Song 186 - Always on my mind - Elvis Presley

You suddenly realise how old you are getting when a song you love was a Christmas number one thirty years ago in the UK. The Pet Shop Boys covered Always on my mind to mark the 10th anniversary of Elvis' death and like Suspicious Minds, it is the cover that I fell in love with before hearing Elvis' version.

Together with Jonny Christopher and Wayne Carson, Mark James would pen a country song that would become a classic Elvis song. First recorded by Brenda Lee and Gwen McCrae in the early 1970s, Elvis released his version of the song in November 1972, the year he separated from Priscilla Presley, as the b-side to his song  Separate Ways in the USA. When it was released in the UK Always on My Mind  became the A-side and was an instant hit. Whether Elvis's personal life difficulties allowed him to bring more emotion to his vocal, I can't say, but Always on My Mind is said to be one of his standout hits of the 1970s, and a favourite with the British Public who voted no.1. in a poll of his hits in 2013.

I am going to leave you today, with both Elvis and The Pet Shop Boys version. Although I am not normally a fan of covers, their version, to me, merits a place in the jukebox.

Elvis sings Always on My Mind

Pet Shop Boy's Cover Version of Always on My Mind

Written by: Jonny Christopher, Wayne Carson & Mark James
Released by Elvis: November 1972
Released by Pet Shop Boys: November 1987

Song 185 - Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley

Some of my favourite Elvis tracks were made popular to me through other artists. Suspicious Minds was recorded by Fine Young Cannibals in the 1980s and I think this is the first time this song was brought to my attention.

Written by Mark James in the late 1960s, the song was given to Elvis in 1969 when James himself failed to create a commercial hit for himself. The song came to Elvis after his 1968 Comeback Special, after a period of hiatus, where his records had failed to reach the chart and his album Speedway had failed to break the top 70. The 1968 Come Back was a live concert recorded in June that year, which aired at Christmas. Although the music wasn't hitting the high note, Elvis' personal life was booming with the birth of Lisa-Marie, his only daughter. The 1968 Comeback Special opened up the opportunity for Elvis to record at the American Sound Studio in Memphis, which was where Mark James had been recording his material.

Elvis would lay down the track in January in 1969, and although there was initial hesitation on Mark's part that Elvis had made the track too slow, he was blown away by the final version.  Suspicious Minds is the first of two songs that had been written by Mark James, the second being Always On My Mind.  I bet Mark never realised at the time of writing the song that his conflicted feelings between his childhood sweetheart and first wife, would become the last number one for Elvis in the United States when it was released in the autumn of this year.

To hear Suspicious Minds 
Suspicious Minds, performed by Elvis

Written by: Mark James
Performed by: Elvis Presley
Album: From Elvis in Memphis

Song 184 - Love me tender by Elvis Presley

If anyone ever learnt to play a keyboard in the 1990s, they probably learnt how to play Love Me Tender in volume 2 of the music books that went with them. I remember learning and hearing my mum play Love Me Tender on the keyboard. I also remember the afternoon I spilt tea all over the keyboard,  that definitely wasn't a tender moment between mother and child! Anyway, let's get back to Elvis.

Love Me Tender replaced Hound Dog as a number one hit in 1956. Adapted from a Civil War song, Aura Lee, which dates back to 1861, Elvis is jointly credited with writing the song with Ken Darby, who wrote under the name of his wife Vera Matson.  However, this joint accreditation was more to do with the publishing deal that Elvis's record label had which entitled him to 50% credit for the song production if he recorded it.  However, I don't think this affected the relationship between Elvis and Darby, as the latter would talk about Elvis's brilliance and his ability to be able to take a song and make it his own. Darby, himself, was a magnificent musician and composer in his own right. Having read about him in relation to this song, he belongs in my jukebox in his own right. 

Elvis first performed Love Me Tender on the Ed Sullivan Show on September 9th 1956, shortly before the single was released and a month before the film was released.  The single debuted at number 2, the first time a song had debuted on a chart in this position and would take the top spot from Hound Dog, staying at the top for five weeks.   The song reached number 11 on the UK Chart. The succession of number ones meant the Elvis was top of the charts for 16 years, a record that stood until 2004. 

Like many of Elvis's timeless hits, the song has been recorded by many artists since Elvis's recording. For me, the song stood out in the film Backbeat, which is an adaptation of the Beatles'early years in Hamburg and tells the story of the untimely death of Stuart Sutcliffe. If I hear the song at the right moment, tears will glisten in my eyes as there is something authentic in Elvis's voice and you feel the love & passion in his voice.

For me, out of all Elvis's songs, this is the one I wanted to put in the jukebox on the anniversary of his death.  When his death was announced 40th year ago,  it shocked the world so much that 40 years of conspiracy theories and sighting of Elvis has kept the King alive in so many people's hearts. I didn't really understand why people were so disbelieving in death. But now, having lost people central to my universe, I can understand it better now. To have one more day....

To hear Love Me Tender 

Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley

  

Song 183 - Hound Dog by Elvis Presley

Hound Dog has been recorded by over 250 artists. A snappy, foot-tapping song that transports you straight to a 1950s dance hall with teddy boys and a milk bar. This week marks the 40th anniversary of Elvis Prestley's death on the 16th August 1977. Elvis should be in everybody's jukebox because so much of what he did inspired the British pop scene in the 1960s. Along with artists like Little Richards, he became one of the front runners in the musical revolution of the youth.

Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Hound Dog is a 12-bar blue song that was originally recorded by Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thorton.  When 'Big Mama' released it in February 1953, it sold 500,000 copies and seven weeks at number one. Due to Elvis' version, it is now listed as one of the 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.

Unsurprisingly, Elvis's recording of Hound Dog, is by far the most popular ever recorded.  Elvis's version came out in July 1956 and sold in the region of 10 million copies worldwide.  The song became a favourite of Elvis' and he would end his live performance with the track.

Elvis recorded the song over a period of seven hours in New York, together with songs Don't be cruel and Any Way You Wanted.  During the recording session, Elvis and his band recorded over 30 versions of the song, which moved the song away from the original way he had performed it live.  Version 28, "an angry hopped-up version", was  eventually chosen for the single, and  Colonel Parker, Elvis's manager, called it though, predicting (rightly) that Hound Dog would rewrite the meaning of a global hit.

On the original release, the song was the B side to Don't be cruel. But it was clear which was the bigger hit and the sides were reversed. On its first release, it sold over 4 million copies and stayed at number one for 11 weeks (a record for the US chart that wasn't broken until 1992) until Love Me Tender replace it.

To hear one of the King's classic number one
Hound Dog by Elvis Presley