"Suspicion"..was this the song that got away from Elvis?

Speaking of Doc Pomus, this beautiful film is essential viewing:

 

In your opinion that's my opinion.

 

Sure is! It didn't hit #1 in England because people wanted it "buried" though...

 

Wooden Heart worked perfectly for the scene it was used for in the movie GI Blues. Sometimes it is easy to forget the movie songs were primarily intended to suit the movie and the scenes there within. The LPs that sprang from that promoted the movies more than the movies promoted the albums.

Due to a lack of new studio material in the mid to late 60s, RCA issued many older tracks, some not previously released and some previously released on LP. The "----" represent contemporaneous songs to the actual release date. And * = not previously released, but outdated recordings. Two recordings that were several years old when they were first released, actually were quite successful: Crying In The Chapel and Ain't That Loving You Baby. What I find interesting is it is claimed that Suspicion was "rush released" to compete with Stafford's version and yet it was relegated to the "B" side!

Kiss Me Quick/Suspicion
Such A Night/----
-----/Ain't That Loving You Baby*
Blue Christmas/Wooden Heart
Crying In The Chapel*/I Believe In The Man In The Sky
Easy Question/It Feels So Right
I'm Yours/Long Lonely Highway (alternate take 1)
------/Wooden Heart (again)
Santa Claus Is Back In Town/Blue Christmas (again)
Tell My Why*/Blue River (marginally contemporaneous, recorded 1963, released 1965)
Joshua Fit The Battle/Known Only To Him
Milky White Way/Swing Down Sweet Chariot
-------/How Would You Like To Be
------/That's Someone You Never Forget
There's Always Me/Judy
His Hand In Mine/How Great Thou Art

 

It would not surprise me if Elvis himself did not want "Wooden Heart" released as a single in the US. In the early 60s only the cream of the crop made it onto singles, and I doubt Elvis considered "Wooden Heart" to be one of his best recordings nor the kind of thing he wanted out there on the radio to represent him.

 

Had any single been put out ahead of the GI Blues album, I think it would have been Shoppin' Around/Doing The Best I Can. Yes, in 1960 there was a wealth of superior material. Are You Lonesome Tonight became his biggest US seller of the 60s until Suspicious Minds and It's Now Or Never was tops in worldwide sales.

 

Doing The Best I Can featured absolutely sublime vocals by Elvis, one of his most underrated songs in my opinion!

 

I really hope he's dead.

 

A mediocre cover of an Elvis song does not deserve the death penalty!

 

I prefer the Terry Stafford version.

 

Totally agree. It was a "plot device" song.

"Shoppin' Around" is a GREAT tune and would have been a hit if released as a single.

 

The UK "Wooden Heart" single was held over until 1961, but even then there was a lot of superior material available. If we look at the list of US a-sides from 1960-62, we have:
Stuck on You
It's Now or Never
Are You Lonesome Tonight
Surrender
I Feel So Bad
Marie's the Name/Little Sister (a de facto double a-side)
Can't Help Falling in Love
Good Luck Charm
She's Not You
Return to Sender

Wooden Heart does not belong on this list. Only the best of the best got put on US singles during this time. There appears to be some conscious quality control behind the songs chosen for singles.

 

Except you also got "Rock-a-Hula Baby" sitting in there. Even so, "Wooden Heart" doesn't belong-- It's pure schlock, even if Joe Dowell's was #1 and Elvis' version was better.

 

Terry's original will always be my favourite version, here is his 1973 version. A bit more country but till sounds good to me:

 

I think they ruin it, sounds dreadful.

 

They turned it into a pop song.

 

The backing vocals make the song IMO, it gives it a dream like quality.

 

I was thinking Rock-a-Hula Baby was a b-side. Was it a double a?

 

what?

 

Just listening to this on line, it's really good and way better than his earlier stuff, stellar Lloyd Greene steel as always.

 

Kiss Me Quick is a great record! Maybe they weren't as concerned about Terry Stafford as somebody wanted people to think.

He dug it back out in 1975 so couldn't have hated it too much.

 

One of the few times when Elvis came in second. His "Suspicion" is too rushed and too sparse; no imagination to the arrangement whatsoever.

Stafford's version? Hell, that's different. That's a pop song now, nearly 'bout.

 

I guess it's down to a matter of taste like everything is in music. Yes it's a good version but clearly a rip-off when the guy is trying to sound exactly like Elvis and he succeeds to some extent (could he have been the first ever impersonator?)
It's always difficult when Elvis is involved because he had vocals that matched no other (still to this day) and he made the songs his own.
The only song I never liked was Hey Jude but I don't really think Elvis was that interested in nailing a version that was intended to out-do the original. Probably why the song was shelved from the '69 sessions and released 3 years later on the mix'n'match 'Elvis Now' album.

 

Definitely. Terry deserved more success in the country market than was given during the 1970s, considering how many former rock and roll artists had successfully made the transition from rock to country. Some trivia, in 1969, Buck Owens re-wrote Terry Stafford's song "Big in Dallas", recording it as 'Big In Vegas.'

 

#3...RIGHT