5 country single in a year when Webb Pierce was the man. 17– I’ve lost You. “Elvis the Pelvis” We may know Elvis as the King, and as much as it deserves to be a title for him, it’s … On “Promised Land,” the band is cooking from the first downbeat, fueling a rollicking performance, and Presley delivers the lyrics at an equally rapid-fire pace. Presley had been covering Chuck Berry’s songs since the 1950s, and had previously recorded a terrifically fun version of “Too Much Monkey Business” in 1968. (DW), There are half a dozen songs from the songwriting team of Leiber & Stoller on this list, but this is the only one as mischievous as their best titles for R&B vocal group The Coasters, putting love song convention into a (male only) prison setting: “Number 47 said to number 3/ You’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see.” Elvis rips into the lyric without hesitation, but this is also perhaps the freest, heaviest movie music he ever made. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear (1957) (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care (1957) A Little Less Conversation (1968) All Shook Up (1957) An American Trilogy (1972) Are You Lonesome Tonight (1960) Blue Christmas (1957) Bossa Nova Baby (1963) 'An unacceptable risk': Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland opposes Byhalia pipeline, Eternal Fame: Join us over the next week as we celebrate the legacy of Elvis, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. In Elvis’ hands, Leiber & Stoller’s intended-to-be-wry opening lines (“Treat me like a fool/ Treat me mean and cruel/ But love me”) are instead an invitation for bedlam. In 1961, Elvis would record the song “That’s Someone You Never Forget” for his album “Pot Luck.” Though he had his mother in mind and he came up for the idea for the song himself, the song was written by Red West, with only relatively minor input from Elvis. Among his best-known songs were ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ ‘Love Me Tender,’ ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’ ‘All Shook Up,’ and ‘Viva Las Vegas.’ Elvis recorded his classic song “Heartbreak Hotel” in 1956. 2. It’s a spare and moving piece that makes one wish the King had dug deeper into the Dylan songbook, and more often. “I’ve been traveling over mountains/ Even through the valleys, too,” reports the song’s narrator, detailing his efforts to reunite with his baby, “in spite of all that I’ve been through.” Like some sort of sidekick or wingman, Scotty Moore’s chatty guitar reinforces each of Elvis’ lines, as if to reassure the listener of the singer’s sincerity — not that any additional affirmation is needed when Elvis’ vocals are this assured and resourceful. (JB), “Lord Almighty, I feel my temperature rising,” Elvis sings, responding to the song’s churning — burning — rhythm the way many a listener would. He appeared in over 30 movies, with his big screen debut coming in the 1956 film Love Me Tender, named after one of his songs. Presley had already shown an affinity for the songs of Arthur Crudup, with the R&B musician’s “That’s All Right (Mama)” his first release on Sun Records in 1954. Songs inspired by Elvis Presley. (CH), Elvis’ hometown “comeback” sessions at American are richly represented on this list. He asked his parents for a bicycle, but they were so poor that they could only buy him a $12.95 guitar. Let’s get real, real gone for a change.” “Milkcow Blues Boogie” is Elvis unhinged. https://www.usatoday.com/.../08/16/elvis-10-most-popular-songs/2011382001 It didn’t take long to reach Billboard’s No. Presley gets through the verses in two minutes, then carries on for another three minutes wailing away on the chorus. (JB), The fourth of Elvis’ Sun singles, “Baby, Let’s Play House” was the first to chart — a No. 03:39. Mercy. Hawaiian Wedding Song. Forty years after his death, Elvis Presley remains a global icon. Elvis Presley Song list. Presley must’ve been surprised at Bob Dylan’s success. Well now you will be able to after learning these Elvis songs they are easy songs that a beginner guitar player should be able to play. Working from a title given to him by Presley, West crafted this tender number that’s more than just a simple love song; the lyrics are broad enough that it could just as easily refer to a mother as to a romantic partner. Elvis grows up within a close-knit, working class family, consisting of his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, who all live near one another in Tupelo. “Heartbreak Hotel” (1956): Elvis’ first single for RCA was the big one, the song that really introduced … He … Young Elvis Presley was forced to work from a very early age. "Teach Your Children Well" by Crosby Stills, Nash and Young. (BM), A lightweight composition, built around some fun wordplay, this Sun-era recording is elevated by Elvis’ jaunty reading and Scotty Moore’s signature dancing guitar lines. There were actually some gems among the movie songs (“Viva Las Vegas,” “Return to Sender”), and until he got bored with the routine, he was one the most exciting performers to appear in Las Vegas. At his best, Elvis sang like genius athletes often play, with casual command and self-aware delight. — John Beifuss, It can be difficult to reconcile for those of us who still delight in Elvis’ Sun sides, but sometimes modern ears struggle to hear that music clearly, as more than a time capsule. You want an Elvis song a room of people are most likely to respond to today, free of irony? Steve Sholes’ production — from Floyd Cramer’s cocktail lounge piano to Chet Atkins’ guitar to Bill Black’s tiptoe bass line, creeping like Peter Lorre past a corpse in the lobby — is night-dark perfection. The opening chord from an organ makes you think this might be one Presley’s beloved gospel songs. Elvis Presley, American popular singer widely known as the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ and one of rock music’s dominant performers from the mid-1950s until his death in 1977. As the years pass, it’s perhaps too easy for Elvis’ image to obscure his artistry. It's written in the stars, your destiny is cast. " The live performance of this song that Presley performed during his Aloha From Hawaii concert in 1973 is better known. Every family--no matter how much they love one another--will … “One night of sin/ Is what I’m now paying for,” sang Lewis, and later, Elvis; the rewrite changes the opening to: “One night with you/ Is what I’m now praying for.” This is more than an edit: What was intended, for all its salaciousness, as a caution against the wages of “sin” becomes an affirmation of love (physical and otherwise) — something you can pray for, without shame. Loving You. — Bob Mehr, “Hound Dog” was first recorded by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton and was a No. (BM), An apparently minor Elvis song when it first appeared, this became Elvis’ most unexpected hit a full generation after his death via a remix by producer Junkie XL, who realized two essential things: The hopped-up rhythm motorvates across eras, and the King has full command over that groovy groove. Essentially acting as his own producer, he swapped out words, souped up the tempo and created, as cultural critic Greil Marcus wrote, “a sound for which no one was prepared.” Little wonder it topped the pop, R&B and country charts simultaneously. Yet, Presley turned in an absolutely compelling performance of Dylan song on the Spinout soundtrack before the original songwriter even recorded himself. (JB), As Peter Guralnick notes in his biography “Last Train to Memphis,” a still-teenaged Elvis had seen Lowell Fulson perform “Reconsider Baby” at the Club Handy on Beale in 1954. Elvis was always as much of a balladeer as a rocker, and this was one of his most successful and most enduring big ballads, his pleading, questioning verses (“Is your heart filled with pain?/ Shall I come back again?”) broken up by a spoken-word bridge that tip-toes along the edge of camp. In December 1973, Presley entered Stax Studios in Memphis and recorded his last great rocker. Love at First Sight. He was at the Opry and was the quiet storm behind the stage. 5 on the R&B chart. If you can’t find a partner use a wooden chair. Not so on “Suspicious Minds,” which is Elvis’ most modern hit. Always on My Mind. ), but Elvis, uncharacteristically, undersells the performance, lending surprising poignancy. (CH), Georgia-bred guitarist and songwriter Jerry Reed scored a small country hit with this snappy 1967 number about a musician making his way from Memphis to Macon to Mobile leading a swingin' five-piece band. Thornton stood something like 10 feet tall and could drop whole armies with a stare; when she sang a song, it stayed sung. "Live each day, as if it we're your last. Price’s song was one of the first crossover R&B numbers to be embraced widely by white teens — Elvis included — and the song would remain close to Presley throughout his career. (JB), Elvis’ career-launching take on Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right” tops our list, but this follow-up dip into the bluesman’s catalog is every bit as energetic if not as epochal as its predecessor. And Elvis’ exuberant, bluesy performance embraces its full promise. Elvis’ singing is the most ethereal of his career and, though it’s a ballad, a standard even, maybe the wildest. It’s nothing more than “the great wedding ceremony,” the product of four men messing around in a small room on Union Avenue and remaking global culture. These are all songs that Elvis Presley sang very well. Black Velvet - Alannah Myles. 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