Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

The take used for the single:

 

Yeah, Echoes Of Love is probably the weakest of For The Asking Sessions. I have always loved It's A Long Lonely Highway, even though suicide is implied in the song.

 

Kiss Me Quick
Suspicion
(US) RCA 447-0639
Released: April 14, 1964

This single was released as part of the Gold Standard Series, even though it had not been released before.
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These two tracks were obviously on Pot Luck and for some bizarre reason released as singles two years too late.

 

What'd I Say



Written By :
Ray Charles

Recorded :
Radio Recorders, Hollywood, July 9-12 and August 30, 1963: August 30, 1963. take 4

What'd I say was a great song, always, Ray Charles obviously did the definitive version, but here Elvis does an excellent version that's been re-arranged well to have a more standard structure. It was a good inclusion in the Viva Las Vegas movie, which aside from some terrible editing was a really fun movie. I think Ann Margret and Elvis had a great on screen chemistry, as well as off, and I don't think Hollywood really took advantage of the chemistry. They also shouldn't have edited that movie the way they did.
This is a good boisterous rendition of the song and works really well.

 

Viva Las Vegas



Written By :
Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman

Recorded :
Radio Recorders, Hollywood, July 9-12 and August 30, 1963: July 10, 1963. take 7


Single by Elvis Presley
A-side "Viva Las Vegas"
B-side "What'd I Say"
Released April 28, 1964
Recorded July 10, 1963, Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California
Genre Rock and roll, Pop
Length 2:24
Label RCA Records
Songwriter(s) Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman

"Viva Las Vegas" is a 1963 song recorded by Elvis Presley written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman[1] for his Viva Las Vegas film vehicle, which along with the song was set for general release the year after. Although Elvis Presley never sang the song live, it has since become widely known and often performed by others. The RIAA certified it gold on March 27, 1992 having sold 500,000 copies in the United States.

The song was recorded on July 10, 1963. Released as a single in 1964 with the B-side "What'd I Say" from the same film, "Viva Las Vegas" charted separately from its B-side, reaching #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart.[2][3][4] The Elvis version of "What'd I Say" peaked at #21, the two sides having equivalent appeal in the marketplace. "Viva Las Vegas" reached #17 on the UK Singles Chart, improving to #15 after a reissue in 2007. The single reached #20 on the Record World chart in the U.S. and #14 in Canada.[5]

The song was published by Elvis Presley Music, Inc.

In the years since its first release, the song has become one of Presley's most recognized numbers. In the 1990s and 2000s, the song appeared in countless movies and TV sitcoms, either as a reference to the city of Las Vegas, or simply as an expression of joy or bewilderment in related comedic situations.

In 2002, the city of Las Vegas requested Elvis Presley Enterprises, the company that handles a portion of Elvis's legacy and all Elvis-related music rights, to allow it to be the official song of the city. Negotiations stalled over the price requested by EPE, notwithstanding that EPE had not controlled the copyright to the song since 1993, at which time it became the property of the families of the songwriters Doc Pomus[6] and Mort Shuman. Since EPE no longer owns the copyright to the song, it essentially means that EPE does not have the authority or right to negotiate the use of the song "Viva Las Vegas" within the United States, its territories and possessions, although EPE may be able to negotiate the use of the actual Elvis recording of the song.
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This is probably one of Elvis' signature songs. I find it quite remarkable that it wasn't a number one hit. There have been an uncountable number of cover versions by all sorts of people.
This is an uptempo feel good song with lots of adrenaline and lots of things to draw you to it. Probably the only down side to this song is for some reason when they mixed this song they went with the Beatles style stereo mix. After all those early sixties masterful mixes and recordings, they went backwards in sound sculpting.
Nonetheless this is a great song and a classic.

 

Yep, it is a mystery that this single did not do much better than it did during its initial chart run. Both sides are great. I am sure some people will take exception to Elvis' version of What'd I Say, but I really like it. Viva Las Vegas movie actually ultimately grossed more money than Blue Hawaii, including international and TV revenues.

 

One of my favorites. I love these tunes with the Latin rhythms and dramatic vocal readings. Perfect style for Elvis.

 

What'd I Say works well in the film, but the studio/single version is a missed opportunity.
It just doesn't work the way it could have, and the The Jubilee Four and The Carol Lombard Quartet
actually almost ruin it for me. They seem to be trying to add a level of excitement to it, but it just
doesn't work, especially when they start yelling and squealing toward the end. My two cents....

 

"What'd I Say" is a pretty nice performance... it's always good to hear Elvis do a classic R&B track. The one criticism I might have is that it's pitched a little high, making Elvis sound somewhat strident at times, and it might have worked better in a lower key.

The song is also notable for Elvis successfully sneaking in a double entendre: "See the girl with the red dress on/she can do the dog all night long." While it's true that there was an actual 60s dance called "the Dog," I'm sure Elvis was also aware of the sexual connotation of "doing the dog." In the original recording, Ray Charles sang "She can do the Birdland all night long" (a reference to the Birdland night club). That got me wondering if Elvis was the one who originated the "do the dog" line in his version. I went back and listened to all the cover versions that predate Elvis' recording that I could find, and found that he (apparently) was indeed the one who originated that line.

Here's the results of my investigation:
Bobby Rydell (1959)- omits "red dress" line
Johnny O'Keefe (1959)- omits line
Jack Eubanks & His Orchestra and Singers (1960)- mostly instrumental, omits line
Dee Clark (1960)- "She can do the Hully Gully all night long"
The Olympics (1960)- "She can Hully Gully all night long"
Cliff Richard and The Shadows (1961)- "She knows how to dance all night long"
The Beau-Marks (1961)- "She can do the Birdland all night long"
Jerry Lee Lewis (1961)- "She can do the boogie woogie all night long"
Donnie Brooks (1961)- omits line
Bobby Darin (1962)- "She can do the Twist all night long"
Carroll Brothers (1962)- omits line
Anita Kerr Singers (1962)- "She can Twist night till dawn"
Tom & Jerry with The Merry Melody Singers (1962)- omits line
Clyde McPphatter (1962)- "She can do the boogie all night long"
Jimmy Justice (1962)- "Do the Birdland all night long"
Keely Smith (1962)- "See the guy dressed in green/does the Twist like I never seen"
Spotnicks (1962)- "She do the boogie woogie all night long"
Rod McKuen (1962)- "She can do the Birdland all night long"
Teddy Randazzo (1962)- omits line
Trini Lopez (1963)- "She can do the Twist all night long"
The Searchers (1963)- omits line
The Big Three (1963)- "She can shake it all night long"
Floyd Cramer (1963)- instrumental
Dick Dale (1963)- omits line
Ronettes (1963)- omits line
Etta James (1964)- "She cannnn... all night long"
Roy Orbison (1964)- "She can Bossa Nova all night long"

Few of the covers are faithful to Ray Charles' original lyrics, and most of them insert the name of a dance instead. A lot of the covers omit the "See the girl with the red dress on" couplet entirely. Elvis is the first to use the "do the dog" line so that apparently was his idea. The only other version that has a sexual connotation is Etta James'... Etta extends the word "can" and leaves a blank space after it, and her tone clearly suggests sex. Her version was released in December 1963, before Elvis' was released but after it was recorded, so it could not have influenced him (unless he happened to see her do it live). So anyway, leave it to Elvis to slip in a dirty joke.

 

Timing is probably part of the reason. If this song had been released in 1963 when it was recorded (rather than eight months later) it likely would have charted much higher. This was Elvis' first post-Beatles single, and we can't discount the sea change in popular tastes that resulted from the British Invasion. It's notable that although Elvis continued to have mid-level top-20 hits throughout 1964-66, he was not able to crack the top ten (with the one exception of the bizarre success of "Crying in the Chapel" in 1965).

 

Nice post my friend and I really appreciate you noticing that pitching issue. I was going to blame it on the engineering as I find his vocals to be uncharacteristically flat, even though he is trying his level best to show some grit on the vocals. Again, sometimes I find some of the Hollywood studio recordings a little wanting compared to his great Nashville Studio B recordings. His voice just does not sound as rich and full a lot of the time to my ears. Ah, Bill Porter was amazing was he not? You might be right though that Elvis needed to take that down a step as well.

 

Nice Info mate!
Much appreciated

 

Well The girl in the red dress in the movie does the dance called the dog. As far as I know the idiom "doing the dog" is the same as "fxxckin' the dog" which means wasting time or being lazy. I am unaware of any sexual context for "doing the dog". Enlighten me please.

 

It's simply a reference to the common sexual position that's popularly referred to as "doggy style."

The Cramps make the entendre more explicit in this song (from their "A Date With Elvis" album). Note also their quotation of lyrics from "Tiger Man"... They were big Elvis fans:

 

Add in I Got Lucky for more positive vibes.

 

I've never liked What'd I Say in any incarnation, and Elvis' versions are no exception. It's an insta-skip for me whenever I listen to the VLV "album" or those 1969 shows.

VLV itself is a corker of a song, and Elvis sings it quite thrillingly, but the sound is far too thin, holding it back from being the storming rocker it clearly wanted to be. The mono mix is an improvement, but the song ultimately needed a beefier arrangement.

 

I really dislike the 1969 performances of What'd I Say too.

 

There are a lot of positive vibe Elvis songs, my list had more to do with the advisory aspect. That is, hey man, don't waste your life being unhappy.

 

Is it the arrangement or the mix? because the thing that always struck me about it was that thinness that you mention, and when I was doing my pre-listen today, I was stunned, I finally hit me, it's that Beatles mix with the instruments panned left and the backing vocals right ... and it doesn't make sense to me.
Elvis is back has this pristine stereo mix from four years earlier and all of a sudden we have this obtuse mix ... for such a great song ..

 

I don't mind the actual song "What'd I Say" but the background vocals on the Elvis version are like nails on a chalkboard for me. After about 2 minutes I'm like, "Omg, just shut up."

 

The soundtracks were generally mixed with 3 discrete channels. That is instruments on one channel, backup vocals on another channel and Elvis' voice in the center. That is because the movie soundtracks were mixed down to mono for the movies. This method made it easier to control the results for the movie. Bill Porters sublime mixes (but with too much reverb for my tastes) also employed three tape channels but had a full soundstage effect in mind and sound more natural than most of the soundtracks.

Maybe I could coin a phrase, while the earliest Beatle stereo records were binaural. Many of Elvis' soundtrack records were triaurual.

 

cheers. It's the first time I noticed it. Normally i'm in the car

 

Do you find any room to rhumba there?

 

Lol
It ain't a sportscar ... it's a pick up... i may even manage a two step

 

That's the remix. The original stereo mix of What'd I Say that appeared on Elvis Gold Records Vol. 4 is almost mono with some reverb and only the backup singers panned hard right.