Elvis Presley
The Originals

Written as "Solamente Una Vez" in 1941, with both lyrics and music by Agustin Lara, known as the "Cole Porter of Mexico" for composing some of the country's most beloved classic melodies. The number was first performed by Ana María González and José Mojica in the film "Melodia de America," which was made in 1941, but this seems not to have been released as a commercial recording. (Shortly after making the film, Mojica became a Franciscan monk and was to die in utter poverty in 1974.) The first commercial recording was then made later that same year by Manuelita Arriola con la Orquesta Juan S. Garrido and released on the Mexican label Peerless (matrix 1298-41). Some reports refer to Peerless 1779, but I have been unable to confirm this, having found definite reference only to Peerless 1996. Note that Manuelita Arriola was also known as Manolita Arriola.
English lyrics were written in 1943 by Ray Gilbert, and introduced by the voice of Dora Luz on the soundtrack of Walt Disney's feature-length Donald Duck cartoon "The Three Caballeros" in 1944, but this also seems not to have been released as a commercial recording.
A recording of Agustín Lara himself singing "Solamente Una Vez" was made in 1953 by RCA.

Probably a number that has to be classified as "traditional"—it is at the very least extremely difficult to find any information about it! The first recording I have been able to find with the title "You Better Run" dates from 1923, on the Document label, number DOCD-5520, by the Homer Rodeheaver and Wiseman Sextet. However, this is a different number altogether. The Gospel Light Jubilee Singers recorded their version on 1 February 1939 in the Andrew Jackson Hotel, Rock Hill, North Carolina, as "You Better Run On." It was released that same year on Bluebird B-8196, as the B-side of "Sit Down, Child." The August 1939 recording of the number by the Norfolk Jubilee singers on Decca 7758 more closely matches the song as later recorded by Elvis.
Some commentators link "You Better Run" to another song, "(You Better) Let That Liar Alone." Personally, the link sems very tenuous to me, but this just helps to indicate the difficulties in locating the origins (and originals) of such traditional numbers.

Bill Cook, who wrote this number, was Roy Hamilton's manager. This was Roy Hamilton's last hit. He recorded it on 28 November 1960 and it was released together with "Abide With Me," also written by Cook, on Epic 9434 in late 1960 or early 1961. Hamilton died in 1969, aged just 40, following a stroke. He was a great influence on numerous performers, including Jackie Wilson, Roy Brown and The Righteous Brothers.
The version by Elvis was sung during the afternoon show at the Forum, Inglewood, Los Angeles, on 11 May 1974, where it was recorded by a member of the audience.

The Italian original is titled "Io Che Non Vivo Piu d'Un Ora Senza Te" and was the entry for the San Remo Song Festival in 1965, sung by Pino Donaggio. The label showed the title as "Io Che Non Vivo (Senza Te)." Giuseppe "Pino" Donaggio was born in Burano near Venice, Italy, on October 24, 1941. He began studying violin at the age of ten and at the age of 14 made his solo debut in a Vivaldi concert for Italian radio, later playing for both the Solisti Veneti and the Solisti di Milano. Donaggio's classical career ended when he made his singing debut with Paul Anka. He then began to write his own songs and established himself as one of Italy's prominent singer-songwriters. His biggest succes came with this number. Dusty Springfield got Simon Napier-Bell and Vicky Wickham to provide English lyrics and scored a number one in the UK and a number 4 in the US Hot 100 in 1966.

Eddy Arnold was born on 15 May, 1918, near Henderson, Tennessee. By the age of sixteen, he was singing on local radio stations and by 1943 had performed as a solo artist on the Grand Ole Opry. Tom Parker (yes, that Tom Parker), became his manager and he signed to RCA Victor in 1944. He enjoyed a remarkable recording career and was also active in television and films. He sacked Parker in 1953.
In 1955 Arnold had a storyline for a song and asked songwriter Cindy Walker to write something based on it. That was the genesis of "You Don't Know Me." Arnold's original version was recorded on 1 December, 1955, and released as a single on RCA Victor 20-6502 and 47-6502 in April 1956. Eddy Arnold may have made the first recording of this number, but Jerry Vale's was first released. The best known version, however, is probably that of Ray Charles who had a huge hit with it in 1962.
Eddy Arnold died on 8 May, 2008.
Elvis recorded "You Don't Know Me" twice: firstly the film version (used in "Clambake") and then again on Monday, September 11, 1967, for record release.

It is said that Marty Robbins wrote this number especially for his friend Frankie Laine, but Laine did not record "You Gave Me A Mountain" until 1968. Robbins' original version was made on 9 May 1966 for Columbia, but was not released until 1995, when it appeared on the Bear Family collection, "Country 1960-1966." He later recorded another version that was released on his "It's A Sin" LP in 1969, perhaps about the time that Frankie Laine made his recording of "You Gave Me A Mountain." Laine disliked the line "Despised and ignored by my father," changing it to, "Deprived of the love of my father." Laine's recording reached number 24 in 1969 in the Billboard pop chart and number 1 in the Adult Contemporary (easy listening) chart in the USA in March 1969. went gold early the following year.

Cole Porter wrote the number "Begin The Beguine" in the early thirties, basing it on a dance from Martinique. It seems that this was his favourite song. Elvis liked the number, too, but there were problems involved with him recording it, so he decided to rewrite it, which he promptly did, with the help of friends Charlie Hodge and Red West. The tune was also changed, but elements of the Cole Porter "original" (heck, even he wasn't original!) can clearly be heard.
"Begin The Beguine" was first performed by June Knight in the stage musical "Jubilee" in 1935. The first commercial recording, however, was made by Xavier Cugat and His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra, on 5 September, 1935, and released the following month on Victor 25133. The vocalist on the recordinging was Don Reid.
Xavier Cugat was born on 1 January, 1900, in Gerona, Spain. His family moved to Cuba in 1905. There he studied violin and played in an orchestra in Havana. Between 1915 and 1918, Cugat played in New York as a member of The Gigolos. He later formed his own orchestra and played in the earliest sound films, continuing his film career into the 1980s.
Xavier Cugat died on 27 October, 1990, in Barcelona, Spain.

"You'll Never Walk Alone" was written for the musical, "Carousel." Although Frank Sinatra recorded his version on 1 May 1945, before that of the Carousel cast, John Raitt, Christine Johnson, Jan Clayton, and Chorus, whose own version was made at some time between 9 and 21 May. Sinatra's original recording was rleeased as a single on Columbia 36825, coupled with "If I Loved You." Gerry And The Pacemakers topped the UK charts for four weeks with the number in 1963.

A duet with delicious Ann-Margret from the film, "Viva Las Vegas" or "Love In Las Vegas" (depending on where you live). It might sound as if it were written especially for these two, but the original recording was made by LaVern Baker and Jimmy Ricks on 14 November 1960 and released the following year on Atlantic 2090. Jimmy Ricks had a resonably successful solo career, but is best remembered for his involvement with the early R&B group The Ravens. Ricks died in 1974 and Lavern Baker in 1997.

Gene Autry wrote "You're The Only Star (In My Blue Heaven)" after having received a letter from a mentally disturbed fan, who used the title words in her letter. Autry recorded the original version of the song on 5 December, 1935 (matrix C-1177-1). "You're The Only Star…" was released as a single, coupled with "Mexicali Rose," on various labels, including ARC (Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo) 6-05-59, Vocalian 03097, Conqueror 8652 and 9098, and Columbia (Canada) C255. The song was used in the film, "Springtime In The Rockies," in 1937. Later pressings of Vocalion 03097 and Conqueror 9098 and all pressings of OKeh 03097, use matrix LA-1849, which was a rerecording, made on 13 April, 1939.
Elvis is heard on the backing vocals of the Million Dollar recording, with Jerry Lee Lewis taking the lead.

Bobby Darin was born Robert Walden Cassotto in New York in 1936. He changed his name to Darin and became a professional singer in 1956. His first three singles flopped, but he scored a big hit with the rocker "Splish Splash." Not wishing to be typecast as a rocker, Darin then adapted an old number into "Mack The Knife," winning the Grammy for Record Of The Year and getting himself voted as Best New Artist. He starred in several lightweight films before becoming recognized as a serious actor in such films as "Pressure Point" and "Captain Newman MD," before winning an Oscar nomination for his performance in "Newman." Following open-heart surgery, Bobby Darin died in 1973 aged just 37.
Darin recorded "You're The Reason I'm Living" on 25 September 1962. The number was released on 31 December 1962 on Capitol 4897.
The CD on which Elvis's version originally appeared was sold with the book "Growing Up With The Memphis Flash" by Kate Wheeler. The song was later "officially" released.

Phil Spector took his "wall of sound" recording technique to its utmost for this US Hot 100 number 1 hit. The Righteous Brothers was a duo consisting of bass-baritone Bill Medley and high tenor Bobby Hatfield. Medley was born on 19 September, 1940, in California, and Hatfield on 10 August, 1949, in Wisconsin. Medley had been a member of the Paramours, while Hadley had sung with a group called the Variations. They were brought together by a mutual friend, in the hope of forming a new lineup for the Paramours, but together they went on to form the Righteous Brothers and were discovered by Phil Spector when performing at a gig that also involved Spector's own Ronettes. The Righteous Brothers original version of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" was recorded over several days in October 1964 and released as a single on Philles Records 124. Because it was felt that the duration of the track (3m 46s) was too long to be acceptable to radio stations, the original label of the single version showed it to be just 3:05.
A rehearsal version of the number being sung by Elvis was recorded on 10 August 1970 and released on the "Elvis Aron Presley" silver set. A version sung on 11 August appeared on the "Live In Las Vegas" set, with the original Elvis release being recorded on 12 August, 1970 and available on the sets indicated above.

Johnny Richards' original instrumental, called "Moonbeam," was given lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, became "Young At Heat" and was recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1953 to become a hit single. The song was so popular that it was added to a film starring Sinatra and Doris Day, which was being made at the time, and the song title was used as the name of the film (which, up to that time, was unnamed).
Elvis is captured singing just a line or two of the song during an informal recording jam at his home in Palm Springs in April 1974.

Ric Cartey was born Whaley Thomas Cartey in Atlantic, Georgia, on 18 January, 1937. He composed the music for "Young Love" when he was nineteen years old; the lyricist, Carloe Joyner, was just seventeen. Cartey's original version of "Young Love" was recorded about October 1956 and released in November 1956 on the Stars label, number 539, as the B-side of "Oooh Eeee." The same coupling was released again on RCA Victor 47-6751 some weeks later.
Cartey's original was overshadowed by Sonny James' cover, which spent nine weeks at number one in the US Country charts in 1956-57. James started his career at the age of three (!) as a member of his family's band, The Lodens, well-known on the radio throughout the South of the USA. In total, James had 23 number 1's in those charts between 1956 and 1972. The number was also a big hit for Tab Hunter, both in the USA and the UK.
Ric Cartey died on 5 August, 2009.

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.
His original version of "Your Cheatin' Heart" was released shortly after his death, having been recorded on 23 September, 1952.
Elvis was not pleased with his own recording of the number and it was not released for seven years.