Elvis Presley
The Originals

Baker was born Dolores Evans on 11 November, 1929, in Chicago. Shortly after the Second World War she started singing in Chicago clubs under the name Little Miss Sharecropper. She signed to Atlantic Records in 1953 and had her first major success with her 1954 recording of "Tweedle Dee" (note difference in spelling), which was released on both 45 and 78rpm formats on Atlantic 1047.
LaVern Baker died on 10 March, 1997.
Winfield Scott, who wrote "Tweedlee Dee," also co-wrote "Return To Sender" and "I'm A Roustabout" for Elvis.
Elvis did not make a studio recording of "Tweedlee Dee," but three live versions exist: in addition to that on the set mentioned above, whose sleevenotes indicate not only the date, but also the location as Gladewater, Texas, the CD "Sunrise" has a version from 22 January 1955 (?) and "The First Live Recordings" (and numerous other CDs) reproduce a recording from 30 April 1955, also purporting to have been made in Gladewater, Texas... But there's a problem, for on 18 December 1954, Elvis was appearing at the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, so either he was double-dating, or RCA/BMG have the date incorrect in The Complete 50's Masters. Furthermore, Guralnick and Jorgensen's "Elvis Day By Day" provides a list of numbers that Elvis performed on 22 January, 1955—"Tweedlee Dee" is not included! Interestingly, when Elvis appeared in Lubbock in January 1955, he told a young Waylon Jennings that this number would be his next single.

Jerry Hubbard, the author, is the real name of Jerry Reed. Jerry recorded the original of his own composition, "U.S. Male," on 9 September 1966 in RCA's "Nashville Sound" studio in Nashville. The recording was released in February 1967 on his debut LP, "The Unbelievable Guitar And Voice Of Jerry Reed." Reed also wrote "Guitar Man." Both songs were big hits for Elvis.
Jerry was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1937. He started to play guitar at age eight and was particularly inspired by Merle Travis's "I Am A Pilgrim." He started recording for Capitol in 1955, but with little success, so thathe left the company in 1958. By 1961, Jerry had completed his miltary service (1959 to 1961), during which he played as a member of the army's Circle-A Wranglers band, and had developed his "claw style" method of guitar playing. After a brief and unsuccessful time with Columbia Records, Reed signed with RCA. His first top 20 hit came in 1967 with "Tupelo Mississippi Flash," a song about Elvis. He was voted Instrumentalist of The Year in 1970 by the Country Music Associatiion and won a Grammy for the number "When You're Hot, You're Hot" in 1971. He won two other Grammy awards, together with Chet Atkins, one in 1970 and the other in 1992. In the mid-1970s he began acting in films such as "Smokey And The Bandit" and enjoyed occasional parts for the rest of his life. Jerry Reed died in September 2008.
See also "A Thing Called Love," "Guitar Man" and "Talk About The Good Times."

Theme music for the film "Unchained," hence the title, though the song was not written for the film. Todd Duncan performed the song in the film, for which he received an Acadamy Award nomination, but Al Hibbler did so for the soundtrack release. Hibbler recorded that version on 4 February 1955 for the Decca label (29441), but the Les Baxter with orchestra and chorus recorded the original on the Capitol label on 17 January 1955. Jimmy Young reached number one in the British charts of 1955 with his own vocal rendition. It is probably one of the most covered songs ever, with hundreds of different versions made since it first appeared.
Three live versions by Elvis bear mentioning. The recording indicated in the "Date recorded" was the first released, forming part of his "Moody Blue" album, released in July 1977; the version of 21 June, 1977, recorded in Rapid City, South Dakota, was used for a single released in March 1978; a still earlier recording by Elvis also exists, dating from 31 December 1976, which can be found on the Follow That Dream collectors label CD "New Year's Eve" 82876 50410-2. (And there are probably plenty of other versions.)
Claims by one William Stirrat that he wrote "Unchained Melody" are probably untrue.

"Uncle Pen" is a semi-biographical song about Bill Monroe's uncle and influence, Pendleton Vandiver. There is no absolute certainty that Elvis actually ever recorded this number in the studio. It appeared in the sheet music collection "Elvis' Juke Box Favourites" in 1956 and rumours of a recording made while at Sun continue to do the rounds. However, it does seem probable that a recording of Elvis performing the number live does exist (he is known to have sung it live—he did so on his first appearance at the Louisiana Hayride). What seems to be a studio recording has been released on the Suedes label (KEYS 1955-578-1), and when the track was played to Scotty Moore a while back in Denmark, after just a few seconds he said, "It is Elvis and it's me playing the guitar." At least, that's what is written. However, another source indicates that this and the other song on the Suedes release ("Give Me More, More, More Of Your Kisses") are really by Paul Ansell who fronts the group No.9, with some sound effects to "age" the recording.
Bill Monroe's original version of "Uncle Pen" was recorded on 15 October, 1950, and released as a single, backed with "When The Golden Leaves Begin To Fall," on both 78rpm (Decca 46283) and and 45rpm (Decca 9-46283) in December 1950.

UK readers might remember the late 1965 number 19 UK hit version by The Four Pennies (those of "Juliet" fame). Buffy's own version was released as a single in June 1965 on Vanguard 35028, but with little success.
Buffy Sainte-Marie was a Canadian of Cree Indian extraction, though she was brought up by foster parents in Massachusetts USA. After leaving university with a PHD in Fine Arts, she became part of the Greenwich Village folk scene and signed with Vanguard Records.

This number is incorrectly listed as "(Until the Day) God Calls Me Home" on the unofficial "Slippin' 'n' Slidin'" CD.
The original appeared on Hamblen's 1958 LP, "A Visit With Stuart Hamblen" (Sacred LP 8003; in stereo LPS 6009). Stuart Hamblen also wrote "It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)" and "Known Only To Him" and recorded them originally: both numbers were recorded by Elvis.

Many sources (and, indeed, her own recordings) list Sister Rosetta Tharpe as reponsible for both music and words for this number. However, Tharpe's own version was only recorded in 1947, whereas the recording by the Southern Sons from 1941 is clearly the same number, even if it has the different title of "Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air."
Shortly after William Langford left the Golden Gate Quartet, he joined the Southern Sons. He used his connections to get a recording session for the group, which was held on 25 July, 1941, in the Victor studios in New York. Members of the group were James Baxter (tenor and guitar), Charles Wesley Hill (baritone), and Clifford Givens (bass), as well as Langford himself (tenor). One of the numbers the Southern Sons included at the session was their original version of "Above My Head," which was released that same year on Bluebird B8839.

Here's a strange little 52-second song from the film "The Trouble With Girls." Strange, not only because of its length, but also because it uses, like "Love Me Tender," the tune of "Aura Lea," the Civil War poem set to music. The original version therefore relates to the earliest known recording of "Aura Lea"—as far as I am aware, nobody recorded "Violet" before Elvis and I don't see why anyone would want to after him... The "violet" here appears to refer to the colour most associated with New York University, hence the reference in the lyrics to "flower of NYU."
The song Aura Lea, or Aura Lee, was published and copyrighted in 1861, with words by W.W. Fosdick and music by George Poulton, just as the American Civil War was beginning. Frances Farmer sang "Aura Lea" in the 1936 film "Come and Get It!" and this is often cited as the original version. However, I have been unable to find a record release of her number. Furthermore, "Aura Lea" was given new words in 1865 when it became the graduation song of the West Point military academy. This new version of the song was called "Army Blue" and it is still sung at West Point. Although the earliest recording of "Aura Lea" that I can find dates from 1937 (the Shelton Brothers, released on Decca in 1938), "Army Blue" was recorded already on 25 November 1913 by the American Quartet and released on Victor 17500.
Extended information regarding "Love Me Tender."

Joe South was born Joseph Souter on 28 February, 1940, in Atlanta, Georgia. He first gained some measure of success in the music business when Gene Vincent recorded two of his songs in 1959. His own recording career began about the same time when he played as a studio musician for the National Recording Corporation and cut his first own tracks. Little success and a lot of session work preceded Joe South's 1968 hit, "Games People Play," a success on both sides of the Atlantic, soon to be followed by the self-penned, original version of "Walk A Mile In My Shoes," released on Capitol 2704. The latter was taken from South's second album, "Don't It Make You Want To Go Home?" Strangely, the LP was credited to Joe South alone, whereas the single showed Joe South and The Believers.
Joe South died on 5 September, 2012.

The Jenkins Family recorded their version of this old song in April 1925 on Okeh 40377 as "That Lonesome Valley." The song has been recorded by many predominently country artists with varying lyirics and under numerous titles, including "Lonesome Valley," "I've Got To Walk The Lonesome Valley," "That Lonesome Valley," "Walk That Lonesome Valley," "Jesus Walked The Lonesome Valley" and "You Got To Walk That Lonesome Valey." Other artists known to have recorded the song include The Carter Family (1930) and The Monroe Brothers (1936). 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 according to most sources): 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 "Walk That Lonesome Valley," gospels. Jerry Lee sang lead on this track.

Just a line or two of "Wanderin'" were sung by Elvis, together with Lamar Fike, during the filming of "Elvis On Tour." It can also be heard on the unofficial recording, "Between The Takes With Elvis."
"Wanderin'" was originally recorded on 29 September, 1928, by Vernon Dalhart and was released on single that same year on Columbia 1585-D and Regal (Australia) G20377 (he recorded the number again on 23 October, 1928 for release on Harmony 767-H (under the name Mack Allen), Velvet Tone 1767-V, and Diva 2767-G).
The number is said to have been the inspiration for Lonnie Donegan to have written "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," later also recorded by Elvis.
Vernon Dalhart was born Marion Try Slaughter on 6 April, 1883, in Jefferson, Texas. He is supposed to have been the first million-selling artist in Country music. He is perhaps best remembered by British audiences for his song, "The Runaway Train," which was reissued in the UK in the 1940s and became a firm favourite with children in the 1950s, thanks to the BBC radio programme, "Children's Favourites." Dalhart died on 15 September, 1948.
Extended information regarding "I'll Never Fall In Love Again/Wanderin'."

Elvis sings just the first line of this Wally Fowler-penned number, just prior to take 3 of "Talk About The Good Times." The Oak Ridge Quartet was formed by Wally Fowler (real name John Wallace Fowler) himself in the 1940s when he turned to Gospel music, but he sold the rights to the name in 1957 to a group member, as payment for a debt. The Quartet included the original recording of "Wasted Years" on their 1960 LP "The Oak Ridge Quartet" (Checker LP1002). In 1961, the group changed their name to The Oak Ridge Boys. "Wasted Years" was also recorded at about the same time by the Sons Of Song, and their recording is significant, being the first Nashville recording to use an Echoplex (a tape delay echo chamber) to create a fluttering sound on an electric guitar, though the effect is very exaggerated on this number.

The melody of "We'll Be Together" is, in fact, that of an old Mexican or Californian folk song, called "Carmen Carmela" (also called "Carmen Carmella"). The number was first recorded in 1904, probably May or June, by Rafael Herrera Robinson and released on Edison cylinder number 18526 in June 1905.
Fred Waring recorded the tune with what are probably the first English lyrics on 19 February 1951, not as "We'll Be Together," but instead as "Tulips And Heather," with words (totally different) and music (just the same) by Milton Carson. "Milton Carson" was a pseudonym for the British composing team of Harold Fields, Howard Barnes and Joseph Roncoroni.
Although Elvis's version uses both English and Spanish lyrics, these match neither the "Carson" lyrics, nor those of the true original, "Carmen Carmela." Although O'Curran and Brooks are indicated as the writers on Elvis's releases, they had nothing to do with the original. Indeed, a plethora of writers can be found as supposedly responsible for the number; perhaps the best would be to regard this number as truly "Traditional."
The date upon which Elvis recorded his version is also something of a mystery, for although it seems to have indeed been recorded at about the same time as the rest of the "Girls! Girls! Girls!" soundtrack, the exact date is not known—even Jorgensen's "A Life In Music" simply states, "Unknown." (Tunzi gives 23 May 1962 in his "Elvis Sessions III.")
Extended information regarding "We'll Be Together."

Vera Matson and Elvis himself are credited for this number, but it seems likely that neither had a great deal to do with its real origins. The musical director of the film "Love Me Tender," Ken Darby, wrote this along with the other three numbers in the film (one of which was "Love Me Tender," a reworking of "Aura Lee"), but gave the credit to his wife (Matson) and Elvis. Elvis might well have known a gospel called "Leak In This Old Building," which was released in January 1953 on Peacock 1708 by the Bells Of Joy. It seems likely, however, given the matrix number (ACA 2013), that the track was recorded some two years earlier, in October 1951. "Leak In This Old Building" is certainly more than the inspiration for "We're Gonna Move"—same tune and much the same words, too! Authorship is a mystery, as the Bells Of Joy's label indicates "A. C. Littlefield," whereas Brother Claude Ely's later 1953 release of the song on the King label credits himself. (Note that another song with the title "There's A Leak In This Old Building" was recorded by the Southern Sons in 1941, but this is a very different number.)

Jim Reeves was born in 1923. A "singing disk-jockey," he turned to a full-time singing career in about 1949, but his big break came in 1952 when he stood in for Hank Williams, who had failed to turn up for a show. He became hugely successful in the USA and around the world (especially in South Africa, where he also recorded in Afrikaans). Jim Reeves died on 31 July 1964 when the plane he was piloting crashed outside Nashville during a storm. Reeves' original version of "Welcome To My World" was recorded in November 1961 and released in April 1962 as part of his "A Touch Of Velvet" album on RCA Victor, LPM-2487/LSP-2487.

Joseph M. Scriven wrote this number as a poem in 1855 to comfort his mother when he was in the USA and she was still in Ireland. Originally published anonymously, it was almost 30 years before Scriven received credit for his work. The version by J. J. Fisher had probably already been released on a brown wax cylinder, but in about 1902 it was transferred to the improved hard black wax cylinders of the Edison Gold Moulded Record series and released under number 7014; this same number was used for a cylinder of the same song, sung by James F. Harrison. The tune usually used with this hymn is "Erie," written by Charles C. Converse and is the same tune used for the World War I favourite "When This Bloody War Is Over"!
Elvis's version is a brief extract, sung during a concert in Las Vegas. The CD on which it is found lists the track as "My Boy/Take These Chains From My Heart/My Boy." The "My Boy" extracts are one-liners and the song between them and indicated as "Take These Chains..." is, in fact, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus."
(An earlier Edison cylinder recording of what are described as "church chimes" was made in 1897 or 1898, but this is presumably a field recording only.)

French giant of the chanson, Gilbert Bécaud, known as "Monsieur 100,000 Volts," wrote and recorded the original version of "What Now My Love" in its original French, as "Et Maintenant," in 1961. Bécaud was born in Toulon on 24 October, 1927. His musical education was interrupted when he joined the French Resistance during the Second World War. In 1948 he began writing songs, and in 1953, at the encouragement of Edith Piaf, he also turned to singing. Jane Morgan had already had a successful hit with an English-language cover of Bécaud's "Le Jour Où La Pluie Viendra" ("The Day The Rains Came") in 1958 and in 1962 she repeated the process when she recorded the original English-language version of "What Now My Love" with lyrics by Carl Sigman.
Gilbert Bécaud died on 18 December, 2001.
In addition to his frequent on-stage performances, Elvis made a home recording of the song in 1966 and that version can be found on "The Home Recordings."

Ray Charles fills many roles: singer, composer, pianist and arranger. Born in Albany, Georgia, on 23 September, 1930, as Ray Charles Robinson, he suffered from congenitive juvenile glaucoma as a child and was completely blind by the age of seven. Despite this, he learned to read and write music and to play several instruments by the time he was 15. His recording career began in 1949, gaining major success in 1954 with "I Got A Woman" (see above). He recorded the original version of "What'd I Say" on 18 February, 1959, and it was released as a single on Atlantic 2031. Ray Charles died in June 2004.

Elvis's 70s bass singer, the late J.D. Sumner, was a member of the Blackwood Brothers from 1954 until 1965. The Blackwood Brothers group was formed as a quartet in 1934 and then consisted of three brothers, Roy, Doyle and James together with R.W. Blackwood, Roy's son. In the late 1940s, the Blackwoods recorded numerous tracks on the White Church label. One of the earliest of these recordings was "When God Dips His Love In My Heart," dating from 1946 and released on White Church 1043.
Hank Williams and Red Foley also recorded the number. Both Foley and the Daniel Sisters & Otis McCoy recorded this gospel song in 1949. Foley's was probably the very first country gospel hit, but it seems that the Daniel Sisters & Otis McCoy actually made the first recording in June 1949, released on Columbia 20658. Hank Williams' recording dates from late 1950.

Just a very brief one-line burst of this song by Elvis at the end of the first take of "I Got Stung," made in the very early hours of the morning of 11 June (the session had started the previous day). An Irish song? Hardly. The lyrics were written by Chancellor (Chauncey) Olcott and George Graff Jr. Olcott was admittedly the son of Irish immigrants, but was born in Buffalo, New York; Graff was of German descent. The music was provided by Ernest Ball, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, with German parents. The song was put together for Ball and Olcott's 1912 musical play, "The Isle O' Dreams," in which it was sung by Olcott himself. In the following year Olcott made the first recorded version.

William Robert Emerson was born on 21 December, 1929, in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Having learned the piano, he played in a number of local groups and earned the nickname "Billy The Kid" because the members of one of those groups dressed as outlaws. He joined the Sun label in 1954 and whilst there recorded his own composition, "When It Rains, It Pours" (note the absence of the word "really").
Although recorded in 1955 and handed over to RCA as part of the deal when they bought Elvis from Sun, "When It Rains It Really Pours" was not issued until the "Elvis For Everyone" in 1965, in a version that included overdubbed instruments. The original take was first released on "Elvis: A Legendary Performer Vol.4".

Wiley Walker was born on 17 November, 1911, in Laurel Hill, Florida. Having learned to play the fiddle as a child, he started touring tent shows as a teenager. In 1937 he found himself in Shreveport and there he met Gene Sullivan.
Gene Sullivan was born on 16 November, 1914, in Carbon Hill, Alabama. Having started out as a professional boxer, he turned to country music in 1932. Together with Walker, he played with the Shelton Brothers in the mid 1930s until they formed their own duo in 1939. They recorded their original version of "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again," which they also wrote, on 9 March, 1941. It was released as a single on Okeh 06374 that same year (and later re-released on the Columbia label).
Wiley Walker died on 17 May, 1966.
Gene Sullivan died on 24 October, 1984.
Elvis cuts this number considerably by omitting two verses. The original version was not a success, but in 1944 Cindy Walker reached number 5 in the national charts.

It is strange that the origins of a song so well-known as "When The Saints Go Marching In" should be shrouded in so much mystery, but very little is known of just that song. It seems to have been published twice in 1896, once with J. M. Black indicated as the composer, and once as having the words written by Katherine Purvis, with music by Black. Some doubt exists, however, as to whether this is, in fact, the same song as the one we know today. Probably, the song is older and might even have originated in the Bahamas. In any case, the first recorded version of a number recognisable to us as "When The Saints" was made in 1923 by the Paramount Jubilee Singers and released on Paramount 12073, with the title, "When All The Saints Come Marching In."
Elvis sung along on this "traditional" gospel number with Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis during the Million Dollar Quartet jam session at the Sun Studios in December 1956.
It would be almost 10 years, however, before he recorded a more secular version of the number for the soundtrack of the film "Frankie and Johnny," where it was coupled with "Down By The Riverside."

Sonja Stadlin (also known as Sonja Salvis) recorded the original version of this tune as "Der Weg ins Land der Liebe" in 1966 or early 1967, releasing it on the Ariola 19366 AT. Larry Kusik and Eddie Snyder provided the English words to James Last's music and Ed Ames went on to record the original English language version of "When The Snow Is On The Roses" in 1967. Released as a single, it just squeezed into the Cashbox Top 100 in November 1967, though reached number 1 on the Adult Contemporary (easy listening) chart that same month.
Elvis sings just a couple of lines this number on one of the CDs of the Live In Las Vegas box set. Despite singing just two lines of the first verse (and then repeating the same lines), it's clearly a song he likes a lot and fits well into his "melancholy" phase.
Roy Drusky included the number on his 1968 "Jody And The Kid" LP.

In 1939, songwriter Leon Rene was listening to the radio one morning when he heard the announcer say the swallows were about to arrive at the Mission San Juan Capistrano. He got the idea for a song and wrote "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano." Leon Rene was born in Covington, Kentucky, in 1902 (some sources list Covington, Louisiana). He moved to Los Angeles with his older brother, Otis, in 1922 and founded the record companies Exclusive Records and Excelsior Records. They produced such artists as Nat "King" Cole, Johnny Otis, and Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers. The brothers were the first owners of an independent record company on the west coast of the USA, and also owned publishing companies. Leon Rene died in 1982.
Ceelle Burke's original recording of "When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano" was made in April 1940 and released on a number of labels, including Ammor 111 and Exclusive 102. A host of other artists recorded the number in the coming months, including The Ink Spots, Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, and Gene Autry.
Elvis's version is an informal home recording, never intended for release.

This number again poses the problem of what is an original. K. E. Harvis and J. M. Black wrote the "original" in 1890, but J. B. Coats rewrote the song and published it for the first time in 1940 in a collection entitled, "Golden Key" as "Where Could I Go?" The Harmoneers Quartet recorded the original version of this gospel number on 27 November, 1945 and their recording was released as the B-side of a single on RCA Victor 20-1816, under the title, "Where Could I Go!" (note the exclamation mark in place of the question mark). Southern gospel pioneers the Harmoneers Quartet were formed in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1943 by Fred C. Maples and Charles Key. The Harmoneers Quartet recorded primarily for RCA Victor from 1945 until 1952, though during the war years they also made a number of recordings for the Quartet label, under the name of the Maple Leaf Quartet. The career of the group spanned over four decades and numerous record labels.

Paul Williams was born on 19 September, 1940, in Omaha, Nebraska. His first published song, Fill Your Heart," became the B-side of Tiny Tim's "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" in 1968. Williams went on to be one of the foremost songwriters of the 1970s, his songs being recorded by the likes of the Carpenters, Helen Reddy, Dionne Warwick, Barbara Streisand, and none less than the Muppets.
Paul Williams' own original recording of "Where Do I Go From Here" was first issued on his "Life Goes On" LP, released by A&M in 1972 (SP4367). The number reappeared in the 1974 Clint Eastwood film, "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot."

Despite having been tone deaf at a young age, Mosie Lister was studying harmony and composition by the time he was seventeen. By the late 1940s, Lister was writing gospel songs for numerous well-known gospel groups and when the Statesmen (founded in 1948 by Hovie Lister, no relation) used him as an arranger in 1948, Lister introduced harmony techiques that are still in use today in this type of music. Lister was actually the first lead singer for the Statesmen Quartet until he decided to leave in order to concentrate on other aspects of the gospel music business. Lister composed many well known gospels, including "His Hand In Mine" and "He Knows Just What I Need," both recorded by Elvis. The Statesmen's recording of "Where No One Stands Alone" was released first on their own Statesmen label, as the B-side of record number 1061 ("Some Glad Day" was the A-side). Full recording credits were shown as, "The Statesmen Quartet Featuring: Doy Ott With Hovie Lister, Piano.

Bing Crosby recorded the original version of "White Christmas" on 29 May, 1942, together with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers. This recording was released as part of the "Holiday Inn" album of songs, Decca Album No. A-306, consisting of six discs. In the film "Holiday Inn," the song was sung as a duet, and won an Academy Award as Best Original Song for Irving Berlin, its writer. Because of damage to the master recording, Crosby rerecorded "White Christmas" on 18 March, 1947, with the same orchestra and backing group. This is the version most often heard nowadays. The song featured again in a Bing Crosby film, this time in "White Christmas" in 1954.
Elvis's version is nothing like the Crosby interpretation, being much closer to the Drifters' 1955 recording.

Charles "Rusty" Goodman wrote numerous popular contemporary gospels during his relatively brief life: he was born in September 1933 and died in November 1990. He recorded this number with his own group, "The Happy Goodmans," in 1967, but the original dates from 1964, when The Inspirations, a southern Gospel group, released it as a track on their LP "Just As Long As Eternity Rolls," released on their own Inspirations label, number IR 4009. It seems that only several hundred of these LPs were made before the master recordings were lost in a fire. The Inspirations were formed in 1964 as a quartet. The group has seen numerous personnel changes since then, but continues to perform more than forty years after its formation.

Numerous recordings of "Who's Sorry Now" were made in 1923, but the first seems to have been by Bob Thompson, made sometime in January of that year, for the Cameo label, with matrix number 399. An exact recording date cannot be found, but the Arthur Lange and His Orchestra version, made on 13 February 1923, also for Cameo, has matrix 423, whereas the Bob Thompson recording has matrix 399. Confusingly, the catalogue numbers are Cameo 350 for the Bob Thompson version and Cameo 321 for the Arthur Lange recording, so they seem to have been released in reverse order of recording. Lange's version is pureley orchestral, whereas Thompson's is a vocal rendition of the number.
The unofficial release features Elvis's then girlfriend Anita Wood singing, with Elvis accompanying her on piano. The recording was made during a visit by Elvis to Eddie Fadal's home in Waco, Texas, during Elvis's early priod in the army.

Big Maybelle was born Mabel Louise Smith on 1 May, 1924, in Jackson, Tennessee. She made her first recordings, as a band vocalist, in 1944, and her first solo recordings, as Mabel Smith, in 1947. In 1952 she signed with Okeh Records and was given the professional name of "Big Maybelle." Her original recording of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" was made on 21 March, 1955.
Big Maybelle was plagued with drug-related problems and died on 23 January, 1972 aged 48.
The studio band that accompanied Big Maybelle on her recording of "Whole Lotta…" was led by Quincy Jones.
Several other artists released their versions of the number before Jerry Lee made it his own with his 1957 Sun recording.

Former Golden Gloves boxer Kris Kristofferson turned down an offer to teach at the USA military academy at West Point and instead moved to Nashville to become a country musician. A big fan of Willie Nelson, he became one of the on-and-off group "The Highwaymen," along with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Nelson himself. Kristofferson's version appeared on his LP "Jesus Was A Capricorn" with the title "Why Me." Elvis recorded several Kristofferson numbers, including "Help Me Make It Through The Night" and "For The Good Times."
(Note that the number, "Why Me," recorded by The Thrasher Brothers in 1971 and featured on their LP "Now Hear This" is a different song.)

Dalhart was born Marion Try Slaughter on 6 April, 1883,in Jefferson, Texas. As a teenager he helped to drive cattle between the Texan towns of Vernon and Dalhart, hence his professional name. After moving to New York, Dalhart received vocal training and started appearing in light operas and operettas. However, as this field became less popular, he tried other singing opportunities, making records in a more commercial vein. He recorded the original version of "The Prisoner's Song" on 13 August, 1924, with Carson Robinson providing guitar accompaniment. Released as the B-side of his Victor recording of "Wreck of the Old 97" (Victor 19427). Vernon Dalhart's version of "The Prisoner's Song" became enormously popular and helped make the single country-music's first million-seller. It went on to be issued on many different labels.

Several version of "Winter Wonderland" were released in 1934. Most sources refer to the Guy Lombardo version, made on 29 October, as the first, but Richard Himber recorded the number several days earlier, on 23 October (Victor 24757) with Joey Nash providing the vocal lead. Richard Himber and his orchestra were very popular with the high society of New York during the 1930s and 1940s, playing at the most prestigious hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton, and spreading their popularity throughout the USA through their radio broadcasts. Listening to Elvis sing this number, I can't help but feel that he is bored out of his mind and probably wondering why he can't do another take of "Merry Christmas, Baby" instead.

A number 5 US R&B hit in 1955. The name of the group The Spiders was the inspiration for the name of Buddy Holly's group, The Crickets. Well, it was unless you believe the story of the insect that was chirping along with Buddy and his group during a recording session one day in Norman Petty's studio. Anyway, The Beatles (remember them?), continued the tradition, and a few more insecty groups: The Cockroaches (Liverpool, early 1960s), The Boll Weevils (Birmingham, early 1960s) and Adam and The Ants, who at least enjoyed some recording success in the 1980s.
Elvis recorded two different songs with this title; see the next entry.

In 1957, Gerry Matthews recorded an song titled "Witchcraft" that was issued on the LP of the revue "Take Five." This number, however, bears no resemblance to the song by Leigh and Coleman. Frank Sinatra therefore takes the honours for having recorded the first vocal version, which he did on 20 May, 1957. The recording was released as a single on Capitol 17069.
Elvis sang this number on the Frank Sinatra TV show "Welcome Home, Elvis" as Frank sang along with "Love Me Tender."

Introduced by John Hundley and Lillian Taiz in the 1929 stage musical "Spring is Here." The song has since been used in a number of Hollywood musicals, perhaps the most famous being... "With A Song In My Heart" (the Jane Froman story) in 1952. Reisman recorded his version on 18 March, 1929 (Victor 21923) with Ran Weeks as vocalist. Leo Reisman was born in Boston, Massachussetts, in 1897, and soon became an accomplished violinist and piano player. Although he was first violinist with the Baltimore Symphony orchestra, he left classical music to form his own dance band, playing in hotels and touring the country before settling in 1919 at the Hotel Brunswick in Boston for ten years, where it played for the local high society. In 1929 the band moved to the Central Park Casino in New York and then to the Waldorf-Astoria for a considerable time. Big names associated with the band include pianists Nat Brandwynne and Eddy Duchin, and vocalists Lee Wiley, Fred Astaire and Dinah Shore. Reisman died in December 1961.

The song was written by Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu and Vincent Youmans for the 1929 stage production, "Great Day." It was sung on stage by Lois Deppe And The Jubilee Singers. B. A. Rolfe was born in 1879 and played piccolo and cornet at a very young age with his father's band. He became known as "The Boy Trumpet Wonder" and toured in America and Europe. In 1915 he formed his own motion picture production company, Rolfe Photoplays Inc., but left that business to return to the world of music as a solo artist and vaudeville producer. In 1926 he formed his own dance orchestra, the Palais d'Or Orchestra, and was soon performing on radio as B. A. Rolfe and His Lucky Strike Orchestra., under which name he also recorded for Edison. Rolfe made his original version of "Without A Song" on 17 September 1929 and it was released on Edison Diamond Disc number 14082.
Although Elvis never recorded the song as such, he did read part of the lyrics during his acceptance speech, when he was presented an award as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men Of America by the Jaycees on 9 January, 1971.

Mylon LeFevre wrote this powerful piece when he was just seventeen years old. The gospel group with which Mylon sang, the LeFevres, released the song on the LP "Without Him" on the Sing label (Sing MFLP 3210), probably in 1963, though some sources indicate 1961. Mylon also sang the song at the Gospel Quartet Convention in Memphis (date unknown), where Elvis happened to hear it and decided to record it himself. Mylon went on to be a rock star, with his own band, called the Atlanta Rhythm Section. He sold millions of records throughout the 1970s and Mylon lived the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll life to the full, overdosing on heroin and almost dying in 1973. He later quit the rock life and formed a modern gospel group, Broken Heart, which toured throughout the 1980s.

Clyde McPhatter joined Billy Ward and the Dominoes in 1950, but left to form the Drifters in 1953: Elvis recorded the Drifters' "Money Honey." McPhatter recorded the original of "Without Love" on 10 October 1956 for the Atlantic label. Another McPhatter original recorded by Elvis is "Such A Night." McPhatter died on June 13, 1971; he was inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Jerry Chesnut wrote a number of songs recorded by Elvis, including "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" and "Love Coming Down." Although Bob Luman had the original recording of "Woman Without Love," the first released version was by Johnny Darrell, whose version came out just three days before Luman's. Darrell's version was recorded in October 1968 released on United Artists Records UA 50481, whereas Luman's original was recorded on 16 September, 1968, and released on Epic 5-10416.
Bob Luman was born in April 1937 in Nacogdoches, Texas. His early interest was in Country music and rocabilly. He appeared on the Lousisiana Hayride in 1956. Chart success evaded him, however, and he was thinking about quitting the music business to become a prefessional baseball player when, in 1959, he recorded "Let's Think About Living," which became a big hit and changed his mind. Luman died of pneumomia at just 41 years of age in 1978.

No, not the famous Louis Armstrong number, nor the similarly titled "It's A Wonderful World" from Elvis's film "Roustabout." Actually, this number was originally one of the preselections of the UK's 1968 Eurovision Song Contest entry. All six entries were sung by Cliff Richard, the winner being "Congratulations" (which went on to come second in the Eurovision Song Contest itself). "Wonderful World" came third in the preselections. Cliff recorded his version at the beginning of February, just five weeks before Elvis's cover. Strangely, the lyrics used by Elvis were very different to those sung by Cliff.

Every Elvis fan knows that "Wooden Heart" is also known as "Muss i denn." And, indeed, the number is based on a Swabian folk tune, an example of an Urbummellied or Abschiedslied, that is better known by its opening lyrics in Swabian dialect, "Muss i denn, muss i denn zum Städtele hinaus." The Swabian song is itself a variation on a folk song, probably from the Odenwald or Remstal regions of Germany, "Muß i denn zumm Dörflein hinaus," adapted in 1824 by Heinrich Wagner (pseudonym Wergan) and first published in 1827 in Friedrich Silcher's "Volkslieder, gesammelt und für vier Männerstimmen gesetzt" ("Folksongs collected and arranged for four male voices"). Elvis included several lines of the Swabian original in his recording of "Wooden Heart" as well as some new German lyrics. Swabia was a medieval duchy in what is now south-western Germany.
Pusinelli and Hackert's version of "Muss i denn…" was recorded in 1901 as a duet for clarinets and released as a 7-inch single-sided disk on Zonophone H9585. A possible earlier vocal version exists by Oskar Wagner, released on a brown wax cylinder, number 6701, at some time between 1890 and 1902. Given the difficulty in correctly identifying the original, the soundclip here is of Oskar Wagner, though credit for the original is tentatively given to Pusinelli and Hackert.

Gibb, Gibb, Gibb? Not an advert for Gibb's toothpaste (although on occasions they looked that way), but a trio of Australian brothers who made some surprisingly good records, writing many of their numbers themselves. Elvis liked their song "Words," and can be seen in TTWII rehearsing it over and over again. The exact date of Elvis's live recording, made during a Las Vegas performance, is hard to track down: some sources list 22 August, some 24 August and others 25 August. I'm going for 25 August, as the number was definitely used during the midnight show of the 24th, if you see what I mean...!

It is possible that someone other than the Heavenly Gospel Singers recorded the original version of this number, for it has appeared in printed form in various gospel songbooks since the early 1900s. The Heavenly Gospel Singers' version was recorded on 22 June 1936 as "I Am Working On The Building" on Bluebird 6636. At the time the group consisted of Jimmy "Gospel Jim" Bryant (bass), Hendson Massey (baritone), Fred Whitmore (tenor), and Roosevelt Fenoy (lead and manager).

Elvis, called by many the King of Rock'n'Roll, admired Dean Martin's singing style perhaps as much as anyone else's. He showed it on times, too, and the style is clear in this version of Martin's 1957 hit. Jimmy Kennedy, co-writer of this number, also wrote "Harbor Lights," one of Elvis's very first recordings.

It looks strange, but "J.K." really is the only way the composer of this number is known! The number was written in 1853 and became popular during the American Civil War as "The Gallant Hood of Texas"—a reference to Confederate General John Hood. The original recording of the song seems to have been made by Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters. Their May 1927 version (Gennett 6143) uses very similar lyrics to those with which we are familiar, but is only vaguely recognisable musically, in general being more a fiddle and banjo piece (follow the YouTube performance below to hear the whole piece). The two aspects of lyrics and tune, came together in the recording of the number made by Gene Autry in 1933. Mitch Miller had a six-week long Billboard Top 100 number one with his version in 1955. The number was sung by Elvis in a medley with "The Eyes of Texas" (see above) in the film "Love In Las Vegas" ("Viva Las Vegas" in the USA).

As with so many songs credited to both Lennon and McCartney, only one of the pair actually wrote "Yesterday," Paul McCartney. His working title was "Scrambled Eggs" and only he was in the studio when the number was recorded on 14 June, 1965 (the string quartet was added three days later), even though this recording was credited to The Beatles as a whole. The number first appeared on the LP "Help!", issued on Parlophone, number PMC 1255. The first hit version was sung by Matt Monro in 1965 in the UK.

Waylon Jennings was born in 1937. During his youth he became a friend of Buddy Holly and Holly produced his first single, "Jole Blon," in 1958. Jennings was on the same tour as Buddy when the latter was killed in a plane crash—Jennings had planned to travel in the plane with Buddy, but allowed the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) to take his seat. Jennings returned to radio presenting and playing as a session musician in the 1960s, but returned to big-time performing in the 1970s as part of The Outlaws movement in Country music and became a very big star. Waylon Jennings died in February 2002. The title of Jennings' original was "You Ask me To" and it appeared on is LP "Honky Tonk Heroes" RCA Victor APL1-0240.