The King is dead. Long live the King. Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, and though he died at just 42 on August 16, 1977, he lives on in the records he made and the songs he made famous. Here are 13 recordings of songs associated with him.
Aaron Neville—“Crying in the Chapel”—Written by Artie Glenn, a country hit for his son Darrell in 1953 and #1 on the R&B chart for five weeks by Sonny Til and the Orioles that same year. Elvis Presley recorded it in 1960 but it wasn’t released as a single until 1965, whereupon it reached #3 on the pop chart, his biggest hit between 1963 and 1969. Aaron Neville’s version can be found on his 1995 album The Tattooed Heart.
Cheap Trick—“Don’t Be Cruel”—Written by Otis Blackwell and originally the B-side of “Hound Dog,” it went on to reach #1 on the pop, country and rhythm & blues charts in its own right in 1956, one-half of Elvis’ most successful two-sided single. Released as a single from their album Lap of Luxury, Cheap Trick peaked at #4 on the charts with it in 1988. The band had included “Little Sister” on Standing on the Edge three years earlier.
Eric Clapton— “Hound Dog”—Orwas this the B-side of “Don’t Be Cruel”? No matter. Elvis’ 1956 cover of Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton’s 1953 #1 R&B smash, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, is one of the defining hits of the rock ’n’ roll era. It can be argued that Eric Clapton’s version from 1989’s Journeyman owes as much to Big Mama’s original as it does to Elvis’ rendition.
Jeff Beck Group—“Jailhouse Rock”—In 1957 this, the title song from Elvis’ third motion picture, written by Leiber and Stoller, became his ninth #1 single. It was included on the first Jeff Beck Group’s second and final album Beck-Ola in 1969, as was “All Shook Up.” Lead vocalist Rod Stewart even featured Elvis’ debut Sun Records single “That’s All Right” on his solo breakthrough, Every Picture Tells A Story.
Leon Redbone—“Are You Lonesome Tonight”—A favorite of Colonel Tom Parker’s wife Marie, it is reputed to be the only song his manager ever asked Elvis Presley to record. Written in 1926 by vaudevillians Roy Turk and Lou Handman and recorded by many (including Al Jolson) over the years, Elvis’ version reached #1 in 1961 and stayed there for six weeks, selling over two million copies. Eccentric latter-day songster Leon Redbone featured it on his 1988 album No Regrets.
Linda Ronstadt—“Love Me Tender”—Based on the Civil War-era ballad “Aura Lee,” this song became the title song of Elvis’ film debut due to its enormous success prior to the movie’s release in 1956. When Linda Ronstadt included it on Living in the U.S.A. in 1978, just a year after Elvis’ death, DJs across the country couldn’t resist the temptation to create mash-up duets of the two stars singing the song.
Related: What some of music’s biggest names said about the King
Mother’s Finest—“Burning Love”—Elvis’ final top 10 hit, reaching #2 in 1972. A rocker, written by Dennis Linde, would seem to have been the perfect vehicle for this hard-rocking interracial band and its dynamic lead singer Joyce Kennedy to break through to a mass audience in 1977 but, alas, it was not meant to be. Perhaps it was too soon after Elvis’ passing for the song to become a hit all over again. From the album Another Mother Further.
Paul McCartney—“All Shook Up”—Macca parties like it was 1999 which, in fact, it was when he released his underrated, immensely entertaining Run Devil Run, a back-to-the-roots album of classic rock ’n’ roll songs, including this one, written by Otis Blackwell and yet another #1 for Elvis in 1957. “I Got Stung,” a hit when released while Elvis was in the Army in 1958, is included too.
Ry Cooder—“Little Sister”—Written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and, in combination with their “(Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame,” half of Elvis’ biggest and best two-sided hit single of the 1960s, Ry Cooder rendered it on Bop Till You Drop in 1979. He later cut “All Shook Up” as well.
Status Quo—“A Mess of Blues”—Their “Pictures of Matchstick Men” was a hit single in the United States in 1968. Since then their chart success has been confined to their native Great Britain, where they have landed 40 singles in the top 20 of the charts to date, including this one in 1983. Written by Pomus and Shuman, it had been the B-side of Elvis’ #1 “It’s Now or Never” in 1960 and a modest chart hit itself.
UB40—“Can’t Help Falling in Love With You”—Written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George David Weiss and featured in two separate movies over 30 years apart. Elvis’ version, featured in the film Blue Hawaii, was kept from #1 on the charts by Joey Dee’s “The Peppermint Twist,” peaking at #2 in 1962. The English reggae band UB40’s cover in the Sharon Stone-vehicle Sliver topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic in 1993.
Willie Nelson and Leon Russell—“Heartbreak Hotel”—Elvis Presley’s first national hit, #1 for eight weeks in early 1956, provided Willie and Leon with a #1 country single from their album of duets One for the Road in 1979. Credited to Mae Boren Axton (mother of singer-songwriter Hoyt Axton), Tommy Durden and Elvis himself, the actual genesis of the song is in some dispute between Axton and Durden although it’s clear that Elvis’ contribution was negligible, if that.
ZZ Top—“Viva Las Vegas”—Another Pomus-Shuman song, this one from the 1964 film of the same name in which Elvis starred with Ann-Margret. ZZ Top recorded it for their 1993 Greatest Hits album after having included “Jailhouse Rock” on Fandango in 1975. The trio went on to cut “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear” for XXX in 1999.
The King’s recordings, including a slew of recent box sets, are available in the U.S. here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here.
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2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationRobert Plant did a nice rave-up of ‘Little Sister’ with Rockpile at the ‘Concert for Kampuchea’.
The Fine Young Cannibals and Dwight Yoakam both did excellent renditions of Suspicious Minds.”