laughing loudly, falling over in her chair, covering face) “No! I won’t!”