Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

Lol

 

I have never been enamored with Elvis' studio version of "Big Boss Man." It comes across as a bit lightweight in its arrangement and vocal delivery. It is certainly vastly superior to the "Clambake" soundtrack material, but I think the recording is a bit overrated because it is a pleasant departure from the low-grade soundtrack material of the era. The 1968 Comeback arrangement, however, is like a freight train, and a much more enjoyable performance.

 

For me, the 68 comeback version is a tad too fast. It must be the only case where I prefer a recent studio version over a comeback performance. Take LET YOURSELF GO or GUITAR MAN: the tv special renditions are the one for me. But not in the case of BIG BOSS MAN: it's so much grittier and bluesier in 1967. And groovy! Just wonderful. Because of that, it wins hands down IMO.

 

I agree with you on all those very fine points and I too especially enjoy Ray Charles wonderful version of You Don't Know Me. Charlie Rich did a pretty fine version as well on his highly regarded Pictures and Paintings album.

 

It's interesting to me.
I like Big Boss Man, but obviously not as much as everyone else.

 

Speaking of Charlie Rich, I prefer his version of "Big Boss Man" to Elvis's. I guess Elvis did too, since when he played the song live he went for an arrangement closer to Charlie's. But even Charlie's version takes second place to Elvis's '68 performance.

 

I think you are spot on and you beat me to the punch as I too prefer Charlie Rich's version over Elvis's ever so slightly. I think Elvis's 68 Special version is phenomenal as well.

Charlie Rich,Big Boss Man - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86X8Ema4908
▶ 2:38

 

Incidentally, I once played Charlie Rich's "Big Boss Man" to a distracted friend while he was driving. Midway through he asked why Charlie was singing "Big Balls Man."
For a while afterward I couldn't listen to the song without snickering.

 

I love stories like this one. I thought The McCoy's song Hang On Sloopy was really called Hang On Snoppy and they were singing about the dog in the Charlie Brown cartoons.

 

me too lol

 

I have always thought that.

+
Haha. I love stories like that. Misheard lyrics are a world unto themselves. They often reveal a lot about the listener!!

 

Yep. My hubbie thought the lyrics to Brick in the Wall were "No Dukes of Hazard in the classroom" Wishful thinking!

Another vote here for the 68 version of Big Boss Man.

 

Yep, not the first time the best soundtrack song was left out of the actual movie.

 

Singing Tree
Written By :
Archie C. Solberg & Arthur L. Owens

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, September 10-12, 1967 : September 12, 1967. take 5

This is a pretty good song. We have a melancholy moderate paced ballad. The music and vocals are nicely balanced on here

 

Just Call Me Lonesome
Written By :
Rex Griffin

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, September 10-12, 1967 : September 11, 1967. take 1

I like this, it sounds like a Hank Williams snr song. I have always loved pedal steel guitar too, and I think this song works very well.

 

Singing Tree has strange lyrics, but very nice self-harmony by our man.

Just Call Me Lonesome is interesting because he sings it in a rather high key. I believe this is take 1, later takes find him singing it lower but I think the emotions work better on the one chosen

 

I've always loved Singing Tree. It's a sweet little song, and Elvis sings it beautifully. I know a lot of fans think the lyrics are particularly silly, but I've never had an issue with them.

Pedal steel playing is a bit too cloying for my tastes, or at least it is when it's placed front and centre in a relatively jaunty arrangement, so Just Call Me Lonesome is a track that I've never really taken to. For whatever reason, I don't mind the instrument nearly as much when it's set in a slower, more sombre arrangement. I'd probably like Just Call Me Lonesome a lot more if Elvis had approached it along the lines of, say, Ted Daffan's Born To Lose.

 

Elvis December 1967

 

Singing Tree is nice, not a song I put on a lot but decent. Nice classical guitar solo, and that is a really weird distorted sound - any idea what it is?

Love Just Cal Me Lonesome. This Eddy Arnold track has been covered by many of the greats, but Elvis puts his own signature on it. It deserved a better fate than being buried on Clambake.

 

The first version of Singing Tree. Alternate master, take 13.

 

Singing Tree is nice. I never heard of a singing tree, so I do not know where that idea came from. But the melody and sentiment is good. Just Call Me Lonesome is a great performance and an unusual style for Elvis. I would not have objected to a couple more songs in that style from him. (My dad pretty much only like country music, and he liked Elvis, but he thought Just Call Me Lonesome was "too twangy" for Elvis).

 

I love "Just Call Me Lonesome"--a beautiful companion piece to "You Don't Know Me." For whatever reason, sad country songs seemed to draw out the best of Elvis at this time. Perhaps their authenticity appealed to him after all those plastic soundtrack numbers. "Just Call Me Lonesome" was the last song recorded on the fateful night he cut "Guitar Man" and "Big Boss Man," so it too was part of Elvis's return to his roots. The steel guitar was played by Pete Drake.

Jorgensen notes that after thirteen takes Elvis and company gave up on "Singing Tree," since they couldn't work out a satisfactory arrangement. As I wrote elsewhere on this forum, "The Singing Tree" is no match for The Singing Bush:

 

hahaha, I haven't seen that since I was a pup lol

 

Note on the "children's" vocals on Confidence: The 4 women's voices singing like children were aged 27-44 years old.

 

"Just Call Me Lonesome" is one of my favorites. This is the kind of country I love. That pedal steel driving the song...man I love it.