Elvis Presley, The #2 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Six

 

(Continued from Part Five)

 

The album Elvis Is Back! hit #2 and Elvis was indeed back.  The two-year Army stint seemed to have no effect on his career.  The Gold album climbed to #1 in the U.K. and #2 in the United States despite not having any hit singles on it--(Presley fans were just clamoring for new material!)-- and "Reconsider Baby" has turned out to be one of his most popular songs.  

This Blues standard recorded by Lowell Fulson in 1954 has transcended genres and when Elvis recorded and released it, it brought the song to a new audience.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame includes "Reconsider Baby" in its list of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".  

Jesse Stone wrote this song, originally recorded by Vikki Nelson in 1957.  Elvis recorded "Like A Baby" on April 3, 1960 in Nashville.

Two of the biggest stars the world has ever known joined together on May 12 as Frank Sinatra invited Elvis as a guest on his television special.  Presley released the "G.I. Blues" Soundtrack with his film of the same name, and it promptly rose to #1 and went Platinum. 

This next song is based on the German Folk song "Muss i denn" by Friedrich Silcher.  German composer Bert Kaempfert, along with Fred Wise, Ben Weisman and Kay Twomey created the English version which features several lines from the original.  

Elvis's version includes two German parts, the first four lines of "Muss i denn" and another towards the end based on a translation of the English version (Sei mir gut, sei mir gut, sei mir wie du wirklich sollst, wie du wirklich sollst..., which is "Be good to me, be good to me, be to me how you really should, how you really should..." in English). 

"Wooden Heart" was a huge hit in the U.K., going to the top of that chart for six weeks, but in the United States, it is the cover version of Joe Dowell that is better known.  Dowell's version is famous for knocking Bobby Lewis's classic "Tossin' And Turnin'" from the #1 position in 1961.  Presley finally placed "Wooden Heart" on the flip side of his 1964 Christmas standard, "Blue Christmas".

Elvis released the Gospel album His Hand in Mine, which sold over one million copies.  At a benefit luncheon in Memphis, RCA presented Presley with a plaque certifying worldwide sales of over 75 million records, an unprecedented accomplishment considered he had amassed that total in a mere four years, with two of those four years spent in the Army.

 

In 1961, Elvis released the album Something for Everybody.  It too reached #1 and went Gold.    The piano playing of Floyd Cramer is the highlight of "I Want You With Me".  

Cramer was a Louisiana native who met Elvis on the Louisiana Hayride in 1954 and he began playing piano for Presley in the spring of 1955.  Cramer also played on "It's Now Or Never", "Surrender", Crying In The Chapel", "Little Sister" and many others, and also on Patsy Cline's "Crazy", "Only The Lonely" by Roy Orbison and "(Til) I Kissed You" by the Everly Brothers.

The "Blue Hawai'i" Soundtrack, from Elvis's romantic comedy, also hit #1 and has sold over six million.  Ben Weisman, Fred Wise and Dolores Fuler wrote this song for the movie, "Rock A-Hula Baby", released as a double A-side with "Can't Help Falling In Love" in the U.K.  

"Music for the film Blue Hawai'i was a challenge," Weisman noted.  "Because of the locale, I thought the music should have a Hawaiian flavor, but with a rock beat," he said.  "At the time, the twist was very hot, and I found that the twist and the hula were perfect together.  Out of that combination, "Rock-A-Hula Baby" was born."

Presley performed in Hawai'i to raise money for the Pearl Harbor memorial on March 25.  It would be the last public performance Elvis would make for seven years.

Pomus and Shuman had adapted the Italian song "O Sole Mio" into "A Mess Of Blues" for Elvis earlier.   Presley was inspired to record another English version of an Italian song, "Torna a Surriento".  Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin had already recorded an Anglicized version ("Come Back To Sorrento"), but Elvis wanted something more uptempo.

Pomus felt "Surrender" was just another songwriting job, according to his biographer, Alex Halberstadt, who said Pomus was shocked by Presley's performance of his song:

             Presley imbued "Surrender" with sly humor 

             and an almost maniacal ardor, transforming

             it into a dramatic showcase for his 

             genuinely amazing chops...Doc was 

             humbled by the result.  [Not impressed by

             Elvis initially], he had to admit that Elvis 

             was a songwriter's dream.  he could make 

             a mediocre song distinctive, make a good

             one great, and make a great one

             indelible.  When he wanted to, he sang

             anything--from spirituals to Popular music--

             brilliantly, finding just the right emotional

             shading.

             

Presley released the single "Surrender", which shot up to #1 in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden and reached the Top 10 in every country in the world.  "Surrender", with more of that great piano work from Cramer, became Elvis's 20th Gold single and 17th Platinum release and his 16th career #1.

Parker's original idea for this single was to pair the title song from the movie Wild In The Country with another song from the picture, "I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell".  But RCA executive Bill Bullock overruled him and insisted that one of the songs from Elvis's March 1961 album session in Nashville be substituted.  Elvis chose  "I Feel So Bad", which hit #5 in the United States and #6 in Canada and was also certified Gold.

Here's another great coupling of songs for a 45, both written by Pomus and Shuman.  Both were recorded in another all-night session in Nashville on June 26.  "(Marie's The Name) Of His Latest Flame" topped charts in the U.K. (four weeks at #1), Canada and Spain and reached #2 in Australia and #4 in the U.S. (#2 Easy Listening) and also went over one million units sold.  The single was one of nine #1's in the U.K. from 1960-62.

 

The flip side, "Little Sister", was also a big hit at #1 in the United Kingdom and #5 in the U.S.  Moore was called on again to play lead guitar on the track.

The melody for this next classic is based on "Plaisir d'amour", a popular French love song composed by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini in 1784.  To get Colonel Parker's permission to take the song off of a best-selling album and release it as a single (the Colonel always opposed mixing single and album releases), RCA was forced to guarantee payment for a million sales.  

There was never a doubt--"Can't Help Falling In Love" hit #1 in the U.K. for four weeks and #1 on the Easy Listening Chart in the U.S. for six weeks but only #2 Popular, making it one of The Top #2 Songs of the Rock Era*.  A Platinum seller, it ranked #210 in The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era* in 2016.

Presley's return from the Army had gone very well.  But something was about to happen that would be pivotal to his career and signal a significant downturn in his fortunes.  

To this point, Presley (through his publishing company Gladys Music) had insisted that all songs Elvis sang would belong to him--of course Elvis did very little songwriting and then only contributed bits and pieces.  After Presley recorded this song, Gladys Music filed a copyright notice.  But shortly after Aaron Schroeder, who had penned numerous songs for Elvis, including some of his biggest hits, also filed a notice.

Schroeder, who in the past had complied with Parker's requirement that songwriters sign over the publishing rights to Elvis, drew a line in the sand and refused to do so with this song.  Aaron had written hundreds of songs, with his tunes recorded by many other top artists of the time, including Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Pat Boone, Roy Orbison, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Duane Eddy, and he decided he would not afford Elvis special treatment.   

This dispute over publishing rights to "Good Luck Charm" led to Schroeder never writing another song for Presley to record.  Soon, other songwriters, including Leiber and Stoller, Pomus and Shuman, and Otis Blackwell, all who had provided hit songs for Elvis, either stopped or only rarely provided any more material for Presley.    

Presley released the single, which displaced future Elvis's leading lady Shelley Fabares and "Johnny Angel" at #1.  It was another Top 10 smash across the globe, including in the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

However, Presley's "Good Luck Charm" in 1962 was anything but, as he would go seven more years before landing another #1 song.  With his stable of songwriters who to this point had been extremely dependable now gone, and without the ability to write a hit song himself, Elvis would suffer through years of mediocrity.  

But it was far from the end for the King.  Join us for Part Seven of Elvis exclusively on Inside The Rock Era!