Lonnie Donegan

I played this album once during a family gathering. I’m not sure why; I think my brother-in-law and I had been discussing Donegan. That in itself is interesting. My sister, though, said that this has to be the most disagreeable music I owned. Well, I guess it’s not for all tastes.

I found an album at the Centennial Library called The Roots Of British Rock. The album featured an array of hits from the pre-Beatles era UK: Tommy Steele, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Adam Faith, The Tornadoes, Kenny Ball, and Rock Island Line by Lonnie Donegan. The album, by the way, was really mistitled, because the roots of British rock truly were American – Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino – the same as the roots of American rock. A better title would have been "The British Roots of Rock", or simply "Early British Rock".

Rock Island Line was recorded by Donegan when he was a member of Chris Barber’s Band, after which he signed with Pye Records, and all the songs on this collection, except for the first, are from The Lonnie Donegan File, part of The File Series, released in the late 70s. Donegan had 26 songs on the UK top 20 between 1956 and 1962, and they are all here apart from The Comancheros, from 1962, and Lumbered, the B side of Michael.

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Lonnie Donegan:

• Rock Island Line – The standard-bearer for skiffle. This song was by Leadbelly and it doesn’t make a lot of sense but it doesn’t matter. Johnny Cash covered it, but Lonnie Donegan nailed it. A top 10 hit in the spring of 1956, number 1 in the UK.
• Midnight Special – Another standard. A hit for Joe Turner (he called it Midnight Special Train) and for Paul Evans and for Johnny Rivers. The Limeliters recorded a lame version. And CCR did one-two punch version on their Willie & The Poor Boys album in 1969.
• It Takes A Worried Man To Sing A Worried Song – The Kingston Trio did this one, as A Worried Man.
• Railroad Bill
• Stackolee – Stagger Lee by any other name, a hit for Lloyd Price in 1959, and for Wilson Pickett in 1967. The song dates from a long time ago, a story of the ages.
• Wabash Cannonball – A hit for Roy Acuff, one of the great train songs…
• I Shall Not Be Moved – Only Lonnie Donegan could take a hymn (I think this is a hymn?) and make it sound like a drunken brawl…
• I’m Alabamy Bound – A slave’s lament of sorts. I was in Alabama when I was 14; I don’t remember much except being there, and eating at a lunch counter at a downtown department store.
• Lost John – Another song about another John. This John is lost. No GPS. This was hit in the spring of 1956. It looks like Pye put it out right away to steal thunder from Decca’s release of Rock Island Line.
• Stewball – I am trying to work out whether this is the same song that Peter, Paul & Mary do; it doesn’t sound like it, but it sounds like it inhabits the same universe somehow. They are both about a racehorse, but the words are different, and so is the tune, and so is the tempo. Still, you never know…
• Dead Or Alive – Lonnie as the wanted man, the fugitive. Thing with Lonnie Donegan is that even when he is singing about running from the law, he sounds like he’s having a whole lotta fun…
• Bring A Little Water, Sylvie – Another slave song, a hit in the summer of 1956.
• Don’t You Rock Me, Daddy-O – A hit in the summer of 1956.
• Cumberland Gap – “I got a gal six feet tall” sings Lonnie. “Sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall.” He sings so fast that’s easy to miss the nonsense lyrics. This was a hit in the spring of 1957.
• Puttin’ On The Style – Musical style hasn’t changed, but the lyrics are about youth culture, not about the US eastern mountain ranges, or slave labour, or some such. A hit in the summer of 1957.
• Gambling Man – The B side of Puttin’ On The Style, and a hit at the same time in the same place.
• My Dixie Darling – Back to American civil war. This was a hit in the fall of 1957.
• Jack O’Diamonds – There’s symbolism here I suppose. Life is like a game of cards sings Lonnie. From late 1957.
• Grand Coulee Damn – A Woody Guthrie song. Guthrie was commissioned to write it, and there is a recording of Dylan doing it at some live event. A hit in the spring of 1958.
• Sally Don’t You Grieve – A song about death, and I’ve never heard a happier one. There is definitely an electric guitar playing some kind of figure in there. Skiffle! This, and the B side, which is next, was a hit in the summer of 1958.
• Betty Betty Betty – Also known as Betty & Dupree, it was also a hit for Chuck Willis, and there is version by Harry Belafonte.
• Tom Dooley – This tale of murder and justice was the Kingston Trio hit that kicked off the whole hootenanny folk revival. This version was more or less contemporary, and was a lot faster, and less mournful.
• Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight) – This is where he gets silly. The song was his biggest North American hit, reaching the top 10 in the fall of 1961. It was on the UK chart in early 1959. I don’t know why the delay.
• Forth Worth Jail – From the spring of 1959 comes this tale of stuck-here-in-prison woe. Nobody cares about me, sings Lonnie, cause I ain’t got no dough. Can’t get more poetic than that. Hey wait, are those drums I here?
• Battle Of New Orleans – A history lesson is song. Johnny Driftwood wrote this, and I know nothing about him, except that he wrote Battle Of New Orleans. A hit on both sides of the Atlantic for Johnny Horton, that was in the summer of 1959. Donegan’s version was a UK hit at the same time, beating out Horton’s version by 14 chart placings (#2 vs. #16 – Horton’s version reached number 1 in the States.) Harper’s Bizarre covered this in the late 60s, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band did a version that more than respectable.
• Sal’s Got A Sugarlip – One can only speculate about what this all means. He runs through the lyrics so fast that it’s hard to make any sense of it. From the fall of 1959.
• My Old Man’s A Dustman – This song reached number 1 in early 1960. And it showed up on the Toronto charts in June. Americans would not understand it, what with its references to a dustman, counsel flats, and cor blimey trousers. The Irish Rovers did this.
• I Wanna Go Home (Wreck Of The Old John “B’) – The best known version of this is by The Beach Boys, who put it out as Sloop John B in 1966, and tacked it onto their Pet Sounds album. But other people did it before that, Donegan for one, and Jimmie Rogers (the guy that did Honeycomb, not the singing brakeman). Donegan’s version was a hit in the spring of 1960.
• Lorelei – Here is where the production goes well beyond the bounds of skiffle: a chorus, horn charts. The song is about mermaid. It was a hit in the summer of 1960.
• Lively – A fun song about criminal activity. From the fall of 1960.
• Have A Drink On Me – Just what it sounds like. From the spring of 1961. Also showed up in TO, in the summer.
• Seven Golden Daffodils – Lonnie tackles a ballad. It’s not all that bad, but it’s certainly not his natural habitat.
• Michael Row The Boat Ashore – I never understood this song, but I’m told that the content is religious. I believe it but I don’t get it. This was from the fall of 1961, more or less contemporary with the better known version by The Highwaymen. It is also somewhat less reverent sounding.
• The Party’s Over – Here is where Donegan abandons skiffle altogether. A subdued ballad, from the spring of 1962. My favourite version of this is by Julie London.
• Pick A Bail Of Cotton – Back where he belongs, in the cotton field. This swings. From the fall of 1962, and Donegan’s last foray into the top 20.
• Rock Island Line – The Pye remake. Totally unnecessary.

April, 1956

Here are some songs that were on the music charts in April, 1956. I have the blue ones.

• Magic Touch - The Platters
• Bo Weevil - Teresa Brewer
• Bo Weevil - Fats Domino
• Main Title and Molly-O - Dick Jacobs
• Innamorata - Dean Martin
• The Poor People Of Paris - Lawrence Welk
• R-O-C-K / Saints Rock And Roll - Bill Haley & His Comets
• Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegan
• Wild - Don Cherry
• Rock Right - Georgia Gibbs
• Long Tall Sally - Little Richard
• Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
• Stewball - Lonnie Donegan
• Too Young To Go Steady - Nat King Cole
• Ivory Tower - Otis Williams & The Charms
• Ivory Tower - Cathy Carr
• Man With The Golden Arm - Richard Maltby
• My Little Angel - The Four Lads
• Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley
• Lost John - Lonnie Donegan

The Diamonds

We saw a group that purported to be The Diamonds a number of years ago at the free grandstand concert at the Red River Exhibition. The group on stage was a trio, interesting because The Diamonds were a quartet, and I can’t prove it, but I doubt that any of the guys singing on stage were in the original group.

They weren’t bad though…


This is a Rhino album, The Best Of The Diamonds.

I discovered Rhino at Records On Wheels, sometime mid-80s, and it was a treasure chest of re-issues and best of’s, stuff that was otherwise impossible to find. They were imports, all of them, pricey as a result. But I salivated. Great 60s garage bands like Blue Cheer and The Easybeats, reissued first run albums by The Monkees and The Rascals, the semi-psychedelic Nazz, The Turtles, The Box Tops.

Later came SeeForMiles and Charly, and later still came Sundazed (with their great 3-D catalogue) and Collectibles. So many records, so little money.

I don’t actually remember where I bought this but it was probably ROW; it was rare to find a second hand Rhino release – rare but not impossible. But I probably bought this new.

The Diamonds had 16 top 100 singles; 14 are here. And Daddy Cool wasn’t on the chart. Missing is Soft Summer Breeze from 1956, and One Summer Night from 1961, their last single and a remake of The Danleers 1958 hit.

And, most important, like their label mates The Crew Cuts, The Diamonds were Canadian. But unlike aforesaid Crew Cuts, The Diamonds understood the music they were recording.

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The Diamonds:

• Little Darlin – One of the great classics of the 50s. A cover of The Gladiolas hit, but generally considered superior to the original. In the song the singer pleads for forgiveness, but somehow it just all seems so beside the point. From the spring of 1957.
• The Church Bells May Ring – From the spring of 1956. This swings big time, complete with a bell solo…
• Why Do Fools Fall In Love – The Diamonds’ first hit (from winter, 1956) had some nice touches – the way he streches out “why,” the background vocals – but it’s no match for The Teenagers’ original. It didn’t do as well on the charts either.
• Words Of Love – The Diamonds do Buddy Holly, never more than a B side for the Crickets. This is from the summer of 1957. The Beatles covered this later.
• Ka-Ding-Dong – Nonesense lyrics form the background of an excuse to dance up a storm. This was the B side of a two sided hit. That was in the fall of 1956. Soft Summer Breeze was the A side. Rhino, for some reason, did not feel it worthy of inclusion.
• Silhouettes – A cover of The Rays’ hit from 1957. The Diamonds do a respectable version, but they don’t beat the original. This was in the top 10 as 1957 drew to a close. I’ve always liked Herman’s Hermits’ version.
• Daddy Cool – The Diamonds are in Coasters territory with this one.
• The Stroll – A dance. Chuck Willis is said to have been the master of the stroll, but it’s The Diamonds who had the hit. They played this on American Graffiti, during the prom scene. From the winter of 1958
• Love, Love, Love – A cover of The Clovers hit. From the summer of 1956.
• High Sign – Like Daddy Cool. The Diamonds were into the symbolism of the era. From the spring of 1958.
• Zip Zip – And novelty songs. They were into novelty songs. From the fall of ’57. At least they were having fun.
• She Say (Ooby Dooby Doom) – The harmonies on this one are more straight barbershop, but the song is typical Diamonds silly. From the winter of 1959.
• Kathy-O – It starts with the Jingle Bells refrain, and if you don’t listen too hard to the words, this could easily be a Christmas song. But it was a hit in the summer of 1958, and it is a love song plain and simple, notwithstanding the bells in the background. This is a ballad worthy of The Ames Brothers, the only one on this collection.
• Walking Along – “Singing a song, I will be gay…” sing The Diamonds, on this hit from the fall of 1958. This was the song they started with when I saw them, such as they were…

Elvis Presley - King Of The Whole Wide World

Besides what’s here, here is a list of Elvis albums I’ve got, in various formats, in completely random order:

• Elvis Presley
• Elvis
• Elvis
• Lovin’ You
• Pot Luck With Elvis
• Blue Hawaii
• Girls! Girls! Girls!
• Girl Happy
• Elvis Is Back
• On Stage – February 1970
• Raised On Rock
• G.I. Blues
• Kissin’ Cousins
• Harum Scarum
• Elvis NBC TV Special
• Back In Memphis
• That’s The Way It Is
• Elvis Now
• Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite
• Elvis Country
• Love Letters From Elvis
• Good Times
• Today
• Moody Blue
• In Person At The International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
• Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden
• From Elvis In Memphis
• Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis

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Elvis Presley:

• Don’t Cry Daddy – A song of recovery. Death is a really tough subject to treat seriously in pop music, but this is one of the best efforts. Still though, it’s a bit hokey. A top 10 hit in the winter of 1970.
• Rubbernecking – This was the B side of Don’t Cry Daddy, and as close as Elvis ever came to filler. The song reached number 69 in the winter of 1970.
• Kentucky Rain – From the winter / spring of 1970. A song of searching. There is a hopelessness to the quest that Elvis describes. Doesn’t stop him. The song was a majestic ending the Worldwide Gold Hit Awards collection. I was in Kentucky once, as an adolescent, but I don’t remember if it rained.
• My Little Friend – The B side of Kentucky rain. The story of an old love
• The Wonder Of You – Elvis takes a non-descript hit by Ray Peterson (the guy that did Tell Laura I Love Her) and renders it into a majestic performance. This was from the album On Stage – February, 1970, an album that consisted entirely of covers. From the summer of 1970.
• I’ve Lost You – One of Elvis’ saddest songs. This is from the late summer of 1970. The story is the slow disintegration of a marriage, and how talking is not so useful when “reason can’t stand in for feeling.”
• The Next Step Is Love – This contrasts nicely with the A side. A song about a growing romance, it was a hit at the same time as I’ve Lost You.
• You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me – I remember when this song was a hit by Dusty Springfield, and I remember this remake by Elvis. I wouldn’t want to choose between them, but Elvis was definitely on a roll. This was a hit in the fall of 1970.
• Patch It Up – The A side of You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, but not the hit side. Well, it reached number 90. It rocks out a bit, but this song of reconciliation isn’t totally convincing. On the other hand, maybe that’s the point…
• There Goes My Everything – Jack Greene put this on the country charts; that was in 1967. And Engelbert Humperdinck put in on the pop charts. Elvis trumps them all, but the song is a bit weird. There goes my reason for living, ok I get that, though he’ll have to get over it. But there goes my only possession? No wonder she’s going. A hit at the beginning of 1971.
• I Really Don’t Want To Know - A hit for Les Paul & Mary Ford, for Ronnie Dove, for Tommy Edwards, etc. Again Elvis trumps them. The A Side of There Goes My Everything, this was also a hit in early 1971. Guitarist James Burton shines.
• Merry Christmas Baby – Charles Brown’s Christmas Blues. Dig it James! yells Elvis. Elvis proves that he never lost the R & B spirit that animated his Sun recordings. Released in the fall of 1971.
• Burning Love – Elvis rocks out for his biggest hit since 1969’s Suspicious Minds. This reached number 2 in the fall of ’72, and was all over the radio. The album it was on was called Burning Love And Hits From His Movies, Volume 2. Amazing.
• It’s A Matter Of Time – The B side of Burning Love is yet another superb ballad. Only Elvis could sing with resignation and self assurance, all at the same time, without sacrificing either one.
• Always On My Mind – Maybe I didn’t treat you, quite as good as I should have, sings Elvis, in this Willie Nelson song that could have been written for him, and who couldn’t sing those words, and mean them. Glen D. Hardin gets the kudos on this one. The B side of …
• Separate Ways – Yet another song of failed romance. There is resignation here, and there is incredible sadness. It’s too easy to view these songs as being about Elvis’ marriage. That’s undoubtedly part of it, but there is more going on here. One can not begin to imagine what it must have been to be Elvis Presley. This was a hit early in 1972.
• It’s Impossible – From Elvis, released in the summer of 1973, not to be confused with Elvis, released in the fall of 1956. Originally by Perry Como, and as good as Elvis is, I think I prefer Como.
• I Got A Thing About You Baby – From the winter of 1974, a short song, nice but the female choir is a bit overwhelming. Featured on the album Good Times.
• Promised Land – Elvis didn’t record so many songs by Chuck Berry (Too Much Monkey Business comes to mind). Here he his singing Berry’s tribute to California. He brings his own unique Elvis-in-the-70s style to it, and it works. It was a hit in the fall of 1974. The album Promised Land wasn’t released until January, 1975.
• Hurt – originally by Timi Yuro, and covered by Little Anthony & The Imperials and by The Manhattans, this is as dramatic as Elvis ever got, and it falls somewhere between melodrama and reality. From the spring of 1976. From From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee.
• Moody Blue – Elvis’ last hit during his lifetime. A hit early in 1977. From the Moody Blue album.
• Way Down – Not the John Prine song. Elvis’s first posthumous hit, from the fall of ’77. Considering the emotional impact of Elvis’ death, it’s surprising this wasn’t bigger than it was, only reaching number 18. And it’s not bad. From the Moody Blue album.
• My Way – Seen, I guess, as fitting epitaph. Taken from the posthumous album Elvis In Concert, a hit of sorts in late 1977. He sings well enough, but he doesn’t make you forget Frank Sinatra.
• An American Trilogy – Dixie, Battle Hymn Of The Republic, and All My Trials. A true show piece. Some version of this was a hit in was a hit in the spring of ’72. My version comes from This Is Elvis, released in 1981.
• Don’t Be Cruel – Live on Ed Sullivan, from This Is Elvis
• King Of The Whole Wide World – Out of sequence. This is not gospel, it’s about he who is happy with what he has. A hit in the fall of 1962. Appeared first on the EP Kid Galahad. Appeared on an LP in 1971 – C’mon Everybody.
• This Is Livin’ – From the same EP / LP.
• Raised On Rock – Elvis’ tribute to his muse doesn’t pull any punches. From the fall of ’73. From the album Raised On Rock.
• For Ol’ Times Sake – The B side of Raised On Rock, another song of romantic failure. From the same LP. This song just squeezed into the top 100 in the fall of 1973, and it makes a much better epitaph for Elvis’ career than My Way.

Elvis Presley - Edge Of Reality

I was at HMV Superstore recently, and I checked the Elvis CDs available, and I realize how out of date I am. There are so many new collections: Elvis’ country recordings, Elvis’ R & B hits, Elvis sings gospel, Elvis sings corny, Elvis sings crap. There is no end. None of it makes much sense.

I remember Capital releasing a collection of love songs by The Beatles, and a companion collection of rock and roll songs, and thinking about how they totally missed the point. And the same is true of Elvis. One of the great things about him was his versatility; In the same TV show, he could scale the heights of If I Can Dream, and plunge to the morass of Memories. Listen to King Creole next to Double Trouble (hint: the latter has Old McDonald.) And what he does really is that he transcends all these boundaries – when he does country it’s Elvis, and when he does R & B it’s Elvis, and when he does a ballad it’s Elvis, and when he does…

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Elvis Presley:

• Puppet On A String – This protestation of total malleability is surely one of the most beautiful records Elvis ever made. Totally ignored by the pundits, here is one where everything just coalesces – Floyd Cramer’s piano, The Jordinaires, Elvis’ voice. It was from Girl Happy, and a top 20 hit at the end of 1965.
• Crying In The Chapel – Elvis sings here of the power of prayer. In so doing, he takes a faux gospel song written by Artie Glenn, and a hit originally in 1953 for Sonny Til & The Orioles, and renders it more authentic sounding than it was ever meant to be. The song was recorded in 1960, but not released until April, 1965, with I Believe In The Man In The Sky slapped onto the B side. It didn’t appear on an album until 1967’s How Great Thou Art. It was a top 5 hit in the summer of 1965.
• Santa Lucia – A track from Elvis For Everybody!. The album title kind of reflects the efforts that RCA and Colonel Parker were making to transform Elvis into a family entertainer.
• Tell Me Why – This is one that Gale Storm did. It’s not the one that The Four Aces did, nor the one that The Beatles did. Tell my why pop songs assume that one can never get over a lost love. A hit of sorts early in 1966.
• Frankie And Johnny – A hit for Sam Cooke, and hit for Brook Benton. Bob Dylan recorded it as Frankie And Albert. Elvis’ version was a hit in the spring of 1966. I don’t remember hearing this, nor any of the other Elvis songs on this list so far, except, maybe, Crying In The Chapel. Elvis’ version is a Hollywood version, which is no coincidence; it is the title track from the movie, and the soundtrack album.
• Down By The Riverside / When The Saint Go Marching In – On the one hand it’s not surprising at all that Elvis did The Saints; on the other hand it is. I can’t explain it more than that. This is from Frankie And Johnny.
• Love Letters – Elvis does a super straight reading of this song that was a hit for Ketty Lester in 1962. It was a hit in the summer of 1966, but the album Love Letters From Elvis did not come out until 1971.
• Spinout – The title track of the movie, and the LP, was a hit in the fall of 1966. It reached number 40 on Billboard, so I guess it was a top 40 hit. Romance as a car race…
• All That I Am – A quiet starlit night. This is a ballad that works. There are strings on this, which isn’t so amazing, except that so few Elvis records had strings on them. This was the B side of Spinout, and it reached number 41 (dang!) in the fall of 1966.
• Tomorrow Is A Long Time – Here’s where the whole Elvis phenomenon reveals itself for what it was. This is a heartfelt, beautifully arranged, sung, and recorded performance of Dylan’s song, and RCA tacked it on to the end of the Spinout soundtrack (it wasn’t in the movie) and left it there to languish, after which Elvis went back to the movie stuff. Anyone else would have parlayed a career out of it. Dylan recorded a live version of this around 1963, and that’s the version that turned up on his Greatest Hits Volume 2 in 1971. Glen Yarborough did this also.
• Indescribably Blue – Yes, very sad. How I miss you, sings Elvis. That’s a real thing, the indescribably blue thing. I’m not sure this song really captures it though. From the winter of 1967.
• Fools Fall In Love – A hit for The Drifters about 10 years earlier. Elvis’ version is jazzy, I like The Drifters better, really. This was the B side of Indescribably Blue, and, unlike The Drifters’ version, it did not make the charts.
• Easy Come Easy Go – This was from an EP released in the spring of 1967. Elvis was still in the musical wilderness. This is not the Bobby Sherman song, which I think was actually better than this…
• Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On) – Elvis reduced to total salaciousness. From the summer of ’67. From Double Trouble.
• I Love Only One Girl – Dumb. From the soundtrack of Double Trouble. That should tell you something.
• You Don’t Know Me – From the soundtrack LP / movie Clambake. Jerry Vale’s big hit from 1956, redone by Ray Charles in 1962, was minor hit for Elvis in the fall of 1967. I like Jerry Vale doing this; for my money Elvis doesn’t quite nail it.
• Big Boss Man – Elvis does Jimmy Reed, and he does it well. Getting back into his element here. The A side of You Don’t Know Me, hit the charts at the same time. Also from Clambake.
• Guitar Man – One book lists this as one of his best records, one lists is as one of his worst. The lead guitar, if I remember, is by Jerry Reed. Elvis postions himself as a rock and roll performer. Imagine. From the winter of 1958. Another track from Clambake.
• Stay Away – From the spring of 1968, B side of US Male.
• U.S. Male – Elvis posturing as the ultimate macho man. From the spring of 1968.
• You’ll Never Walk Alone – Elvis oversings this. Big time. I’ve never been quite clear on whether this is actually a hymn. It was a hit for Gerry & The Pacemakers in 1965. Elvis’ version reached number 90 on Billboard in the spring of 1968.
• Almost In Love – Almost In Love reached the great height of number 95 in the fall of 1968. I don’t know, to me it sounds like one of the great unrecognized Elvis performances, a superb night club atmosphere, great vocals, wonderful ambience. This is from the movie Live A Little, Love A Little.
• A Little Less Conversation – The B side of Almost In Love did somewhat better, reaching number 69, but it was revived and remixed a few years ago, in one of those pathetic attempts to milk the repertoire.
• If I Can Dream – Enough has been written about Elvis’ 1968 comeback. I won’t add to it. But I remember this song. I remember hearing it on the radio. This is where my personal relationship with Elvis started. The song blew me away when I was 10 years old. And I hear it now, and it blows me away now; the power of it astounds me, and whoever had the idea of putting an organ so high the mix was brilliant. Truly shiver worthy. The world, though, wasn’t ready for Elvis to come back; the song only reached number 12, which was better than Elvis had done in a long time, but not better enough. That was in early 1969.
• Edge Of Reality – The B side of If I Can Dream. This song didn’t make the pop charts, and one can understand why. This is about obsession bordering on madness, that place where someone finds an odd place in your heart, not the normal place, some place that makes no rational sense, a place you didn’t even know existed until *someone* takes up permanent residence. On another level, the title could refer to Elvis’ life… From the movie Live A Little, Love A Little.
• Too Much Monkey Business – This lost treasure comes from Singer Presents Elvis Singing Flaming Star And Others, a budget release from late 1968. Elvis sings this Chuck Berry standard in his “late 60s” voice, but it works.
• All I Needed Was The Rain – From the same LP. Just when you thinking nothing else can go wrong…
• Memories – This was the pap that ended one of the great historical moments in music history, on his “comeback” special. It’s the song that’s pap; still, it’s hard to believe that Elvis couldn’t do it better than this. It was a hit in the spring of 1969.
• Charro – The B side of Memories, and the title track from the movie. I remember this movie; it was a western, and it was about honour and revenge. It wasn’t the worst movie Elvis ever made. The story was typically dumb, but Elvis was good, as I remember.
• In The Ghetto – Elvis does social commentary, very unusual. The song was written, and recorded at some point, by Mac Davis. Reached number 3 in the summer of 1969, the biggest hit Elvis had had for many years. It was the closing track on From Elvis In Memphis.
• Any Day Now – The B song of In The Ghetto, originally a hit by Chuck Jackson. A tale of the inevitability of separation, it’s fairly odd, but real. Elvis sings it beautifully. Also from From Elvis In Memphis.
• Clean Up Your Own Backyard – Oddly, I will always associate this song with Los Angeles, because it was on an LA radio station chart that I first became aware of this song. I heard it on the radio, maybe twice. This bluesy morality tale of he has no sin was a hit in the late summer of 1969. It came from a movie called The Trouble With Girls (And How To Get Into It).
• Suspicious Minds – Mark James wrote this, the same guy that wrote Hooked On A Feeling, and it was Elvis’ last number 1 record. That was in the fall of ’69. The power in this is indescribable. Somewhere about a third of the way into the song, that distinctive guitar figure that opens the record gets buried, and it never gets rescued. If I’d have been the arranger, I’d have brought it back.
• You’ll Think Of Me – Elvis was on a streak. Another song about failed romance, where Elvis delivers. Even the sitar works.

Elvis Presley - Flaming Star

Elvis movies are a lot of fun. The critics don’t get it. The critics analyse these movies as if they were, like, real movies. But the point is that they are Elvis movies.

Yes they are dumb. Yes Elvis was a great actor. Yes his talent was wasted. Yes it was a total and complete prostitution of a gift. All beside the point. Elvis movies are a lot of fun. That’s the point.

The first few were serious, or semi-serious at least. The rest were cannon fodder, B movies whose sole purpose was to earn money. But, I say, they were fun. Watching Elvis was just plain fun.

I saw Love Me Tender, his first movie, a western. I saw Jailhouse Rock. Those were okay. After he got out of the army, though, that’s when the fun really starts. Viva Las Vegas, that was with Ann Margaret. I remember The Walls Have Ears.

Girls! Girls! Girls!, I think I saw that one. I remember the scene where he did Return To Sender. But the truth is that I can’t remember for sure which ones I’ve seen, and I can’t remember what they were about. I do remember Change Of Habit, with Mary Tyler Moore; well I remember seeing it when I was about 12. And Charro, another western. The worst, though, was Frankie And Johnny. Elvis was so bored in that one; he’d obviously stopped trying.

Given that I don’t have a working TV at the moment, it’s not likely that I’ll see any more Elvis movies anytime soon. Still, I’d rather watch Girl Happy than Lord Of The Rings any day…

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Elvis Presley:

• Flaming Star – A strange song about destiny, with an odd rhythm – vaguely Bo Diddley – for an Elvis record. A hit in the spring of 1961.This was from an EP called, you guessed it, Flaming Star
• I Feel So Bad – It doesn’t sound like he feels bad at all. In fact he sounds kind of exuberant. From the summer of ’61.
• Wild In The Country – Nothing wild about this, it’s a subdued ballad. The song is about vegetation, and it goes on from there. From the summer of 1961, the B side of I Feel So Bad
• Little Sister – Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind, sang The Lovin’ Spoonful. Elvis has made up his mind, went for the Younger Girl, but all is not well. Get Jim Dandy out of the picture. A top 5 hit in 1961, and Ry Cooder covered it.
• (Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame – I heard this first by Sha Na Na; it wasn’t on Worldwide Gold Hit Awards. I heard the Elvis version, though, when I got my hands on The Other Sides, and it blew me away. It still blows me away. It’s one of the most underrated Elvis records. The A side of Little Sister, it was on the chart at the same time.
• Can’t Help Falling In Love – Another signature song, though it didn’t get to number 1. This is the song he ended every concert with. Featured in the movie, and soundtrack LP, Blue Hawaii. Winter 1961 - 1962.
• Rock-A-Hula Baby – The B side of Can’t Help Falling In Love, it reached number 23 on Billboard in its own right. That was in January 1962. This is from Blue Hawaii.
• No More – A track from Blue Hawaii. Slightly in the Now Or Never vain.
• Good Luck Charm – Yet another way of objectifying one’s love interest. Be my little good luck charm. Yet another number 1 hit, this one from the spring of 1962.
• Anything That’s Part Of You – Slightly country, with piano that may or may not be Floyd Cramer. The B side of Good Luck Charm, reached the top 40 in the spring of ’62.
• Follow That Dream – Has a slightly gospel feel to it. This is from the summer of 1962, and it comes from an EP called Follow That Dream.
• Kiss Me Quick – A bit like Such A Night, and a bit not like Such A Night. It was the lead off track on the Pot Luck With Elvis album, released in June, 1962, and for some reason released as a single in 1964. It reached the top 40 in the spring of that year.
• (Such An) Easy Question – This was a top 20 hit in the summer of 1965. I’ve never heard it on the radio, and it has never been on best of or anthology until it showed up on From Nashville To Memphis, The Essential 60s Masters. RCA. Morons. It comes from Pot Luck With Elvis, and it’s anybody’s guess why RCA raided this album in 1964 – 1965 for random singles.
• I’m Yours – Another track from Pot Luck, and another track that made the charts in 1965, this one in the fall. Muted organ / guitar accompaniment on this romantic outing.
• Suspicion – The prototype, one supposes, for Suspicious Minds. This is another track from Pot Luck, but RCA didn’t put this out as a single until 1964 when it was the B side of Kiss Me Quick. It was the Crusader label that made it a hit, and they didn’t have Elvis, so they got Terry Stafford to do it, and it was Stafford’s version that reached the top 10 in 1964.
• She’s Not You – Get over it Elvis. Like, there’s only one right person. From the fall of ’62.
• Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello – The record label, my copy anyway, said “him,” Just Tell Her Him Said Hello. Hello? This was the B side of She’s Not You, and so it’s not surprise that it was a hit of sorts in the fall of ’62, though it only reached number 55. This is rather whistful…
• Return To Sender – This only made number 2. Aww. I like this one, must be the sax. I remember watching the movie, Girls! Girls! Girls!, on the soundtrack of which this was, and I was happy I’d finally learn the story surrounding the song. But there was none; the movie showed Elvis performing this on stage. What a copout. From the autumn of 1962.
• Where Do You Come From – The B side of Return To Sender, and another track from Girls! Girls! Girls!. A piano ballad, a bit over the top. Reached number 99 on the top 100, in the fall of ’62.
• Girls! Girls! Girls! – Title track of the movie, and of the LP. The original, I understand, was done by The Coasters, though I haven’t heard it. The Fourmost did a totally goofy version, which makes sense. Elvis did a straightforward version, which doesn’t, though it does have a good sax break.
• One Broken Heart For Sale – Poor Elvis. From the winter of 1963. From the soundtrack LP It Happened At The World’s Fair
• They Remind Me Too Much Of You – Another tale of a broken heart. The B side of One Broken Heart For Sale made the top 60 in the winter of 1963. From the same soundtrack.
• How Would You Like To Be – A track from It Happened At The World’s Fair. Very pop, typical of the type of song that would appear with increasing regularity on his soundtracks.
• (You’re The) Devil In Disguise – One of Elvis’ better known songs. From the summer of 1963.
• Please Don’t Drag That String Around – Sure I’m a puppet on a string, says Elvis, just don’t abuse the situation. The B side of Devil In Disguise. Finally a B side that didn’t make the chart. Times were changing for Elvis…
• Bossa Nova Baby – All the rage, The Girl From Ipanema and all that. This was faux bossa nova anyway. From the LP soundtrack Fun In Acupulco, this was in the top 10 in the fall of 1963.
• Witchcraft – After singing about the devil, his girl is using witchcraft. His head is spinning. The B side of Bossa Nova Baby, this was a top 40 hit in the fall of 1963.
• Kissin’ Cousins – This tale of incest was a hit in the winter of 1964.
• It Hurts Me – The B side of Kissin’ Cousins. It’s amazing that these songs could be two sides of the same single. This one is a beautiful performance of a beautiful song, looking ahead to what he would do in the 70s. It only reached 39 in the winter of 1964. One of the most underrated of Elvis’ recordings.
• Guadalajara – This is from Fun At Acapulco. I got it from a cheap anthology of movie songs.
• Tender Feeling – A not bad ballad from Kissin’ Cousins.
• Viva Las Vegas – From the movie with Ann Margaret. It may have been the first Elvis movie I saw. A hit, but not a huge one, in the summer of 1964. It was the B side of…
• What’d I Say – Elvis does Ray Charles. The truth is that his version isn’t as good as covers by Bobby Darin or Jerry Lee Lewis. From the summer of ’64. Left off just about every compiliation. Included on Elvis Golden Records Volume 4, which is where I found it…
• If You Think I Don’t Need You – From the Viva Las Vegas EP.
• Ain’t That Loving You Baby – This was a good piece of rock and roll, recorded in the late 50s, but not released until September, 1964, shortly after which it became a top 20 hit.
• Ask Me – The flip side of Ain’t That Loving You Baby actually did a bit better in the charts than the A side. File it with Love Me, Let Me etc.
• Do The Clam – From the soundtrack LP Girl Happy. Often cited as an example oh how “out of touch” Elvis was. Well it’s silly, but is it sillier than, say, Wooly Bully, or Twine Time? A hit in the spring of 1965. The song reached number 21 on Billboard, but it’s another one that never made to a Elvis’ Golden Records, or World Wide Hit Awards, or any anthology.
• You’ll Be Gone – The B side of Do The Clam, from Girl Happy. Another let’s make love tonight song, with that darn Latin beat again.

Elvis Presley - Fame And Fortune

Elvis had 145 records in the top 100 between 1956 and 1977. This collection is missing 20 of them. For the record, they are:

· Steamroller Blues
· My Boy
· Where Did They Go, Lord
· I’m Leavin’
· Until It’s Time For You To Go
· Please Don’t Stop Loving Me
· It’s Only Love
· Life
· There’s Always Me
· Take Good Care Of Her
· Bringing It Back
· Mama Liked The Roses
· Let Yourself Go
· Your Time Hasn’t Come Yet, Baby
· Money Honey
· Judy
· Fool
· Only Believe
· For The Heart
· Blue River

For the record, I have some of these elsewhere.

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Elvis Presley:

• Treat Me Nice – The B side of Jailhouse Rock reached was in the top 20 in the fall of 1957. This plea for kindness turns into an ultimatum before it’s over.
• Young And Beautiful – A piano ballad, and a hoaky one. It comes from the Jailhouse Rock EP.
• I Want To Be Free – Not The Monkees song. I’m not sure what he wants to be free from. Is he in jail? Well it is from the Jailhouse Rock EP…
• (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care – This song about his square girlfriend is anything but square, a real rocker. Another track from the Jailhouse Rock EP, Buddy Holly did this, and did it well.
• Blue Christmas – This is Elvis’s Christmas perennial, a radio staple every year, and it NEVER MADE THE TOP 100. Alright. Sorry. Interesting that Elvis puts a downspin on Christmas, making it sad. From Elvis' Christmas Album.
• I Beg Of You – This is Treat Me Nice with different pajamas. It was Elvis’ introduction to 1958, a hit in the winter of that year.
• Don’t – A ballad, but the sentiment is kind of adolescent. Doesn’t take much imagination. “When I feel like this…” This went to number 1 in the winter of 1958, the A side of I Beg Of You, but you don’t hear it often (ever?) on oldies radio.
• Wear Your Ring Around My Neck – You have to think about that… A hit in the spring of 1958.
• Doncha’ Think It’s Time – The B side of Wear Your Ring Around My Neck, also a hit in the spring of ’58. Timing is everything.
• Hard Headed Woman – From the movie, and soundtrack from, King Creole. The New Orleans association inspired someone at RCA to throw horns into this, and they sound terrible. Number 1 in the summer of 1958. A philosophical treatise about evil women. Not the Cat Stevens song.
• Don’t Ask Me Why – The flip side of Hard Headed Woman, and a track on the King Creole album, this song reached the top 30 in the summer of 1958.
• King Creole – The title track from the movie / soundtrack. A tribute to a fictional jazz hero, who seems to bear a slight resemblance to our hero (“hip shakin’ King Creole?”) At least they didn’t put horns on this one. A top 20 hit in UK in fall 1958.
• As Long As I Have You – Another track from King Creole. I don’t know what it is exactly about this ballad, but it seems to work better than most of Elvis’ period ballads. A precursor I think of Can’t Help Falling In Love
• Trouble – Elvis as the bad guy. From King Creole.
• Crawfish – Yet another track from King Creole, really getting into New Orleans culture.
• Young Dreams – A track from King Creole. All these tracks were on The Other Sides, that’s why they are here.
• Dixieland Rock – Yes, from King Creole. Kind of summary of what’s going on here. They are trying to capture the sound and mood of New Orleans without sacrificing any of Elvis, but it doesn’t work.
• Lover Doll – From King Creole. Very sparse accompaniment on this one.
• New Orleans – Not the Gary US Bonds song. From King Creole.
• I Got Stung – From the end of 1958. This is where Elvis is really starting to cannibalize his stuff.
• One Night – Elvis gives this the pile driver treatment, and it’s one of the highlights of his career. He originally sang “one night of sin,” changed it to “one night with you” but the meaning doesn’t change, just the moral context. The A side of I Got Stung, and a hit in December 1958.
• Elvis Sails – The EP was called Elvis Sails, the track was called Press Interview With Elvis Presley. But on the LP it’s called Elvis Sails. Recorded in September of 1958, and released in December.
• (Now And Then There’s) A Fool Such As I – This one gets into a groove. A bit country. From the spring of 1959. Bob Dylan did this on Dylan.
• I Need Your Love Tonight – The B side of A Fool Such As I, also a hit in the spring of 1959. Another of those “let’s do it tonight” songs. Buries Rod Stewart…
• A Big Hunk O’ Love – Ok this one’s a bit gimmicky. Frantic. A piano solo that sounds like Jerry Lee Lewis on drugs. From the summer of 1959, number 1.
• My Wish Came True – The B side is just as unfrantic. The vocal chorus here is kind of weird, a women’s chorus that sounds like it wandered into the wrong studio by mistake. Reached the top 20 in the summer of 1959.
• Stuck On You – From the spring of 1960, reached number 1, just as Elvis’ armed forces tenure ended.
• Fame And Fortune – One thing Elvis knew about. The B side of Stuck On You reached the top 20 in the spring of 1960.
• Fever – The arrangement is almost a carbon copy of Peggy Lee. The truth is that I prefer Peggy Lee. I got this from the Pure Gold collection. This is from Elvis Is Back, released in April 1960, and considered a highlight of Elvis’ career.
• Such A Night – An R & B hit for The Drifters circa 1953. Another track from Elvis Is Back, kind of Las Vegasy. RCA put it out as a single in 1964 and it was a top 20 hit in August.
• A Mess Of Blues – This was the B side of the next song, a top 30 hit in the fall of 1960.
• It’s Now Or Never – A number 1 hit in the fall of 1960. It’s said that this is the song that changed everything. It was an adaption of something called O Sole Mio, and Elvis became the Las Vegas shlock artist as soon as he recorded this. Not so simple, I don’t think. A lot of his stuff had schlock written all over it well before this, and Elvis was a complex artist, maintaining so many different personas, often at the same time, that no one can say with any accuracy that this or that was the turning point.
• GI Blues – Title track from GI Blues, the movie and the soundtrack. I don’t know how he could stand the trivialization of his military experience.
• Tonight Is So Right For Love – Another of those Las Vegas types tracks. From GI Blues.
• Wooden Heart – From GI Blues. This was released as single in Europe in 1964. It has a kind of German polka thing going on. Joe Dowell covered this and rode it to number 1.
• I Gotta Know – A top 20 hit at the end of 1960. I love that couplet: “I’m lonesome and I’m lovesick, Got my mind on lipstick.” The B side of…
• Are You Lonesome Tonight – Elvis looks back on a relationship that’s ended, wonders if his former partner is doing the same. This is a bit corny, but it works, the arrangement is understated, but not overly so. Number 1 in December, 1960. Pat Boone did this, not so well, and so did Brian Hyland, also not so well.
• I Believe In The Man In The Sky – I will leave aside the theological questions regarding “a man in the sky.” This is a track from Elvis’ first gospel album: His Hand In Mine, released in November, 1960.
• Surrender – Another song of seduction. So many of them seem to have that slightly Latin beat. Number 1 in the winter of 1961.
• Lonely Man – The B side is a ballad about searching. It reached the top 30 in the winter of 1960.