Back when rock star Bruce Springsteen was first reaching major fame in the mid-70s, he visited Memphis to perform on his Born to Run tour. Following the show, a then 26-year old Springsteen and his E Street Band mate Steve Van Zandt decided to pay a late-night visit to Elvis Presley at Graceland.
"We were in Memphis," Springsteen explained on the Graham Norton Show. "And Steve and I wanted to go to an all-night diner, it was around 3 am. We got in a taxi, and the taxi said 'Ya, there's one right out by Elvis's house.'"
Springsteen was immediately starstruck at the prospect of being able to see where the King lived and demanded to be taken to his house.
"Taxi driver took us to Graceland and I got out. I saw there were some lights on in the house...gates were locked...stone wall. I looked at Steve and said 'Steve, I'm going in.'"
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The taxi driver warned him not to go over the wall, saying that apparently security had big dogs waiting on the other side.
"I said, 'Well, when's the opportunity going to come again.' I jumped over the wall, ran up the drive, got to the front door, and I was just about to knock on the front door when a security guy came out of the bushes."
When the security guard asked if he could help the young Springsteen, he casually asked if Elvis was home. Apparently, Elvis was in Las Vegas so Springsteen made a special request, asking if the guard would let the boss know he stopped by.
"I generally don't like to do this, but could you let him know that Bruce Springsteen was here?" he asked. "He may not know who that is, but I was just on the cover of Time and Newsweek."
Apparently standing outside the front door of Elvis' house was the closest that Springsteen ever got to Elvis Presley. But he did honor the King on the cover of Born to Run where his guitar strap dons an Elvis fan club button.
