Crawfish Written By : Fred Wise & Ben Weisman Recorded : Radio Recorders, Hollywood, January 15-16, 23, and February 11, 1958: January 15, 1958. take 7. "Crawfish" is a song written by Fred Wise (lyrics) and Ben Weisman (music) and recorded as a duet by the jazz singer Jean "Kitty" Bilbrew (aka. Kitty White) and Elvis Presley. It was the opening song for Presley's 1958 movie King Creole.[1][2][3] British musician and Clash frontman Joe Strummer described "Crawfish" on his radio-show as one of his favourite Elvis songs. The song and his recommendation were included on the soundtrack to the 2007 documentary Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten. Bilbrew and Presley recorded the song on January 15, 1958 during the soundtrack recording session for the Paramount movie King Creole at Radio Recorders, West Hollywood, California. The producer was Walter Scharf, the sound engineer Thone Nogar. At least eight takes have been recorded; the master is take seven. In 1978, Jean Bilbrew released an alternate master mix (with overdubs recorded in 1978) including the full length intro sung by herself. This version runs 4 minutes and 10 seconds. ------------------------------------ If I remember rightly this song opens the movie ... It is a long long time since I saw the movie, but it is quite a memorable scene and it is a fantastic song. The music and vocals on this song are just perfect .... This is the album version but it has an intro from Kitty included.
Young Dreams Written By : Aaron Schroeder & Martin Kalmanoff Recorded : Radio Recorders, Hollywood, January 15-16, 23, and February 11, 1958: January 23, 1958. take 8. This song isn't outstanding in terms of being different or ear catchingly new, but it is a very good song that is well written and performed. A moderate tempo song that straddles the line between a ballad and a rock song. Definitely worth a listen if you don't know it.
I like the whole album. It has that New Orleans Dixieland jazz style and adds another facet to Elvis' repertoire to this point. I listened to the soundtrack album long before I saw the movie. I liked the movie as well. Crawfish was one of the most interesting and different songs on the album.
Steadfast Loyal and True Written By : Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller Recorded : Radio Recorders, Hollywood, January 15-16, 23, and February 11, 1958: February 11, 1958. unknown take This is almost an incidental song. It isn't bad at all, it's just very short and merely a song dedicated to a school institution. It has a very good vocal and some nice backing vocals from the Jordanaires.
New Orleans Written By : Roy C. Bennett & Sid Tepper Recorded : Radio Recorders, Hollywood, January 15-16, 23, and February 11, 1958: January 15, 1958. take 5 This is a piece of New Orleans jazz and I personally reckon it's very cool. Starting with a big bold brass section and then moving into a backing vocal heavy song. I reckon it's a good song.
Crawfish and New Orleans are quite unique in the Elvis canon. There's sort of a smoky, almost-sleazy ambience about them that you don't get from other Elvis songs. They're perfect examples of "deep cuts" that are much better than many of the "hits."
On September 30, 1958 RCA re-released the following 18 singles, that had previously been released, as part of their "Gold Standard Series". (US) RCA 447-0600 (45rpm) I Forgot To Remember To Forget / Mystery Train (US) RCA 447-0601 (45rpm) That's All Right / Blue Moon Of Kentucky (US) RCA 447-0602 (45rpm) I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine / Good Rockin' Tonight (US) RCA 447-0603 (45rpm) Milkcow Blues Boogie / You're A Heartbreaker (US) RCA 447-0604 (45rpm) Baby Let's Play House / I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone (US) RCA 447-0605 (45rpm) Heartbreak Hotel / I Was The One (US) RCA 447-0607 (45rpm) I Want You, I Need You, I Love You / My Baby Left Me (US) RCA 447-0608 (45rpm) Hound Dog / Don't Be Cruel (US) RCA 447-0609 (45rpm) Blue Suede Shoes / Tutti Frutti (US) RCA 447-0610 (45rpm) I'm Counting On You / I Got A Woman (US) RCA 447-0611 (45rpm) I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You) / I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin') (US) RCA 447-0612 (45rpm) Trying To Get To You / I Love You Because (US) RCA 447-0613 (45rpm) Blue Moon / Just Because (US) RCA 447-0614 (45rpm) Money Honey / One-Sided Love Affair (US) RCA 447-0615 (45rpm) Shake Rattle And Roll / Lawdy Miss Clawdy (US) RCA 447-0616 (45rpm) Any Way You Want Me (That's How It Will Be) / Love Me Tender (US) RCA 447-0617 (45rpm) Too Much / Playing For Keeps (US) RCA 447-0618 (45rpm) All Shook Up / That's When Your Heartaches Begin
One Night Written By : Dave Bartholomew & Pearl King Recorded : Radio Recorders, Hollywood, February 23-24, 1957: February 23, 1957. take 10Presley recorded a version of the song with its original lyrics on January 18, Presley recorded a version of the song with its original lyrics on January 18, 1957, but this version would not be released until 1983. Both Elvis' manager and record company had reservations about the suggestive lyrics. Elvis did not give up on the song. He continued to play with it during his spare time on the set of Loving You, finally rewriting the lyrics that he felt were holding the song captive, changing "One night of sin is what I'm now paying for" into "One night with you is what I'm now praying for." Presley's recording credited Anita Steinman as an additional co-writer, with Bartholomew and King. On February 23, 1957, at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles, he showed up with his new lyrics, feeling sure they would meet his label's approval.[4][5] It was issued as a single in October 1958 and peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's singles chart. The song was published by Elvis Presley Music. Presley's recording was issued as a double A-side with "I Got Stung", and reached number one twice on the UK Singles Chart.[6] In the U.S., "One Night", reached number four on the pop singles chart and number ten on the R&B chart.[7] The song became the UK's 1000th number-one single upon its second release in January 2005. It was also his last single to be issued on 78 RPM records in the United States.[8] On 12 February 1959, it became the first song to reach No. 1 on the Irish Music Charts Top 10, when they were being printed in the Evening Herald. It spent one week at the top spot. Rock critic Pete Johnson observed that the song contains a triple negative with the lyrics "I ain't never did no wrong".[2] ------------------------------------------- A Total Elvis classic. This song has a great vocal and probably reach its zenith on the '68 comeback special. Always a song that appealed to me and I like both versions, which are available on the fifties Masters box set.
I Got Stung Written By : Aaron Schroeder & David Hill Recorded : RCA's Studio B, Nashville, June 10, 1958: June 11, 1958 (after midnight of the 10th) take 24 "I Got Stung" is an upbeat, bouncy rock and roll song written by Aaron Schroeder and David Hill and performed by Elvis Presley,[1] which was recorded and released in 1958. Clocking in at under two minutes, it features some of Elvis' most rapid-fire vocals alongside humorous and catchy lyrics, and was released as double A-side with "One Night", reaching No. 1 in the UK.[3] Presley recorded this, his final song of the 1950s, on June 11, 1958, when he went to Nashville during his army stint, as he was preparing to set sail for Germany.[3] It was one of a number of Elvis Presley songs to be re-released in the United Kingdom in 2005 and it went to No. 1 again, in a double A-side release with "One Night".[2] ---------------------------------------- This is isn't a bad song, but not a favourite. There is something about the vocal arrangement that doesn't really work for me. All the "awww yeah" parts get a little tiresome to me. As a say certainly not a bad song, it just isn't a favourite.
"One Night": both sets of lyrics work. I'm not sure which lyric version I prefer. "I Got Stung": this is a lively track with interesting sounding rhythms. Elvis' delivery adds more rhythm to the backing.
actually thinking about it ... if the writer had an English teacher like mine, that constantly attacked the use of a double negative, the triple negative is quite a clever piece of writing ... mathematically making it a negative again lol
Writer and rock & roll pioneer Dave Bartholomew, wrote a lot of Fats Domino hits, is still with us, he'll be 100 years old this December!
It boggles my mind that One Night was left in the can for over a year after being recorded. I consider it one of his top five 50s recordings, and it amazes me it was not released as a single in early 1957. Contrary to what it says on wikipedia, Elvis had nothing to do with rewriting the lyrics... it was all Anita Steinman. The original-lyric version was interesting to finally hear, but Elvis gives a far better and more confident performance on the rewritten lyric version.
