Previous Page By sunrise, Elvis had only finished three songs, having been put through many more takes than he’d been used to working on throwaway soundtracks. By the time he recorded the third song of the evening, “Wearing that Loved on Look” Elvis’s voice was shot, but the raspiness only aided in making the sound something real and raw and natural. You wouldn’t dare call the music he recorded with Chips “stripped down” or “under-produced” but the hoarseness to Elvis’s voice kept the blaring horns and saxophones and backing vocals from being “too much.” Everything felt authentic, like Elvis was singing from the heart for the first time in a long time. 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 “You’ll Think of Me” was written by one-half of Elvis’s early-sixties associates, Mort Shuman (long-time collaborator with Doc Pomus). The song had a strange blend of Elvis’s country twang combined with a sitar (which was all the rage in the late-60’s). The song’s structure and length (four minutes) were unusual for Presley, but after only a few takes everyone in the room knew they had a great hit on their hands. Nevertheless, Moman insisted on perfecting it, and after twenty takes he had what he wanted. There are more layers on this track than on anything Elvis had recorded thus far. It wasn’t a Phil Specter production, but it was robust: the sitar plays in the song’s first ten seconds, with a simple high hat in the background keeping the beat. Elvis then begins as a bass guitar joins the fun, and after his opening, a piano and the backing vocalists start oohing and humming and repeating the song’s title-refrain. After that, there’s a middle-eight sitar solo that, again, is wholly unlike an Elvis record, but Presley told Chips he wanted a fresh and modern “grown-up sound” and Chips was bringing it. 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 “In the Ghetto” was the natural follow-up single to “If I Can Dream.” Like the NBC big show-closer, it was penned by Mac Davis and had a modern sound and political message. Elvis typically refrained from making overtly-political statements, and in fact often told the media that it wasn’t his place as an entertainer to get caught up spouting his political opinions. But songs like these were vague and generalized enough that no one could accuse him of alienating one segment of his fanbase or another. It was Chips Moman who insisted that Elvis record “In the Ghetto” and threatened to give it to another artist to use if he didn’t. He of course did, and as with “If I Can Dream” Elvis poured everything he had into the song. He didn’t go for the big bravado of the previous song, however; he kept it subtle, even somber and let the storybook-nature of the lyrics do the work. Moman adds just the right touch of strings, backing vocals and that great guitar hook that weaves throughout the track. A+ work all around. The song was selected as a single and was an instant hit, reaching #3 on Billboard’s Hot100, #10 in the UK (the first time Elvis had been a top-ten artist overseas in three years) and #2 in Canada. It hit number-one in several smaller European markets (ironically, considering the nature of the song was very much rooted in the poverty and crime problem of inner-cities in the US). It was worth every bit of the twenty-five takes Chips insisted Elvis do to get it right. 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 “Rubberneckin” was the first true rock-and-roll song recorded at the studio, and though the lyrics are simplistic, it’s the lively arrangement and obvious fun Elvis has with it that makes it worthwhile. It was another single release, albeit as a B-side to “Don’t Cry Daddy.” That song was likewise not much to write home about, with its cliched lyrics and too-syrupy strings, but it reached #6 all the same, proving that Elvis really was in the middle of a genuine turnaround. Just as his solid late-60’s material would be released and disappear with little fanfare due to the overall apathy surrounding the artist, this average song was released to great acclaim, simply because everyone was tuning in to him again. 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 “Without Love” demonstrated Elvis at his ballad-best, however. The lyrics were poetic, the delivery was pained, the arrangement a sparse piano-driven melody at first, that turns into a full-blown quasi-pentecostal gospel song, with drums and guitar, big background vocals, and Elvis shouting from the top of his lungs. It’s a show-stealer that was sadly held off the tracklist Chips was compiling for the major album release. 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 “Suspicious Minds” was the last song recorded at American in January and as with “In the Ghetto” it was a Chips Moman-suggestion. Moman had already recorded the song for its writer, Mark James, but it went nowhere on the charts. Still, there was a vibe to it that the young producer thought could work with Elvis’ voice. Even though the first two takes were ruined due to the band missing their cue and then Elvis flubbing the lyrics, it was apparent immediately that the song was a match made in heaven for Elvis. It had the perfect marriage of country and rhythm and blues with a little bit of Gospel soul, which is exactly the melting pot of styles that Elvis brought to the mainstream in the form of “Rock and Roll” fifteen years earlier. By the third take they almost had it perfect and when it was done Elvis confidently declared it his next big hit, sounding like his younger hit-making self from nearly a decade ago. Sure enough, “Suspicious Minds” hit number one, the first Elvis record to do so in the US since “Good Luck Charm” in early 1962. He’d come close a few times since then; “Return to Sender” peaked at #2 in late 1962, “Devil in Disguise” reached #3 in 1963, as did “Crying in the Chapel” in 1965. But after that, he never got any closer than “Love Letters” in 1966 (which hit #19) until his comeback began in 1968. The upward momentum was clear, as “If I Can Dream” inched-up to the top-ten, and then “In the Ghetto” broke through to #3. The public was paying attention again, and hearing Elvis with fresh ears. “Suspicious Minds” was the climax of his second run at the top, and even though the peak failed to produce as many hits as his run in 1957 did, it still proved he had more to offer than inane Hollywood schlock. 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 With the session ended, Elvis left Chips to arrange the material into what he hoped would be a hit record. The week Presley had spent at American Sound left him extremely confident that his “comeback” was on the right track. He was so excited, in fact, a month later Elvis returned to American for a second round of recordings. It hadn’t been scheduled originally, but he felt so personally and professionally satisfied after the first twenty cuts that he and Moman agreed to meet again in February. Another thirteen songs were recorded, and though the energy may have been a slight step down from January, there were more than enough great tracks finished to leave everyone happy in the end.
