June 26 – When He Left The Building For The Last Time

The end of an era. After 1684 concerts over 23 years, Elvis Presley made his last concert appearance, at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis this night in 1977.

18 000 fans paid $15 a ticket to see him, and all things considered, he went out on a high note. The tour had been problematic and subject to scathing reviews. He didn’t show up for a show in Baton Rouge and a show in Omaha CBS taped for TV a week earlier was said to have him “sweaty” and with a “small voice…talks more than sings” and “unable to articulate or project” according to one of his biographers, Peter Guralnick. Expectations were therefore not high for this show, but according to the Indianapolis Star, “he appeared in a gold and white jumpsuit, white boots, bounding onstage with energy that was a relief to everyone.” Nonetheless, another reporter from the same paper noted the show was “downright tacky and outdated…lighting was only adequate and the sound was poor compared with some of today’s top tours.” The clip below from a few nights earlier gives you an idea of the stageshow and sound.

Elvis arguably seemed like he was on the brink of yet another career comeback then. He’d just put out a new album, Moody Blue, which would go on to become his first top 10 studio one of the decade and the single “Way Down” off it did pretty well, reaching #18 at home and actually topped the British charts – his first #1 there since “The Wonder of You” in 1970. And although he wasn’t a regular on hit radio anymore, he was still a very popular live performer. The year before, he’d done over 100 concerts,. Although a large number of them were in Hilton Theater in Las Vegas, they began the year in Johnson City, Tennessee, ended on New Year’s Eve in Pittsburgh and hit any number of American cities along the way including Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta, Rochester and even Fayetteville, N.C. He had the time to do that now, without the pressure of movies to make and with him still adhering to manager Colonel Tom’s directive to stay within the U.S. alone.

So the Indy fans saw the concert and went home happy.  Of course, none of them knew they’d seen his last performance. Elvis died less than two months later.

January 23 – Rockhall’s First Class Grads

Although the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was an idea conceived in 1983 “to honor those who “influence and (were of) significance to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll” its physical building didn’t open until 1995. That didn’t stop the Hall from taking shape and honoring some of rock’s pioneers long before ground was even broken in Cleveland though. This day in 1986 was a monumental one for it. It marked the first induction ceremony, then held in New York City. The initial inductees were rock pioneers, including Elvis Presley, Chuck Barry, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, James Brown, Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers and early Blues guitar great Robert Johnson plus non-performers including DJ Alan Freed (the Cleveland jock who is credited with first using the term ‘rock and roll’), John Hammond (a talent scout who found and signed Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to the Columbia label) and Sun Studios owner Sam Phillips.

Freed’s work in Cleveland helped the committee choose Cleveland over Memphis, New York and Detroit for the building; a $65 million grant from the city to help its building didn’t hurt either! Among the highlights of the ceremony were Julian and Sean Lennon together inducting “The King”, with Lisa Marie Presley accepting for her deceased dad, Elvis, Billy Joel inducting Fats Domino and Keith Richards honoring Chuck Berry and admitting “I’ve lifted every lick he ever played,” to which Richard responded “Dy-no-mite!”

In case you’re wondering, The Beatles made it in in 1988, the third “class”, along with the Supremes and Bob Dylan. Presumably this didn’t reflect a lack of respect from the Hall but rather a reflection of their rule that at least 25 years should pass between an artist putting out their debut and them being inducted in. The Rock Hall reports it’s expanding, all the better to give room to their ever-expanding list of honorees, it would seem. Willie Nelson and George Michael headlined their newest list of inductees, last year.

January 8 – Colonel’s Wife Scored A Hit For The King

Can anyone imagine what an 89 year old Elvis Presley would be like? Needless to say, we never came close to finding out, but that’s how old he would have been today had he lived on in more than just musical memories after 1977.

Oddly enough, considering how much he dominated the charts during the early days of rock & roll, he only got to celebrate having a #1 hit song on his birthday once. The year was 1961, and the song, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”.

Elvis was just out of the Army and it might seem natural that he’d present a slightly maturer persona than when he was a young, carefree lad, and certainly “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” sounded quite radically different than say, “Hound Dog” or “Heartbreak Hotel”. It was, by most definitions, the first of his #1 songs (of which he’d had 14 previously) to be a slower ballad rather than a rock song. Curiously though, the impetus didn’t come from Elvis himself, but rather from his manager Colonel Tom Parker…indirectly. Most people seem to feel Parker was quite detrimental to Elvis’ career and a rather shady manager, and while that seems backed by a number of facts, on this one he showed his value to the singer. In what was apparently the only time he directly intervened in Elvis’ song choices, he twisted his arm into doing it because his wife loved the song and asked Tom to get him to sing it.

The song itself was already on its way to being a “standard” of sorts. It was written back in 1926 by a pair of Vaudeville performers, Lou Hand and Roy Turk, both of whom eventually were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The song about longing from a singer seemingly spurned by his lover caught on and was recorded several times in 1927 alone. Henry Burr had one of the more popular early versions of it then; in 1949 Al Jolson recorded it and in 1950, the Blue Barron Orchestra had a hit with it. The versions varied a little, with most of the differences involving the spoken word portion referencing a Shakespearean play; some included it, others modified it or dropped it entirely.

Elvis agreed to his manager’s request, although he was not all that enthusiastic for the song. He went to Nashville to record it, with Chet Atkins co-producing it and more or less Presley’s usual musical entourage playing it, including drummer D.J. Fontana, bassist Bob Moore and The Jordanaires doing some backing vocals.

Parker clearly loved the result, it’s unclear if Elvis himself did or not. But RCA thought it didn’t sound like him or what the fans would want, so they balked about releasing it. Finally Parker got his way and it came out as a single. After sending a few copies to radio stations around the country, RCA garnered 900 000 advance orders for it! Eventually it would sell around four million copies, being rated double-platinum in the U.S. It spent six weeks at #1, and also topped the charts in Canada, Ireland, Australia, and Britain where it was “only” his sixth chart-topper.

Not only that, Elvis soon incorporated it into his live sets routinely and it stayed a fan favorite. In a strange way of making a hit, he did a set in Las Vegas, where he was joking around in it and changed some lyrics to reference bald heads and such, then giggled and that was released as a single in the UK in ’82 and actually hit #25!

After Elvis, Donny Osmond had a #14 hit with his take on it in ’73 and Merle Haggard did a country version. Put all together, Billboard ranks it as the 81st most popular song of all-time. One person who probably didn’t much like the Elvis song was Connie Francis. In 1960, she heard Al Jolson’s version and liked it and decided to record it. On her way to the studio, the brand new Elvis single played on the radio! “Can you believe that? I was literally on my way to the studio to record it!” Needless to say, she figured she wasn’t going to better “The King” and presumably turned her car around and went back home.

December 3 – From Big Screen Flop To Little Screen Superstar

33 may be young to have been labeled a “has been”, but more than a few people were suggesting that was exactly what Elvis Presley was by the time he hit that age. So, aiming to reverse that trend, he staged a triumphant comeback of sorts this day in 1968. His first TV special, officially just entitled Elvis (but usually referred to as “the Comeback Special”) aired 55 years ago tonight on NBC.

By this point, Presley’s career was definitely on the downward slope. He’d not toured for seven years, with him devoting much of his time to his movie career which was beginning to flounder badly due to mediocre roles in often ho-hum movies and an increasingly rapid production schedule. Musically, his last big hit had been “Cryin’ in the Chapel” in ’65 and his last #1 single, in 1962. Colonel Tom, his manager was getting alarmed (though seemingly long-determined to keep repeating his career mistakes) and RCA Records were as well. Elvis biographers Connie Kirchberg and Marc Hendrickx summed it up as “Elvis was viewed as a joke music-lovers and a ‘has-been’ to all but his most loyal fans.” They came up with a plan to get him back in the spotlight – a TV special.

Originally it was designed to be a purely Christmas special, but as it neared being green-lit, it was decided to change it to a more mixed bag showcasing the many sides of Elvis – the rock star, the humble singer, the religious man and yes, a lover of Christmas. It was decided to have him perform live (in a California studio) over several days in June of that year, recording a “stand up” part of earlier, rock songs, a Gospel segment, a Christmas song and even a sit-down bit where he could talk and joke in a scripted manner with some of the crew and audience and play acoustically. It’s said that might have been where MTV later came up with the Unplugged idea. Elvis cold even speak personally about how the deaths of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King effected him. He’d especially been saddened by King’s killing; not only was he a great believer in the minister’s pathway for the nation he hated how the murder took place in his Memphis, which “only confirmed everyone’s worst feelings about the South.” Presley made sure a powerful, semi-Gospel song was written just for the show, “If I Can Dream.” He had costume changes and showed his many sides that way too, introducing his white suit that would be so synonymous with his later years, and at times wearing an all leather outfit.

NBC had high hopes for the one hour show, and they weren’t disappointed. It got 42% of the total audience and was the year’s most-watched show in the U.S. Reviews for the most part were quite good too. The New York Times, for instance, said “parts of (it) were unbelievably stagey, but other parts were believably effective.” The Chicago Tribune was more complimentary, declaring “it’s great to have the old Elvis back”. They figured he was once again “dynamic, compelling, incredibly sensual.”

The special was put out as an LP around the time it aired – his first live one. It reached #8 in the U.S. #4 in Canada and surprisingly perhaps, #2 in the UK. It wasn’t a gigantic seller, but went gold by the next summer and eventually platinum. So too the eventual DVD release (in 2004, including some outtakes and scenes edited from the TV show), which has sold over 300 000 copies at home. “If I Can Dream” hit #12 on the singles chart… not a wildly popular return to form, but certainly the best showing from him for a couple of years.

Did the comeback work? Well, something did. After years in the music desert, Elvis came back with three big top 10 hits in ’69 – “In the Ghetto”, “Daddy Don’t Cry” and the classic “Suspicious Minds”. It was indeed the dawn of a new Elvis.

September 24 – Jailhouses, Radios. Big Screens…He Was Everywhere

Two years earlier he was unknown, at least outside of Memphis. But by this day in 1957, he had collected nine #1 songs and made himself known as a movie star! Of course, we could only be talking about Elvis Presley, and on this day 66 years back he released what would become his tenth American chart-topper, “Jailhouse Rock.”

It was the title of his third movie too, which came out around the same time, following hot on the heels of Love Me Tender and Loving You. His boss, Colonel Tom Parker knew his looks could be capitalized on as well as his musical chops, and wasted no time selling him to Hollywood. This one was a bit more of a drama than some of his fare. He played a construction worker with a temper who’d killed someone in a barroom fight and was sent to jail, where he was taught guitar by another inmate. They stage a concert for the inmates which gets on TV, he becomes something of a star when he is released, gets in more fights, plays more music…you get the gist. It was a reasonably popular film – it seemed attaching his name to anything at that point in time was a surefire way to succeed – being the 14^th top-grossing film of the year. It made a profit of about $3 million, not half bad when the average ticket was around 50 cents. But still, the real star of it was music.

“Jailhouse Rock” was written by the great writing team of Lieber & Stoller. They’d already written “Hound Dog” which of course Elvis made a hit of; later they’d write the great “Stand By Me” for Ben E. King. They sent a shoutout to a musician they liked in the lyrics – “Shifty Henry” was a jazz bassist. Elvis recorded it in L.A. for RCA, using not Shifty Henry but his regular crew of musicians including the Jordanaires adding backing vocals, Scotty Moore on guitar and D.J. Fontana on drums. Fontana would in time drum on 460 different Elvis songs!

RCA put it out as a single, and on a 5-song EP of the same name including four more tracks from the film. By late-October, it had hit #1 on the Billboard sales chart and it would spend a total of seven weeks on top. It was part of a remarkable year in which four Elvis songs were at #1 for a total of 24 of the 52 weeks! “Jailhouse Rock” also rocked elsewhere, going to #1 in Canada, South Africa and even Britain where it was his first. Astoundingly, it also went to #1 again in the UK in 2005 when it was re-released.

Elvis would go on to make 28 more movies (not including concert films) which produced a few more hit songs like “Viva Las Vegas” and “I Can’t Help Falling In Love”, but few of the movies were well-reviewed of live on as “classics” , quite unlike his music. You never have to go far in a roomful of Elvis fans to find some who think the amount of time he spent on Hollywood sets in front of the camera hindered his musical career, which really makes one wonder just how big Elvis might have been had he devoted himself entirely to that? We’ll never know, but considering people still talk about him close to 50 years after his death, it’s fair to say he did alright doing it his way.

September 9 – One Day, Two Elvis’

September 9 was a big day on Elvis Presley‘s calendar. It marked not only a big beginning but a type of ending for his career, some 16 years apart. In 1956, he really entered the public’s consciousness in a big way. In 1972, he’d have a sort of last kick at the can.

In 1956, Elvis was still young – 21 at this point in the year – and had built a following. But it really took off that year, with him launching four-straight #1 hit singles : “Heartbreak Hotel”, “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You,” (which would go on to inspire the Jim Steinman/Meat Loaf song “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad”) , “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog.” His fame and popularity from the new sounds of “rock and roll” caused a symbiotic relationship with the also nearly new medium of television. His first appearance on TV was in January, on the relatively low-profile CBS show Stage Show. That, and his increasing popularity on radio led to appearances on the more popular Milton Berle Show in springtime. At the time, the unconventional sound and the famous hip-twisting that so annoyed millions led the New York Daily News to refer to him as giving “an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar,” best suited for “bordellos.” The New York Times declared he had “no discernible singing ability.” And the king of television at the time, Ed Sullivan (whose show was the most popular variety or entertainment one on air in the mid-’50s) complained about Elvis’ crotch being too visible through his pants and his dancing, decreeing him “unfit for family viewing!”.

That would quickly change when Elvis played the Steve Allen Show in summer. A direct competitor to Ed, the week Elvis appeared, Steve topped him in the ratings for the first time. Sullivan did a quick about-face and signed Elvis on for three shows, at a then unprecedented $50 000 (about $750k today.) The host still declared Elvis vulgar, and apparently directed that he be shot from the waist up only. His camera crews disobeyed, but it was unclear how upset Ed was about it. Presley’s first appearance was this night in ’56.

He played four songs – “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Hound Dog”, a Little Richard tune called “Ready Teddy,” and a brand new one, “Love Me Tender.” The show foreshadowed the rise of the Beatles through Ed’s show about eight years on. The young crowd went absolutely wild for the man eventually nicknamed “The King” and ratings went through the roof. Nielsen reported over 60 million people tuned in, or about 82% of all the TVs on that night. It was four times his usual viewership, and the most-watched TV show of the 1950s. And the publicity helped record stores pre-order over a million copies of “Love Me Tender”, also a record at the time.

Fast forward 16 years, and the best days musically, and likely lifestyle-wise, were behind Presley. Although he’d had a minor career resurgence in the late-’60s, and had racked up 16 Billboard #1 singles, he was becoming a bit of a caricature of himself and no longer a major presence on hit radio. But he did have one left in him. “Burning Love” hit the top 40 this day in 1972, eventually to be his 34^th and final American top 10 hit.

“Burning Love” was written by then-young Nashville songwriter Dennis Linde, who actually played the guitar on the single. Linde would go on to write a number of country hits later, including Mark Chestnutt’s “Bubba Shot the Jukebox.” The song was recorded first by Arthur Alexander, but it wasn’t a hit, so Elvis made it his own. RCA put it out as a single, and rushed it onto a compilation of otherwise rather forgettable old movie songs called Burning Love & Hits From His Movies, 2. The 23-minute album went double-platinum eventually, doubtless fueled mostly by the popularity of the new single.

“Burning Love” hit #7 over in the UK, and #2 in Canada. It also got to #2 in the States. In a weird twist, it was shutout of the top spot by another smash by an aging rock star having one last hurrah – Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-a-ling.

July 5 – Sun Shone On A New ‘King’

If today’s birthday boy, Huey Lewis (73 today!), sings about the “heart of rock and roll,” another event today perhaps signifies the “start of rock and roll.” The “King”, Elvis Presley recorded his first single this day in 1954. If you didn’t know that, “That’s All Right!”.

It’d been a long road towards stardom for Elvis by that point, even though he was only 19 at the time. Young Elvis was obsessed with music as a kid, and growing up originally in Tupelo, Mississippi, he grew up listening to a lot of Black music on the local radio. Around the time he was 10, he picked up a guitar and began to teach himself to play. By his teen years, he’d moved with his family to Memphis and in time began to hang out in the Beale street clubs and listen to a lot of the country music of the day, being a fan of the likes of Hank Snow and Roy Acuff. A perfect blend of influences to create something new and exciting!

Still, it didn’t fall into his lap easily. By early-’54, he’d taken a job as a truck driver in Memphis, since music wasn’t panning out well for him. He’d auditioned with a group called The Songfellows, but they didn’t take him, telling him he couldn’t sing.

Meanwhile, at Sun Records in the city, Sam Phillips wanted something new. He told friends “if I could find a White man who had the Negro sound, and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars!.”

As chance would have it, Elvis and a couple of friends, bassist Bill Black and guitarist Scotty Moore, happened into Sun a couple of times to cut basically demos of Elvis singing. He thought they might make nice gifts for his mom, if nothing else. Sam Phillips secretary took note and wrote a note saying “good ballad singer, hold (onto)”.

Sam stopped by to listen and on July 5th, Elvis played the Arthur Crudup song “That’s all Right.” Moore recalled “All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song and jumping around, and acting the fool. Then Bill picked up his bass and he started acting the fool…I started playing with them. Sam stuck his head out and said ‘what are you doing?’ and we said ‘We don’t know,’ so he said ‘try to find a place to start and do it again!’ He quickly began taping. This was the sound he was looking for!.” Indeed it was. It got played on Memphis radio only a couple of days later and the switchboard at the radio station lit up. The flip-side was “Blue Moon of Kentucky” a 1940s bluegrass song that showed more of Elvis’ country roots. Within two weeks Phillips had the single out on Sun Records… arguably the first “rock and roll” record.

In time, Rolling Stone would list it among their 200 greatest songs of all-time, them calling it “recorded in a shockingly fast, lusty new style, (it) was the place where race and hillbilly music collided and became rock & roll.” Surprisingly, in retrospect, it didn’t shake the world’s hips much. The song did OK in Memphis (it hit #4 on some charts there and sold a nifty 20 000 copies in the area) but didn’t chart nationally. However, a year later things would change with Elvis’ sixth single, “Heartbreak Hotel”, and the world of music would never be the same again.

May 16 – Turntable Talk 14 : The King Reigned In Germany

Welcome back to Turntable Talk! Thanks once again to all the regular readers and welcome to any new ones. If you’re keeping count, this is our 14^th instalment…if you’re wondering about past topics, I indexed the first dozen here. For any new readers, briefly, on Turntable Talk we have a number of guest columnists from other music sites, sounding off on one particular topic. This month, our topic is Feels Like The First Time. No, no, we’re not going X-rated here, we’re talking about a different kind of first – the first album our guests ever bought.

Today we have Christian , from Christian’s Music Musings. He looks at new releases and spotlights older great songs there, and unlike the rest of our guest writers, grew up in Europe so his first LP might have been bought in Deutschemarks:

Thanks, Dave, for inviting me back for another Turntable Talk contribution. Your recurring feature truly is a gift that keeps on giving. I particularly enjoy reading the posts from fellow bloggers and the insights I gain in both their music tastes and personalities. And since I love writing about music, of course, it’s also fun sharing my own two cents.

This time, Dave asked us to reflect on the first album we bought, whether on vinyl, CD or in other formats. Jeez, I oftentimes can’t recall what I did the previous day, so remembering what I did some 45-plus years ago seems to be impossible. So, I decided to take some liberty with the topic.

While I really can’t remember the first record I bought with my own money, which to be clear would be my monthly allowance or any German Marks I received as a gift for my birthday or Christmas, I’m fairly certain three records were among the very first I owned and still do to this day!

Two of them are pictured above.

I believe The Beatles compilation I bought with my “own” money. The greatest hits sampler by The Everly Brothers, on the other hand, was a gift.

Obviously, I could have picked The Beatles, my all-time favorite band. But I’ve written multiple times about them, including once for Turntable Talk. That’s the main reason I picked the following record. Plus, given Elvis Presley was my first and only childhood idol before I discovered the four lads from Liverpool, there’s a high probability I owned Elvis’s 40 Greatest prior to getting the Beatles compilation.

Before I get to the record, let me tell you a little bit about my obsession with Elvis as a kid back in Germany. While my six-year-older sister introduced me to some of the greatest music ever recorded, such as Carole King’s Tapestry, Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Déjà Vu, the “King of Rock and Roll” was my own discovery.

I must have “met” the man for the first time on the radio. We’re talking about 1976 or 1977, when I was 10 or 11 years old. I can’t recall specifically what it was that grabbed my attention in ways no other music had done before then. Mind you, I didn’t understand or speak any English, so I was reacting to Elvis’ amazing voice, as well as the cool groove and incredible energy projected by tunes like “Tutti Frutti” and “Jailhouse Rock”.

I became truly infatuated with Elvis and wanted to know everything about him. Obviously, there was no Internet back then, so I couldn’t simply ask Mr. Google or check Wikipedia! I do recall reading a bio published in paperback but sadly don’t remember the author or the title. Mr. Google didn’t help either, but since that bio included Elvis’ death in August 1977, obviously, it must have appeared thereafter – I assume sometime in 1978.

I also watched Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite on German TV. Given the original broadcast aired in 1973, it must have been a re-run, likely in the wake of Elvis’s passing. I also recall watching the Western Flaming Star (1960). Elvis starred in many movies, most of which were forgettable. I would say Flaming Star and Jailhouse Rock (1957) were among the best ones.

My obsession with Elvis culminated in attempts to impersonate the King in front of the mirror. I would even put grease in my hair. Once I also “costumed” as Elvis during the so-called Karneval season, which is prominent in the Rhineland, the area where I grew up, especially in the cities of Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Aachen and Mainz. Costuming, dancing, parades, drinking and happiness (or is it really forced silliness?) are part of the celebration, which reaches its climax in the week leading up to Ash Wednesday when ‘everything is over,’ as the Karneval fans say.

Once I started picking up the guitar as a 12- or 13-year-old, incorporating the instrument became part of my Elvis impersonation package. One of the first Elvis tunes I learned was “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear”. My poor parents really had a lot to endure!

Okay, I think you get the picture. I idolized Elvis, of course in an innocent childish way.

Time to finally get to some music and the aforementioned compilation, which according to Discogs was released in 1978. I know I got it as a present for Christmas, and we’re likely talking about the holiday in that same year.

As also noted above, I still own that copy. While a bit worn it’s still playable. To prove it, I’ll leave with clips of four tunes I captured myself, one from each side of the double LP.

Side 1, Track 7: (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear (1957) – of course, I couldn’t skip that one!

Side 2, Track 2: Hard Headed Woman (1958) – this song just rocks; love the cool guitar solo by the great Scotty Moore!

Side 3, Track 10: Can’t Help Falling In Love (1961) – call it schmaltz, but that tune is a true beauty, which literally has brought me to tears!

Side 4, Track 8: Suspicious Minds (1969) – one of my all-time favorites I couldn’t skip!

While since those days back in the second half of the ‘70s I’ve become a bit more mature (I think!) and no longer idolize Elvis, or anyone else for that matter, I still enjoy much of his music. I also think Elvis was an incredible performer, especially in the ‘50s before joining the U.S. Army in March 1958 for his military service.

December 10 – Turntable Talk, Round 9 : A Crooners Christmas

Welcome back to Turntable Talk! As this is the ninth instalment, regular readers know what it is. Every month, I have several interesting guest writers sound off on one topic related to the music that we look at here daily. Earlier this year we’ve looked at some topics that sparked lively debates, including if the Beatles were still relevant and people’s takes on how videos changed music. This time around though, in recognition of the calendar we have a simpler topic : Songs of the Season. We’ve just asked the guests to talk about a Christmas/holiday song that they love and why it has meaning to them.

With us today is Keith, from Nostaligic Italian. As you might recall from previous posts, he’s worked for years in radio as a DJ on both rock and country stations, so he knows music! So what might his Christmas choice be…

When I read this month’s Turntable Talk email, one song immediately popped into my head. I was sure that was going to be the one I wrote about. Then I was listening to my iPod and heard one that I felt really needed some recognition, because it get’s me in the “feels” every time I hear it. That led to me remembering another powerful song of the season. When I couldn’t decide which one to pick, I asked Dave if I could write about both. He responded, “Sure! It’s Christmas. Why not?”

I hope you will enjoy these as much as I do….

I was familiar with many of the Elvis Presley Christmas songs growing up. My dad had one of his Christmas albums and played it every year. Prior to DJing a Christmas party, I stopped at my local record store to pick up some Christmas music. I spotted the above album, which had many cuts that I had never heard before, including the title track. I popped it into the car’s CD player and it was the first song on the CD. I was blown away by it. What an amazing message.

I didn’t know much about the song at all, but thanks to Wiki I found out that it came from Elvis’ personal friend. Around August 1965, Presley’s friend and bodyguard Red West wrote the song “in about an hour.” He recorded it and released it the same year under his own label for the 1965 Christmas season, with very little success. The following year, he gave the song to Presley to record, as Elvis had been wanting to record a Christmas song.

The backing track was recorded on June 10, 1966 at RCA Studio B in Nashville, with background vocals provided by Millie Kirkham, The Jordanaires, and the Imperials Quartet. Two days later, on June 12, Presley’s vocals were added. According to West, the vocals were sung and recorded in a hotel room after an enthusiastic Presley heard a copy of the just-recorded backing track on a two-track tape recorder. The song was released on November 15, 1966 as an RCA Victor 45 single. The single reached No. 2 on the Billboard “Best Bets For Christmas” survey in 1966, and returned to the chart in 1967, spending a total of eight weeks in the chart.

When I think about the message of this song, I am reminded of Bill Murray’s speech at the end of Scrooged. He is talking about Christmas Eve and he says, “It’s the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer; we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be.” I think, you can expand that into the entire holiday season. People are just nicer to each other. It really is the time of year that exemplifies what the rest of the year should be like.

Imagine if every day were like Christmas! Elvis’ vocal, the arrangement, and the lyrics of this song bring my to tears almost every time I hear it. Give my first song a listen here:

If Every Day Was Like Christmas

I hear the bells
Saying christmas is near
They ring out to tell the world
That this is the season of cheer

I hear a choir
Singing sweetly somewhere
And a glow fills my heart
I’m at peace with the world
As the sound of their singing fills the air

Oh why can’t every day be like christmas
Why can’t that feeling go on endlessly
For if everyday could be just like christmas
What a wonderful world this would be

I hear a child
Telling santa what to bring
And the smile upon his tiny face
Is worth more to me than anything

Oh why can’t every day be like christmas
Why can’t that feeling go on endlessly
For if everyday could be just like christmas
What a wonderful world this would be

In his short career, Bobby Darin only recorded one Christmas album. The 25th Day of December was released in 1960 and is full of standard hymns and a few other songs. Despite a thorough search of the internet, I cannot find a whole lot about the album or the song that I selected as my second for this blog – “Christmas Auld Lang Syne”. As a matter of fact, the song wasn’t even on the original album. One review of the album I did find states: In addition, the label has expanded the original LP with one bonus track, the mono single of “Christmas Auld Lang Syne” with new lyrics by Frank Military and Manny Kurtz. When Darin starts to sing of mistletoe and tinsel glow, it’s both refreshing and disconcerting following the frequently-solemn album.The 25th Day of December remains a moving and singular creation by one of popular music’s most enduring vocalists, and one of the most unusual Christmas albums to be recorded by a mainstream superstar. As such, it’s worth a spin this Christmas season.

A search of what “Auld Lang Syne” means brings about many interpretations, but most of them all say that when translated literally it means “old long since,” but the meaning is more like “old times” or “the olden days.” In a way the phrase goes perfectly with my blog as I spend a lot of time looking back at the past.

This was one of those songs I remember hearing as part of some “oldies” Christmas special. I’ve always been a fan of Bobby Darin, but had never heard the song before. Melodically, the music is note for note “Auld Lang Syne.” Lyrically, it is something deeper. Every New Year’s Eve, we look back on the year and hope that we can all be together again. This song applies it to Christmas.

New Year’s Eve, to me anyway, is not really about family. Christmas, however, is ALL about family. When you take these lyrics and think back on those who are no longer with us, or think about those who may not be with us next year, it packs a pretty emotional and powerful punch. Again, it always gets me in the “feels.” Two places in the song never fail to give me goosebumps. When Bobby tosses out his quick holiday wish , as awkward as it may be, it still gets me. Then there the last “thank the Lord,” where he holds the note. Gets me every time.

You may not be familiar with it, but I will forever be a favorite of mine. Here are the lyrics:

Christmas Auld Lang Syne

When mistletoe and tinsel glow
Paint a Yuletide valentine
Back home, I go to those I know
For a Christmas Auld Lang Syne

And as we gather ’round the tree
Our voices, all combine
In sweet accord, we thank the Lord
For a Christmas Auld Lang Syne

When sleigh bells ring
And choirs sing and the children’s faces shine
With each new toy, we share their joy
With a Christmas Auld Lang Syne

We sing His praise, this day of days
And pray next year, this time
We’ll all be near to share the cheer
Of a Christmas Auld Lang Syne

Merry Christmas, everybody, and a Happy New Year

In sweet accord, we thank the Lord
For a Christmas Auld Lang Syne

Ok, just one more – my original choice, because I need a fun one!

December 9 – From Graceland To The Great White North Eh?

“Only in Canada you say? Pity!” was the tagline in a famous Canadian commercial back in the 1970s. It was referring to a brand of tea, but it could just as well have described fans of “The King” in the U.S. Because on this day in 1978, Elvis Presley had the #1 album in Canada – and you could only get it there at the time. Suitably, it was called Elvis: A Canadian Tribute.

This was about a year after Presley had died, and there was a big appetite among fans for anything Elvis related. He’d put out 13 official compilation albums during his lifetime (according to Wikipedia) but it took little time for that number to be exceeded with posthumous releases. RCA cleverly came up with the idea of doing one specifically designed for the Canadian market. They came up with this rather hodgepodge release.

The LP contained11 songs, plus the recording of a Vancouver news conference he held in 1957. As many know, Elvis was never allowed to tour outside the States by his manager Colonel Tom, but he did perform twice, and only twice, outside the country. Once, on April 2, 1957 in Toronto, then on August 31 the same year in Vancouver. With a crowd of over 20 000 there, it was his biggest concert of ’57.

The album contains some tracks recorded at those two concerts, including “Jailhouse Rock” and “Teddy Bear.” And it was filled in with Elvis recordings of songs written or popularized by Canadians, including “My Way” (lyrics by Paul Anka), Gordon Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain” and “That’s What You Get For Loving Me”, and “Snowbird”, made famous by Anne Murray and “Put Your Hand In The Hand”, made a hit by Ocean, both Canadian acts and both written by another Canuck, Gene MacLellan.

It came out as a regular LP, and also in a limited edition, numbered, gold vinyl version, which shows up here and there and can fetch about $125 on ebay. In 1999, it was released in small quantities on CD, with a couple of new tracks and more press conference coverage added in. One Elvis fan site recommends it more for the latter than the music which they say is “a bit soft”. Elvis apparently talks of the rigors of touring, his parents, movies and other things in the news conferences.

The album went to #1 in Canada for one week, being knocked out of the top spot by Billy Joel’s 52^nd Street, which was #1 in the U.S. then as well. It was oddly only Elvis’ second #1 album in Canada, the first being a live album in 1973. It quickly hit double platinum status. In the States, RCA eventually released a small quantity of it, and coupled with sales of Canadian imports, it got to #86 on the charts.