Previous Page Blue Hawaii is Elvis’s fourth movie of the 1960s and second film released in 1961, but for many, it was his second movie after the Army. So many of his films failed to leave a lasting impression but a few have stayed memorable. Blue Hawaii is remembered alongside others like Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas as movies of Elvis that anyone can identify. A large part of its continued-standing is due to the fourteen-track album that accompanied the film’s release. Granted a fair number of the songs are flimsy and pointless, and Elvis breezed through their recording with as few takes as possible. Others, however, commanded his attention. Considerable time was given to “No More” (a take on the Spanish classic “La Paloma”) which Elvis hoped could catch fire the way “It’s Now or Never” had done a year prior. Most of Presley’s attention was devoted to “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” over which he slaved through twenty-nine takes, determined to get it right. After he finished, he declared the song a favorite and swore it would be remembered alongside his most famous recordings. Even without the song becoming his go-to show-closer throughout the 1970s, the song was still destined for greatness. It reached number one on the Easy Listening chart, number two on the US Billboard chart, number one in the UK, and ended up selling over one million copies as a single release. It’s also “our song” for me and my wife. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content Blue Hawaii (the movie) ended up one of the bigger hits of the year, but Blue Hawaii (the soundtrack) was the real gem. It spent twenty weeks at number one, and another forty weeks in the top ten. It went triple platinum and ended the decade as the second-biggest selling soundtrack album of the 1960s (behind West Side Story). There was no time for Elvis to celebrate, however. Not one day after finishing the record, Elvis and his crew flew to Hawaii to take part in a World War II benefit honoring the newly-opened USS Arizona Memorial. Fifteen songs were performed to a raucous crowd, as Elvis played hits going all the way back to “That’s All Right.” It’s interesting to listen to the show today, as so many of the little quirks and habits he brought to the stage throughout the 1970s were present here, nearly a decade earlier. The concert was a huge success but it’s also a bittersweet reminder of what might have been. The show would be the final on-stage appearance by Elvis until the end of the decade. After this, he could only be seen by purchasing a movie ticket. That was what Tom Parker wanted; to turn Elvis into a new kind of traveling attraction, one not tied to hour-long concerts, performed in one city at a time, but to ninety-minute musicals (of increasingly poor quality, but I digress) shown in theaters simultaneously from coast to coast. As it was in 1960, the soundtrack outsold the studio album. Even though Something for Everybody sold more than Elvis is Back, it’s numbers were marginal compared to Blue Hawaii. Furthermore, the success of the Blue Hawaii movie in comparison to the more dramatic films Elvis had made (such as Wild in the Country and Flaming Star), further provided Parker with the means to steer Elvis away from his true passions, interpreting songs and serious acting. The rest of 1961 offered more of the same. There was another studio session that yielded a few strong singles (“His Latest Flame” and “Little Sister” was a double A-side single that hit number-one), followed by another soundtrack session (for the Follow That Dream movie) that offered little he could sink his teeth into. That was followed by more studio work to produce his next non-Hollywood album. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content There was no longer any denying, however, that the quality of the material he had to work with was diminishing with each passing year. Whereas the Elvis Is Back sessions produced a grand slam album with brilliant song after brilliant song, the Something For Everybody album was more of a mixed bag. The songs to be featured on 1962’s Pot Luck had even more stinkers. Songs like “Night Rider” and “I’m Yours” (actually a rejected track from Blue Hawaii) were the kind of melodies Elvis would have abandoned for better material in years past. For every great song like “Anything that’s Part of You” (my personal favorite Elvis song) or “Good Luck Charm” (which hit #1) there was an embarrassment like “Sound Advice” or “A Whistling Tune.” Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. 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Accept YouTube Content Probably the only song during the second half of 1961 that Elvis really took the time to perfect was a tune he co-wrote in honor of his late mother. “That’s Someone You Never Forget” was tucked away on the Pot Luck LP and never saw a single release until 1967, but due to the subject matter it’s a significant song. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content
