ELVIS on SUN, Feb. 1955: "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone." The origin of Creedence licks?

This threw me for a second, then I remember there are actually those other people who don't follow Elvis as closely as those of us in here.

 

Nothing beats Elvis Sun. Period.

I can only imagine that many guitarists through the years owe a huge debt to Scotty Moore's style.

 

In one of the many Fogerty interviews I've watched on YouTube, he says that at an awards ceremony Moore came up behind him and said "Gimme back my licks!" They became friends after that. I wish I'd saved the link for this. It's in the middle of a long interview.

Anyway, in the below article, Fogerty named Moore as his favorite guitar player. Second is James Burton.
John Fogerty’s Fave Guitar Players - Long Island Weekly

 

Thanks Steve, that's a nice way to start my day (I'm on the bus to work).

You can definitely hear CCR. I reckon Buddy Holly was taking notes too! Great record.

 

Amazing licks! Elvis didn't have to drive a truck no more after that.

 

Nice post! I still prefer the A-side.

 

An interesting bit of history on Elvis and Sun Records I never knew about.

I can hear every word Elvis is singing on both recordings. Wonder when that wonderful recording tradition ended in pop music.

I was taken aback at 1:43 on "Baby Let's Play House" with Elvis tenderly singing..."Try to understand I'ld rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man"... WTF, Elvis?!

Thanks for posting an interesting topic, Steve.

 

All great, great stuff.

Still baffles me how for some reason this is the only Sun track that Elvis Radio on Sirius plays in a reverbed-out compressed-to-hell version while all the other Sun records played are the typically-heard mostly-clean versions.

 

Borrowed of course by Lennon for "Run For Your Life". John was a huge fan of Elvis's sun records

 

Scotty Moore was an absolute monster, and the primary reason I listen to Elvis. The Sun records are as fresh today as they were in '55.

 

The latter the basis for The Beatles' "Run For Your Life". True.

I'm for the B side. Better written song.

 

Wonderful record (I don't have an original Sun). I'm Left etc has always been a favourite. I fell in love with the Sun material when RCA released Elivis at Sun in the UK back in 1975. I still have the copy I bought and it is in very good condition considering the number of record players it was played on prior to my first proper hi fi record deck.
Re CCR yes they always had a great sound on their albums (in my opinion) and I would guess they/John were big early Elvis/Scotty Moore fans.

 

Here's the acetate version which is much, much slower.

 

Keith Richards:

"... next idol, after his grandfather Gus, was Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley's session guitarist. He still thinks Moore's solo on Presley's I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone the most exciting thing ever recorded. `I could never work out how he played it, and I still can't. It's such a wonderful thing that I almost don't want to know.'"

 

He was one of those players that you wished he found a successful avenue beyond Elvis and that initial RNR period, and that there was more of his music...but yet very grateful for the music he did produce.

 

Update. I got my source wrong. I didn't see Fogerty say this in a video. I read it in his book, "Fortunate Son." It's on page 144. The passage is as follows:

"One of the best things that ever happened to me was in 1986 or so, at one of those awards get-togethers. I was standing there, just looking at a lot of cool people, and somebody comes up behind me, puts his arms around me, and says, “Give me back my licks!” I turn around, and it’s Scotty Moore! I hadn’t really met him before and I just gushed. I told him, “I stole everything I know from you!” What a great memory."

 

Thanks, Steve, and all others who commented. As an Old Guy, I always learn something here.

 

Lennon acknowledged the connection in his massive Rolling Stone interview in late 1970, but hardly seems to be a fan of RFYL:

I never liked “Run For Your Life,” because it was a song I just knocked off. It was inspired from – this is a very vague connection – from “Baby Let’s Play House.” There was a line on it – I used to like specific lines from songs – “I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man” – so I wrote it around that but I didn’t think it was that important.

 

That may be, but Lennon and McCartney knocking off a song back then was like Monet knocking off a landscape.

 

Ehh...not always. Any objective listener would have to acknowledge the presence of filler on most of their albums, especially the earlier ones. That said, one can usually find something to enjoy even in their lesser tracks!

 

Are we still clutching our pearls over the lyrics of Baby, Let's Play House and Run For Your Life?

 

Really? That's your opinion. That's subjective. I don't think god made you the determiner as to what is objectively a good song or not.

Aside from an overabundance of covers on Beatles For Sale, there isn't a bad tune or filler on ANY of their albums, including the early ones. "Till There Was You" and "Mr. Moonlight" might fall into filler category for you, but their performances on those songs are spirited. They're more than passable for me. Not their strength. As a few critics have opined, Beatles For Sale can sound a bit tired compared to their previous two albums as they had come off a grueling tour and had not had much time for writing.

But name a piece of filler on their early albums. I mean, we're not talking Elvis or Beach Boys albums which truly had throwaway material. I personally wouldn't change a thing on any of The Beatles' albums.

Please, Please Me was literally dashed off in one day, but while not all of the songs are the greatest that ever were written, there is an energy and freshness to the approach that's pretty amazing for a debut album. That's partly due to just how much, how many hours and years they had played together prior to recording it.

The collection of songs on With The Beatles was possibly even stronger, and it was recorded and released in the SAME YEAR as Please, Please Me. Paul McCartney didn't even know that "Till There Was You" was a song from a Broadway show when they recorded it for With The Beatles. Someone had introduced the song to McCartney while they were playing shows in Hamburg, Germany in 1962 and McCartney really liked the song.

So it's a mid-tempo ballad, and it's sung quite well, with a good Harrison solo in the middle. It's not rock and roll, but it's a song they'd do live a lot to change things around. No throwaway in effort. It may not be your cup of tea, but again, that's your opinion, and that's fine to have an opinion.

Here is a rare early live performance:

 

I know that the nylon wire in my strand has been getting stretched out a bit.

Seriously, for a group whose initial songs were more in the love song category, from "I'm A Loser" to "Run For Your Life", Lennon's songs were getting dark pretty early.