Elvis Presley
The Originals

Roy Hamilton, a favourite of Elvis's, was born on 16 April, 1929, in Leesburg, Georgia. After moving to Jersey City, he received classical voice training, became a boxer, and joined a gospel quartet. He was signed by Columbia Records to their subsidiary label, Epic. In November 1953 he recorded the original version of "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)" as the B-side of his first single, "You'll Never Walk Alone," on Epic 9015. (Elvis would later cover both numbers.) Hamilton died on 20 July, 1969, at just 40 years of age. His final recordings were made early in 1969 at Chip Moman's American Sound Studios in Memphis, where he and Elvis met.

Culley Holt, who wrote this number, was the original bass singer for The Jordanaires. The group went on to back just about everybody in Country music, along with numerous other recording artists, too, one of whom was, of course, Elvis Presley!
But did The Jordanaires really record this number first? Well, according to their own website (see http://www.jordanaires.net/about/disco/listing.htm) they released the number in 1950 on RCA 20-4607 as "Gonna Walk Those Golden Stairs." In reply to my own enquiry to the site, I was told that the recording was made in 1949, and that they would contact me again if a more accurate date could be established. I heard nothing more. But RCA 20-4607 was not actually released until March 1952, so did they really wait three years between recording and release? One usually reliable site provides a recording date of 12 October 1951.
The other candidate for original recording artist is The Crusaders Quartet, who recorded and released their own version in 1952 on Bibletone 4011 as "I'll Walk Them Golden Stairs (When I Die)." However, I have been unable to locate an actual date for this recording.

Don Harris and Dewey Terry composed and recorded the original version of "I'm Leaving It Up To You" as "Leavin' It All Up To You" in 1957, releasing it on Specialty 610. Its big chart success, however, came in 1963, when Dale (Houston) and Grace (Broussard) scored a number one US hit with their cover. Elvis did not make a studio recording of "I'm Leaving It Up To You," but sang it occasionally in his 1970 concerts. Only once, however, did he perform a complete version of the song, in the January - February 1972 Las Vegas season.

Hank Snow's original spent no less than 21 weeks at the top of Billboard's Country chart in 1950 and no less than 49 consecutive weeks in that same chart between 1950 and 1951. Snow's heyday was between 1950 and 1965, but he continued performing regularly until the mid-1990s. Snow was born on 9 May 1914 in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, and suffered a childhood of poverty and abuse. He ran away from home at age 12 and worked at various jobs before following his idol, Jimmy Rodgers into the music business, and eventually earning himself a record deal with RCA Canada in 1936. He became a US citizen in 1956. Hank Snow died in December 1999. See also "(Now And Then There's) A Fool Such As I."

Hank Williams was born on 17 September, 1923, in Mount Olive, Alabama. At just 14 years of age he had his own 15-minute radio show in Montgomery and soon left school to pursue a musical career. His big break came with his recording of "Move It On Over" in 1947. He went on to write and record such hits as "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Hey, Good Looking" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." His health deteriorated, however, thanks to excessive use of alcohol and pain-killers (he suffered from a bad back). Hank Williams died suddenly in the back of his car on January 1st, 1953, just 29 years old.
Hank Williams recorded his original version of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" on 30 August, 1949. According to Elvis, "Probably the saddest song I've ever heard." Could be, could be.

The number is listed on at least some releases of "The Complete Million Dollar Session" as "I'm In The Crowd (But Oh So Alone)."
Carl Story copyrighted the song in his own name July 30, 1947. Elaine Tubb was added to the copyright May 25, 1948.
Ernest Tubb was born in 1914. Success largely eluded him, until he wrote and recorded "Walking The Floor Over You" in 1942. This led to his first appearance at the Grand Old Opry that same year and the following year he became a regular performer there, appearing right up to his death in 1984.

Billy Lee Riley was born on 5 October 1933, in Pocahontas, Arizona. In 1971, he was signed to the new Entrance label by Chips Moman and recorded "I've Got A Thing About You Baby." Because of distribution problems, sales of the record did not live up to its promise. This, combined with personal difficulties, led Riley to sell all of his master tapes and quit the music business. Billy Lee Riley died on 2 August 2009.
Tony Joe White also recorded this number for use on an LP, but I believe that Billy Lee Riley's version was recorded earlier. Elvis also recorded Tony Joe's "Polk Salad Annie" and "For Ol' Times Sake."

"I've Got Confidence" is a modern gospel number. Sherman Andrus recorded the number originally in 1968 for use in his album of the same name (Impact 3019, released in 1969). The Imperials recorded the number in 1969. Elvis heard this version, liked the song and went on to record it himself.
Sherman Andrus has been involved in gospel music since the mid-1960s, being an original member of Andrae Crouch and The Disciples from 1964 to 1970 (Crouch wrote "I've Got Confidence"). Sherman became the lead singer of The Imperials in 1971, remaining with them for five years. He then went on to co-found Andrus, Blackwood & Company, together with Terry Blackwood, singing with them for nine years. Sherman Andrus has been a successful solo performer since 1986. Since 1997, Sherman has toured regularly with "Elvis The Concert." He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

Ian Matthews was a former member of Fairport Convention. Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley were prolific writers of hits for British groups of the sixties and seventies. Matthews' Southern Comfort are probably best remembered for their number "Woodstock."

Here's a song that doesn't let its origins be easily found! This version was written in 1961 and the earliest recording that I can find was released in 1962 on an LP called "A Festival Of Spiritual Songs" on the King label by the "Mighty Faith Increasers". The track was then called "I John Saw A Mighty Number." Not all sources agree on the authorship of the number, and in Jorgensen's "A Life In Music," the number is listed on p.205 as having been written by William Gaither. Similarly-titled songs ("John Saw a Mighty Number," "John Saw De Holy Number," etc.) were already included in the earliest collections of negro Spirituals, dating from the 1870s. Recordings made prior to 1961 exist with such titles and one of these, "John Said He Saw A Number," by Arizona Dranes, Sara Martin and Richard M. Jones, is clearly at least a major inspiration for "I, John," if not the "real" original. The recording was made on 17 June 1926 in Chicago and was released on the Okeh label, number 8352. The lyrics are based on the biblical text Revelation 21.

Red West was a highschool friend of Elvis's who went on to become one of the most (in)famous members of the so-called Memphis Mafia, the group of friends and hangers-on who accompanied Elvis everywhere. The infamy came because of somewhat excessive bodyguarding activities and, in 1977, his participation in the book, "Elvis, What Happened?" But West was something of a songwriter, too, and he provided Elvis with several half-decent numbers, including this one. He wrote "If Every Day Was Like Christmas" in 1965 and recorded his own version on the Brent label, which was his own label, named after his son. Although the writing credits on the label show Red West's own name, the artist is shown as Bobby West. 2,000 copies were pressed and sold locally in the Memphis area around Christmas 1965.

The Ink Spots were formed in the early 1930s in Indianapolis. Their first recording contract was with Victor Records in 1935. They then moved to Decca and enjoyed great success in the late 1930s, the 1940s and into the 1950s.
Their original recording of "If I Didn't Care" was made on 12 January, 1939, and released that same year on Decca 2286. It was their first major commercial success. Not only that, it became one of the biggest-selling singles of all time, notching up over 19 million sales. Bill Kenny was the lead vocalist.
Elvis's recording of "If I Didn't Care" is an informal one, lasting just 25 seconds and made on a domestic tape recorder during his military service, when he was staying at the Hotel Grunewald, in Bad Nauheim, Germany. The exact date of the recording is not known.

Elvis made a home recording of this number in the autumn of 1960, when staying on the west coast of the USA. A second home recording, made in 1966, has been released on a CD called, appropriately, "The Home Recordings." The tape containing this latter version was made at Rocca Place, Hollywood, though was only discovered in Graceland in 1996. "If I Loved You" was written for the 1945 musical "Carousel". The song was performed in the musical by John Raitt, but his studio recording was only made at some time between 9 and 21 May, whereas Frank Sinatra's version was recorded on 1 May 1945. The very first recording of the number, however, seems to be that made by Bing Crosby on 18 April 1945 and released as the A-side of Decca 18686. Incidentally, Elvis officially recorded the number "You'll Never Walk Alone" from the same musical.

Nelson wrote an unfortunate bunch of rubbish for Elvis, much of which was rejected and only one of which was not included in a film—this one. It's the only half-decent song amongst a bad lot and, unlike the others, it probably wasn't even written specifically for Elvis, anyway, as Nelson himself recorded it in 1962, some eight years before Elvis's own recording. The original was released in July 1962 (recording date unknown) on Atco 45-6233.

Jimmy Clanton is perhaps best remembered, if at all, for his starring role in Alan Freed's 1959 film "Go, Johnny, Go." He was drafted in 1961 but fared less well than Elvis, having just one post-service hit, "Venus In Blue Jeans," in late 1962. The latter number was, of course, the inspiration for that great British eccentric and rocker Screaming Lord Sutch's own "Monster In Black Tights"! His recording of "If I'm A Fool For Loving You" (no brackets) was released in June 1964 on the Philips label (Philips 40208) as the B-side of "A Million Drums."
Bobby Wood's recording of "If I'm A Fool For Loving You" (also without the brackets) was issued in April 1964 on Joy 285, but it is not known if his recording preceded that of Clanton's. Wood was a keyboard session musician; amongst the artists he backed were Elvis, for whom he worked on his 1969 "From Elvis In Memphis" album and other sessions. One of the numbers he played on for Elvis was "If I'm A Fool (For Loving You)."

Dottie Rambo was born Joyce Luttrell in Madisonville, Kentucky, on 2 March, 1934. In the 1950s she formed The Rambos together with husband Buck. They also performed as The Gospel Echoes and The Singing Rambos. The Singing Rambos' original recording of "If That Isn't Love," which was written by Dottie Rambo, was released as part of the LP "If That isn't Love" on Vista R1228 in 1969, though the exact date of recording is unknown.
It is said that Dottie Rambo wrote more than 2,500 songs.
Dottie Rambo died on 11 May, 2008, following a road traffic accident.

Soon after being married in 1945, Earl and Lily Weatherford started singing together in California. The group had already been set up by Earl as the typical male gospel quartet, but Lily added a female element that, at the time, was daringly modern, and the quartet-plus gained steadily more following across the South. Various personnel changes occurred during the subsequent years; one of the members was piano-player Henry Slaughter (later to play with the Imperials), who wrote this number. The Weatherford Quartet (also known at various stages of their career as The Weatherfords and the Weatherford Trio) recorded the original of "If The Lord Wasn't Walking By My Side" in 1960, as part of their LP "Gospel Favorites," on the Rite Record Productions label.
The story goes that Elvis was so pleased with his own recording, on which he duets with Jake Hess, that he had the Meditation Garden in Graceland built.

Albert Brumley was born in the Choctaw Nation (now part of Oklahoma) in October, 1905. He is probably the best-known 20th century gospel music writer in America. He wrote his most successful gospel song in 1929—"I'll Fly Away"—and it was first published in 1932. "Turn Your Radio On" was another of an estimated 600 to 800 compositions. Another Brumley song recorded (though unofficially during the "Million Dollar Quartet" session) by Elvis is "Blessed Jesus Hold My Hand" (see above). Brumley died in November 1977.
The Blackwood Brothers made the first recording in late 1945 or early 1946, so more than likely preceding the Brown's Ferry Four's 1946 recording. The Blackwoods' recording was released as the B-side of "The Love of God" on the "Blackwood Brothers Recordings" label as recording number 10. Later, they rerecorded the number for release on the White Church label and that same recording was used on the Christian Education label. At the same time, the rerecorded version was released on a colour-variant of the Blackwood Brothers Recordings label.
(Brown's Ferry Four's version of "If We Never Meet Again" was recorded in 1946 and released on King 577 in 1947.)

The Drifters were originally formed in 1953, with no less than Clyde McPhatter as the lead singer of the quartet. Their debut single, "Money Honey" (also recorded by Elvis) became a number one in the USA, with the label reading "Clyde McPhatter and The Drifters." Other successes followed, despite McPhatter's having to leave the group to do national service (and after that he decided on a solo career). Problems between the group and its manager, who owned the name, led to the group being fired in 1958 and the members of another group, The Five Crowns, being given the name. This new Drifters group gained perhaps even more success than the original. At one time, Ben E. King was the lead singer, but it is Johnny Moore who takes the lead on "If You Don't Come Back." (Note that this is not the same Johnny Moore who sang with the Three Blazers.)

John Rostill was a former member of the famous British guitar group, The Shadows. He died in 1973, aged just 31. See also Let Me Be There. Olivia Newton John is a right mixture: she was born in England of a Welsh father and a German mother; she was taken to Australia when she was 5 years old. After winning an Australian talent contest, she moved back to England in 1965 to try for a career in entertainment. After a not too auspicious start, she finally made the big time.

Aileene Hanks was born on 8 September 1933 in Missouri and died on 24 November 1997 in Alabama. Sadly, little information about her seems to be available, yet according to her obituary in the Bangor Daily News of 28 November, 1997, she recorded 18 gospel albums and appeared on the Grand Ole Opry.
The Rangers Quartet grew from a group that was formed during the depression of th 1930s, called the Texas Rangers. After a few years of successful touring, the name of the group was shortened to The Rangers. The Rangers Quartet recorded the original version of Aileene Hanks's most famous composition, "In My Father's House." The exact date of their recording is unknown, but it was probably no later than 1953, as tenor Denver Crumpler featured on it and he left the group that year. The recording was released on the Rangers Record Of The Month label, number RA-1016-A, coupled with "I Just Telephone Upstairs." If the label numbers were chronological and the releases were truly monthly, the record was issued in February 1951. The same coupling was issued on International Records 1651, though exactly when is again not known.

C. Austin Miles wrote this number, whose complete title is "(He Walks With Me) In The Garden," in 1912 after music publisher Adam Geibel asked him to write a hymn text that would be "sympathetic in tone, breathing tenderness in every line; one that would bring hope to the hopeless, rest for the weary, and downy pillows to dying beds." Well, it's a nice song and Elvis sings it wonderfully! Homer Rodheaver was a pioneer in gospel music recording, making his first records for Victor in 1913, but he also made records for several other companies. He continued to record until the 1940s. He recorded "In The Garden" 9 times, the earliest version probably being in duet with Virginia Asher, made in February 1916 and released the following July on Victor 18020. (A recording by Ada Jones and George Ballard of a number called "In The Garden" and made in 1914, concerns a different song.)

In 1955 Elvis was the opening act for a show starring Charlie Louvin as part of the Louvin Brothers. Elvis's recording came about after he picked up a guitar during a session and started playing the intro to the number. Charlie Louvin's version was recorded on 5 December 1967 and released a year later on his second album "Hey Daddy" on Capitol ST-142. The track was listed as "It's Not A Big Thing."
The copyright to this song dates from 1965, however, so perhaps an earlier version exists.

Sadly, little is known about the singer of the original of this wonderful ballad. The most detail that the sleevenotes of a CD collection of his work say is, "Jerry Jackson was an R&B-pop singer in New York in the early 1960s and his New York ska version of Shrimp Boats has become a cult club favorite in Europe," and that's just about as much as anyone seems to know! He recorded for two labels, Kapp and Columbia, between 1961 and 1964, but enjoyed little success. His original version of "It Hurts Me" was recorded for Kapp on 2 July 1963, but, although it was given a master number (K543), it was not released at the time and, indeed, had to wait until 1990 to finally appear on a Bear Family compilation. Charlie Daniels, who wrote this song together with Joy Byers, is the same Charlie Daniels who had a big hit with "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" at the end of the next decade.

Elvis's version was originally released as part of the "Peace In The Valley" EP in 1957. Stuart Hamblen was a western film star and the leader of a C&W band before his conversion to Christianity. He then went on to write and record several gospel numbers, of which this is undoubtedly the most well known (another of his numbers recorded by Elvis is "Known Only To Him"). He also had his own radio programme, "Cowboy Church Of The Air" from 1938 until 1952. The story goes that Stuart Hamblen got the idea for the song from John Wayne, who said the title to him as Hamblen, a sometime film actor, was leaving his home in a depressive mood. Hamblen's own original recording was released on Columbia ZSP 5543, with the title "It's No Secret."

Elvis co-star Shelley Fabares (California Holiday, Clambake, Girl Happy) recorded this number in 1962. Perhaps she mentioned it to him on the film set... Tillotson's original reached number 3 in Billboard's Hot 100 chart and number 4 in the Country chart. Tillotson recorded the number whilst doing his army service (in fact, he recorded a full album!) and some advertisements for the record showed him in army uniform, naming him Private Johnny Tillotson!

Elvis visited the Memphis Recording Service to make his second personal recording in January 1954, coupling "I'll Never Stand In Your Way" with "It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You." Al Rogers only had a few records released, two for Capitol, three for MGM, including the original of "It Wouldn't Be The Same (Without You)," recorded on 1 April 1950, on MGM 10709 as the B-side of "Shuffle Boogie Bellhop," and two for X, where recording credits went to the slightly differently named Al Rogers And His Rocky Mountain Boys.

Eddy Arnold's original version of "It's A Sin" was recorded on 24 september 1946 and released on RCA Victor 20-2241, with the label showing the artist as "Eddy Arnold, The Tennessee Plowboy and his Guitar." In 1947 it stayed at the number 1 position of the US Contry charts for five weeks. Tom Parker managed Eddy Arnold for several years before dropping him (or was it a case of Arnold dropping Parker...?) when he saw great big dollar signs in the shape of Elvis Presley. Eddy Arnold died in May 2008.

Billy Mayhew copyrighted his number, "It's A Sin To Tell A Lie," in 1933, so it is possible that an earlier recording than that of Freddy Ellis's exists. Ellis's recording was made on 18 February 1936 and was released on Conqueror 8707, Perfect 6-04-11, and Melotone 6-04-11. Seymour Richards provided the vocal refrain. The number has been recorded by just about everyone, from Billie Holliday to Vera Lynn—quite a contrast! Elvis's home recording, however, is based more on that of the wonderful Ink Spots, a group he was very fond of—and rightly so!—and he even provides a Bill Kenny-like recitation.

This was a number one on the Country Chart for Tubb and one of his biggest hits during his long career. On the set "Platinum: A Life In Music" the number is included as part of a track called "The Bad Nauheim Medley," (Elvis's house was in Bad Nauheim), which further includes "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen," "I Will Be True," "Apron Strings" and "There's No Tomorrow."

Clive Westlake composed many, many pop hits during the 1960s and 1970s, for artists such as The Hollies, Dusty Springfield, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, and Tom Jones. He was born in Wales, but moved to Nashville in 1980, where he died in 2000. Other Westlake songs recorded by Elvis are "How The Web Was Woven," "Twenty Days And Twenty Nights" and "It's A Matter Of Time."
Cilla Black was born Priscilla White in Liverpool in 1943. She worked as a cloakroom attendant (and for American readers, that's not the same as a toilet lady) in The Cavern, where she became friendly with the still-to-become-famous Beatles and other Liverpool acts. She would occasionally perform at The Cavern and in 1963 became manager Brian Epstein's only female act. She went on to enjoy great recording successes and then to become a top television personality. Her version of "It's Different Now," probably written for her by Clive Westlake, appeared on her album "Images," released in early 1971. Cilla Black died in August 2015.
For some reason, Elvis's version drops the first verse and is often listed as "It's Diff'rent Now."

Perry Como's 1971 hit version is the original with the same title, but the song has a far more complicated history, dating back as far as 1960. It was then that the singer Frédérica took part in the national elimination rounds to find the song to represent France in that year's Eurovision Song Contest. One of the numbers she sang was entitled "J'ai le mal de toi," with music by Jack Dieval and lyrics by Michel Rivgauche. The song did not make it to the ESC and seems not to have been recorded at the time, but in 1964 French singer Colette Deréal provided what seems to be the original recording as the B-side of Polydor 66404, which was then released as the A-side of Polydor 66405. In 1965 "J'ai le mal de toi" reappeared in Belgium as an entry in a BRT radio programme (Muziek Ohne Grenzen), sung by Lily Castel; again it would seem that no recording was made. The text was then translated into both English and Dutch and recorded by the delicious Kathy Kirby as "The Way of Love" and by Conny Vandenbos as "Je Doet Me Pijn" respectively. Kirby's recording was made in June 1965 and Vandenbos's in September of that same year. Other recordings and languages followed (including the Spanish version "Somos Novios" by Armando Manzareno) until Sid Wayne provided the famous "It's Impossible" lyrics in 1970, leading to Perry Como's comeback version that went on to be covered by many, many others.

Wayne Walker was born on 13 December, 1925, in Quapaw, Oklahoma. He grew up in Kilgore, Texas, but later moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where he eventually appeared on the Louisiana Hayride. There he met Webb Pierce and together they wrote several numbers, including "How Do You Think I Feel," which went on to be recorded by Elvis.
Wayne Walker recorded his own composition of "It's My Way" on 26 July 1956. It was released on ABC-Paramount 9735, coupled with "AlI I Can Do Is Cry." Elvis sings just a line or two of "It's My Way" (almost unrecognizable as such) at the start of his February set of American Studios sessions.
Wayne Walker was a prolific songwriter, with over 500 titles to his credit. He died on 2 January, 1979.

Well, the first problem is the title: there are many variations of it, including the one given on the sheet music, which is what I have used above as being presumably the "official" one, and then the English linguistic variations, found all over the place, including track listings, and including "It's Nice To Go Travelling" (UK spelling variation), "It's Nice To Go Traveling" (American English variation), versions wher the -ing is replaced by in', the extended "It's Very Nice To Go Travelling" (based on the first line and in all its variations, too), and so on.
Not that it matters much, as Elvis only sang one line of the song near the start of The Frank Sinatra Timex Show , which was recorded on 26 March 1960. The show is now better known as "Frank Sinatra's Welcome Home Party For Elvis Presley," which is quite a mouthful, especially considering the amount of time that Elvis was actually seen, some eight minutes in all, and the ticket inspector's uniform he wore as he entered the stage to sing his one line of this number (I really can't believe that was a real army uniform!).
Sinatra himself had made the original commercial recording of the number on 8 October, 1957 and it was included on his 1958 album, "Come Fly With Me," issued on Capitol W-920.

What counts as an original? Elvis liked a 1949 Tony Martin number called "There's No Tomorrow" and recorded private versions of the song whilst on army service in Germany. But "There's No Tomorrow" was itself based on a much older Italian number called "O Sole Mio," which was written in 1898 by Di Capua when he was travelling in the Ukraine. In 1973, documents were presented to the Italian court, showing that Mazzucchi was co-author of the number.
Just three years after its composition, the Italian tenor Francesco Daddi made a recording of "O Sole Mio" at the end of 1901 in Milan for Zonophone (matrix 532), which was released, probably in 1902, on the Gramophone label, number 52271. Daddi was born in 1864 and made his stage debut in Milan in 1891. He became the foremost tenor in Italy, but moved to the USA in 1907 to perform at the Manhattan Opera. Later he performed comic bass roles in Chicago until 1920. Daddi died in 1945.
New lyrics were provided for Elvis by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold and a demo was made by David Hill.

B.J. (Billy Joe) Thomas enjoyed considerable success in the USA from the mid 1960s to the late 1980s in both pop and country fields. He also had some international success, notably with his recording of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head." "It's Only Love" was issued on Scepter 12244. Since the late 1980s he has been active in the field of Christian music. Mark James also wrote "Always On My Mind," "Moody Blue," and "Suspicious Minds."

Jimmie Rodgers was born on 8 September, 1933, in Camas, Washington (USA). After having appeared in the Arthur Godfrey television talent show, he was signed to Roulette Records and in 1957 had the biggest hit of his career with a song called "Honeycomb," but is perhaps better known in the UK for the follow-up, "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" and his 1962 hit, "English Country Garden." In 1962, Rodgers moved to the Dot label and a few years later he recorded the original version of his self-penned number, "It's Over." The song is not to be confused with Roy Orbison's 1961 success of the same name. The original artist is not to be confused with the "real" Jimmie Rodgers, "The Singing Brakeman."

Ivory Joe Hunter was born in Kirbyville, Texas, in 1914. He made his first recording on a Library of Congress cylinder in 1933, but it was not until the mid-1940s that he would start to make commercial recordings, initially with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers. By the 1950s he was enjoying regular R&B chart success, but in the 1960s he turned to country music and made regular appearances at the Grand Old Opry. He recorded "It's Still Here" as part of his mid-1960's LP "This Is My Country." A smoker, Ivory Joe Hunter died of lung cancer in 1974.
Elvis admired Ivory Joe Hunter and sang several of his songs throughout his career: "My Wish Came True," "I Need You So," Ain't That Loving You, Baby" and "I Will Be True," as well as "It's Still Here." Although issued as studio recordings, both "I Will Be True" and "It's Still Here" are examples of Elvis singing for himself at a studio piano, during a break in the actual recording proceedings (as, indeed, is "I Will Take You Home Again Kathleen").

Jesse Brady was given "It's Your Baby, You Rock It" by his producer, Billy Joe Burnette. He recorded it in the spring of 1969 and it was released on BJB Records 1040. The Milete in the writing credits refers to Shirl Milete, who wrote "Life" and recorded the original version of that number. Jesse Brady was the professional name of a performer who has now reverted to his real name of Allen Wright. Brady had three reasonably successful singles, but left the music business for some years before returning as Wright, writing and singing country and gospel music.

Surely everyone knows that "Jambalaya" and Hank are inseparable, with his studio recording dating from 13 June, 1952. Maybe so, at least with that title, but "Jambalaya" is based on a slightly earlier number by Julius Lamperez, recording under the name Papa Cairo And His Boys, in 1949. The original title was "Big Texas", so perhaps "Jambalaya (On The Oilfield)" would have been more appropriate. But wait, Julius "Papa Cairo" Lamperez had previously been the singer with Chuck Guillory and His Rhythm Boys and they had already recorded their own version in 1948, which was released as the B-side of "Chère Petite" on Modern 20-612 as "Big Texas," sung in Cajun French. Lamperez then went on to record the number again, this time in English, and to release it, also in 1949, on Colonial (a subsidiary of Modern), under the title "Big Texas No. 2" (Colonial 104), with the label indicating the performers as Papa Cairo And His Boys. Interestingly, the B-side of "Big Texas No. 2" was called "Kooche Kooche" and was a rerecording of Cairo's 1937 original, "Alons Kooche Kooche."
In his book, "South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous," John Boven writes that, "Cairo claims that Hank Williams stole the tune in 1952 and turned it into the world-famous 'Jambalaya (On The Bayou)'; some say that writing credits should go to Moon Mullican of 'New Jole Blon' fame." Indeed, under an arrangement with Acuff-Rose, Mullican received 50% of the royalties of the song, even though his name did not appear in the writing credits. There is no doubt that the resemblance between "Jambalaya" and "Gran' Texas" is striking and Williams was certainly not wont to taking others work and making it his own: he did the same with "Cold, Cold Heart," the melody of which is taken directly from Texas Tyler's 1945 release, "You'll Still Be In My Heart." An even earlier claimant to the original version of the song is a Cajun recording made in 1940 by Happy Fats and His Rayne-Bo Ramblers, called "Gran Prairie," though the resemblance is far less. Some sources indicate the tune as "traditional" and indeed, still older influences can be heard, as is the case with the 1937 recordings of "Alons Kooche Kooche" [sic] by the Louisiana Rounders (Decca 17040) and "Abbeville" by the Jolly Boys Of Lafayette (Decca 17026).

Pierpoint wrote the number as "The One-Horse Open Sleigh" in order to cheer up the local Sunday-school evening meeting. Will Lyle was a banjo player and made history on 30 October, 1889 by recording the very first Christmas record, his instrumental version of "Jingle Bells." Sadly, no copy of his recording survives. In 1898 the first vocal recording of the number was made and issued on an Edison brown wax cylinder, number 2218, entitled "Sleigh Ride Party," and attributed to the Edison Male Quartette.
Elvis can be heard playing a snatch of the song on piano prior to "I Asked The Lord."

Chuck Berry was born Charles Edward Anderson Berry on 18 October, 1926, in St Louis, Missouri. He was introduced to music from a young age at school and church. In the early 1950s he joined Johnnie Johnson's band and in 1955 met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Chess Records. As a result, Berry recorded "Maybellene" for that label, the first of a succession of hits that included "School Days," "Rock and Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Johnny B. Goode," "Too Much Monkey Business," and other R&R classics.
Chuck wasn't above being influenced: it's well known that his "Maybellene" was based on the much older "Ida Red", for example. His guitar playing in Johnny B. Goode, especially the fantastics runs, are similar to those used by Freddie Slack in his 1942 recording of "I Got A Break Baby," on which the guitar was played by T-Bone Walker; its opening, on the other hand, is a note-for-note version of Carl Hogan's lead in Louis Jordan's "Ain't That Just Like A Woman." Let this not detract, however, from the pure poetry of Chuck's lyrics. In his biography, Chuck allows that the song was more or less about himself, though he had written it for his longstanding pianist Johnnie Johnson. Chuck Berry recorded the original version of "Johnny B. Goode" on 30 December 1957 or 28 February 1958 (sources differ). It was released as a single on Chess 1691.
On 20 August, 1977, just a few days after Elvis's death, a Voyager rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, carrying a gold disc with messages for any aliens that might find it. Several pieces of music were included, one of which was Chuck Berry's version of Johnny B. Goode. Perhaps the aliens will also sing "Roll Over, Beethoven"!
Chuck Berry will go down in history as the Bard of rock'n'roll: no other songwriter was quite able to match Berry's masterful ability to summarise in a few verses and with brilliant phrasing the hopes and wishes of youth.
Chuck Berry died on 18 March, 2017.
Elvis covered numerous Berry numbers — see also "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," "Long Live Rock and Roll (School Days)," "Maybellene," "Memphis, Tennessee," "Promised Land," "Too Much Monkey Business."

Harrod's Jubilee Singers recorded the number as "Joshua Fought The Battle of Jericho" in July 1922. This was first released on Black Swan 2057-B (the A-side was "Jacob's Ladder"), but Black Swan went bankrupt in 1923 and the recording was re-released on Paramount 12116 (same A and B sides). A more famous recording was by Paul Robeson in 1925, titled "Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho" and was released in 1925 on Vic 19743. It is also indicated as "Joshua Fought The Battle of Jericho" and "Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho." The number is invariably listed as "Traditional" or "Traditional African American," or something similar, but I have found at least one indication of it having been written in 1865—presumably this refers to the first publication of the words (and music?). Interestingly, the Harrod's Jubilee Singers' version is listed on the Paramount label as having been composed by Jay Roberts.

Redell was born Teddy DeLano Riedel on 7 June, 1937, in Arkansas, USA. His early recordings, dating back to 1952, seem to have been unissued, with his first releases dating only from 1960 or perhaps a bit earlier. Most releases were under the name of Redell, though a 1967 single, probably his final one, used his real name. "Judy" was released as the B-side of "Can't You See" on Atco 45-6162 in March 1960.

This gospel number was probably recorded in the studio in 1956 by Elvis; a home recording also exists, made in Waco in 1958. There is some speculation that "Tell Me Why," recorded by Elvis in 1957 (see below), was also based on this tune. It is thought that "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" is a comparitively recent song, perhaps dating from the evangelical crusades of the 1930s, though its origins have already been lost. Red Foley's 1950 recording was one of the first religious hits in Country music (see also "When God Dips His Love In My Heart.") Although the original of "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" was made by the Selah Jubilee Singers on 8 October 1941 (Decca 7872), the number is most associated with Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who recorded her own version on 2 December 1941 (Decca 8594). Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born Rosetta Nubin in 1915. She started using her artist's name in the mid-1930s and had her first hits with Decca in 1938. Tharpe toured with Marie Knight in the 1940s and early 1950s, when they also ventured into blues. Perhaps this is how Knight got the idea for her "Tell Me Why" with which "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" is so associated. Sister Rosetta Tharpe died in 1973.

Tiny Topsy pipped Rosco Gordon to the post to come up with this original, recorded in early 1959 in Chicago and released that same year on the Federal label, number 12357. Before her recording career, Tiny Topsy sang with Al Smith's 8-piece jazz/R&B club band, which was formed in Chicago in 1945. This group broke up in 1952 without having been recorded. Topsy's recording career started in 1957 on the Federal label, but she probably recorded no more than a dozen sides before her recording career ended in 1962. Tiny's real name was Otha Lee Moore and she was anyhing but tiny. She died in 1964, at just 34 years of age.
Topsy's recording was made on or before 22 May 1959; Rosco Gordon's perhaps better-known version dates from 16 September of that same year. Rosco Gordon died in July 2002. UK fans might remember a version of "Just A Little Bit" by The Undertakers, recorded in 1964 and their only hit.

The Reverend Cleavant Derricks was born in 1910 at Chattanooga, Tennessee. He studied at Cadek Conservatory of Music in Knoxville and at the State University and American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville. He wrote more than 300 songs, including "Just A Little Talk with Jesus," which he copyrighted in 1937as "Have a Little Talk With Jesus," and "When God Dipped His Love In My Heart," both recorded by Elvis. The original Stamps Quartet was formed in 1924 by Frank Stamps and signed a recording contract with RCA in 1927. Their original version of "Just A Little Talk With Jesus" was recorded on 13 May, 1938, and released on Columbia 20271, as well as on Conqueror 9668 and Vocalion 04329. On all releases, "Just A Little Talk With Jesus" appeared as the B side to "The Lord Is With Me."
The Stamps went through various personnel line-ups throughout the years. Early in the 1970s the Stamps, headed by bassman J.D. Sumner, started working as Elvis's backing vocalists. Elvis visited the Sun studios on December 4th and ended up in a jam session which has become legendary as the "Million Dollar Quartet." Actually, the quartet was a trio (Johnny Cash, the fourth, was present while pictures were being taken, but left before the recordings started): Elvis, his friend Carl Perkins, and new Sun artist Jerry Lee Lewis. The three ended up in an informal jam session, which Sam Phillips wisely committed to tape. Most of the numbers sung were, like "Just a Little Talk/Walk with Jesus," gospels.

Cliff Carlisle's "You'll Miss Me" is subtitled "(Just Because)"and is perhaps the semi-original version of "Just Because." The tune of a march called "Washington and Lee Swing" from 1910 is also a clear influence. The first "real" version, however, seems to be that of Nelstone's Hawaiians, which was recorded on 30 November 1929 and released on Victor V-40273 as the B-side of "Mobile County Blues." The group consisted of Hubert Nelson (vocal and steel guitar) and James D. Touchstone (vocal and guitar), both from southern Alabama. The Shelton Brothers' version of "Just Because" was a big hit on the Decca label in 1935 and was listed with writers Shelton, Shelton and Robin—don't know why, as it is clearly the same number as that of Nelstone's Hawaiians!

Surprisingly little is known about Rex Griffin, though he was quite a prolific writer of country songs. His early numbers were influenced by his admiration of Jimmie Rodgers. He recorded 36 tracks for Decca between 1935 and 1939. Griffin was born in 1912 and is believed to have died in 1959. Eddy Arnold recorded "Just Call Me Lonesome" on 30 December, 1953 (RCA 6198), closely followed by Red Foley on 6 January, 1954 (Decca 29626). Both versions were released at about the same time in August 1954. Eddy Arnold died in May 2008.

Roy Orbison was born on 23 April, 1936, in Vernon, Texas. He became very interested in music early in life. After some local success with a group called the Teen Kings, Orbison followed Johnny Cash's advice and contacted Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis. Phillips offered the Teen Kings a contract and a number of recordings were made, including "Ooby Dooby." Soon, however, the group split up and Orbison concentrated on songwriting. By 1960, Orbison had moved to Monument Records and it was there that his performing career really took off, with major worldwide hits throughout most of the 1960s ("Uptown," "Only The Lonely," "It's Over," "Pretty Woman" being just a few). He went through a slump in the 1970s, but his participation in the Traveling Wilburys in the 1980s ensured renewed success. Orbison died on 6 December, 1988.
Roy Orbison's original version of "Just Let Me Make Believe" was recorded on 21 July, 1966, and was released the following year in October as part of the LP "Cry Softly Lonely One" (MGM E/SE-4514).
The big question, however, is if it really is Elvis singing on the recording? If it is, then he is certainly not taking lead vocal. Former Elvis body-guard/security advisor Dick Grob claimed that Elvis gave him this home recording, which Grob put up for sale in the mid-1990s.