SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATED WITH ELVIS that receive the most credit in terms of Presley’s successful career are two teams: Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller and Doc Pomus-Mort Shuman. But another team was paramount in Elvis’s transition from the sappy movie matinee idol of the mid-1960s to his emergence as a potent figure in 1968-1969: Billy Strange-Mac Davis.
In the 1950s, Leiber and Stoller penned a dozen tunes for Elvis, mostly for three of his movies. These include the title songs to those movies: Loving You, Jailhouse Rock, and King Creole. The two writers from New York and the singer from Memphis gelled creatively with the three men working together as peers, something unusual (and unexpected) for Leiber and Stoller.
“Memories pressed between the pages of my mind. Memories sweetened through the ages just like wine.”
The soundtrack for Jailhouse Rock was probably the apex of their collaborations. Aside from writing several great songs—such as I Want To Be Free, (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care, and Treat Me Nice—Leiber and Stoller were actively involved in producing the sessions and Stoller appeared in the movie! The three intended to do work together on the entire soundtrack for the next movie (King Creole) but “the Colonel” put an end to it. But that’s another story.
In the early ’60s, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman almost filled the same spot, writing more than a dozen songs for Elvis. This included A Mess Of Blues (a huge hit in the UK in 1960 but almost unknown outside Elvis circles in the US), Little Sister, and Viva Las Vegas. The latter has appeared in the background of numerous movies in the past thirty years and has become the unofficial theme song for Las Vegas.
There were other teams (especially on the movie songs) and individuals who deserve notice. For more about them, check out “Elvis Presley’s Hit Songwriters” on the Elvis History Blog.
Many writers have mentioned that Elvis got in shape for the taping of the NBC-TV in June 1968, losing weight, working out, growing his sideburns, getting a deep tan, etc. But this photo was taken from the same photoshoot for the movie Live A Little, Love A Little that provided the photo for the picture sleeve for Almost In Love / A Little Less Conversation (below). Principal photography for that movie began on March 13, 1968, so the movie-Elvis was looking like the comeback-Elvis months before the comeback.
The Strange team
Billy Strange was a sought-after session guitar player in Los Angeles and was a member of the legendary Wrecking Crew. He was also a recording artist who had released more than a dozen solo albums by the time he was called in to work with Elvis Presley. In March 1968, he was brought in as Musical Director for the soundtrack for the movie Live A Little, Love A Little. He brought with him a new songwriting partner, Morris “Mac” Davis.
Strange and Davis wrote five songs for Elvis before Davis branched off and started writing solo (under the pseudonym Scott Davis). As a writer, Davis tends to get overlooked, especially by “serious” rock fans and historians. This is understandable: While Leiber, Stoller, Pomus, and Shuman had solid credentials in the R&B field before and after their work with Presley, Mac went on to a successful career as a laid-back country singer. (Or an easy-listening singer with a country twang.)
But the few songs he contributed to the Elvis Presley Legend were hugely important to the singer’s resurrection as a potent performer and the revitalization of his recording career. Below I look at the seven songs that Davis wrote that Elvis recorded in 1968-1969. The songs are listed as they were recorded.
Each song includes the writers, dates of recording and original release on record, the peak position of those records released as singles on the Billboard and Cash Box pop charts, and other data. There is a Progress section in each song where I comment on the headway that Davis was making in becoming a favorite writer of Elvis songs.
This is the original 1968 poster for Live A Little, Love A Little as it was used in Turkey. The title “Biraz Yasa, Biraz Sev” translates literally to “A Little Law, A Little Love.”
Grading the songs
To make things interesting, I have assigned a grade to each title. The grade reflects a combination of the quality of the song and the quality of the recording of that song (the arrangement, production, and performance). The grades reflect my opinion (hopefully reasonably) balanced by history:
✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ G-r-r-r-eat!
✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ Excellent indeed
✮ ✮ ✮ Very good
✮ ✮ Merely good
✮ Not so good
Easy enough, yes?
On the five songs above, the songwriting credits went to Strange-Davis, which implies that Billy Strange wrote the music while Mac Davis wrote the lyrics. Both In The Ghetto and Don’t Cry Daddy solely credit Scott Davis, the pseudonym that Mac Davis used at the time. Most of us didn’t learn his real name until he started putting records on the charts as a singer in 1970.
Personal fave
The Personal Fave rating is even easier:
Top 10 This is among my ten most-favored Elvis recordings.
Top 40 This is among my forty most-favored Elvis recordings.
Top 100 This is among my hundred most-favored Elvis recordings.
To place these three “categories” in perspective, RCA Victor released more than 500 studio and soundtrack recordings along with six LP records worth of live recordings while Elvis was alive! To be in the Top 100 of that massive a canon is reasonably impressive.
These are the front (top) and back (bottom) of the US picture sleeves for A Little Less Conversation / Almost In Love (RCA Victor 47-9610), released in September 1968. The single was a dismal commercial failure with the two sides peaking on Cash Box at #53 and #91, respectively. On Billboard, they fared even more poorly, reaching #69 and #95, respectively. Both sides of the sleeve devote more attention to the movie Live A Little, Love A Little than to the actual recordings.
A little less conversation
Writers: Strange-Davis
Recorded: March 7, 1968
Released: September 3, 1968
Catalog number: RCA Victor 47-9610
Billboard Hot 100: #69
Cash Box Top 100: #53
For the movie Live A Little, Love A Little, Billy Strange and Mac Davis co-wrote A Little Less Conversation. Everything about the song and the record it became was solid: music and lyrics, arrangement and production, Elvis and the musicians’ performance. Mac provided the in-your-face lyrics:
A little less conversation, a little more action, please.
All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me.
A little more bite and a little less bark,
a little less fight and a little more spark,
close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me.
These were not your usual Elvis lyrics! They didn’t sound like anything that a member of the emerging counterculture would say to a woman, but they did sound like something that a member of the Rat Pack might say. A Little Less Conversation was released as the b-side to another soundtrack song, the syrupy but effective ballad Almost In Love.
“It’s pretty amazing to me that my first hit record was an Elvis Presley record.”
But the record-buying public failed to flip for the ballad so the DJs flipped the record and started playing A Little Less Conversation. Alas, this was a solid but unexciting single in the heady milieu of Top 40 radio in 1968. So Mac Davis’s first contribution to the Presley canon peaked at #53 on Cash Box while pooping out at #69 on Billboard.
Not being remotely country, this record did not come close to the national country Top 40 surveys.
In the UK, A Little Less Conversation failed to chart.
Needless to say, this record has not sold enough copies to qualify for an RIAA Gold Record Award.
Overall grade: ✮ ✮ ✮
Personal fave
No. While it was good hearing a real rock & roll record as an Elvis single in 1968, this has never been a particular fave of mine. The version that was intended for inclusion in the NBC-TV special was a much hotter and more soulful outtake from the Live A Little, Love A Little soundtrack sessions. Unfortunately, it was cut from the special and wasn’t released until 1998.
Progress
While A Little Less Conversation was far better than many of the faux rockers that Elvis had been recording for his movies, it was also far from being a great song. There would have been no reason for Presley to expect much more from Strange and Davis based on this song.
Nor was there apparently anything personal to lead me to think that Presley had become a fan of the team. According to Davis, “I didn’t have a lot of communication with Elvis. You had to go through a barricade to get to Elvis. It was people hanging on every word, and I felt very uncomfortable a lot of times.”
Note: While A Little Less Conversation was the least effective song Davis gave Elvis in the ’60s, it gave him a whole new life in the 21st century. In 2002, a souped-up remix of A Little Less Conversation was a smash hit, topping charts around the world. But that’s another story for another time.
This is a black and white still of the Nothingville scene in the final version of the NBC-TV special Elvis. It was taped in June 1968 and broadcast in December. The whole Nothingville sequence lasts about ninety seconds, but it’s an effective ninety seconds.
Nothingville
Writers: Strange-Davis
Recorded: June 20, 1968
Released: November 22, 1968
Catalog number: Does not apply
Billboard Hot 100: Does not apply
Cash Box Top 100: Does not apply
When Elvis began work on his special for NBC-TV in June, A Little Less Conversation was chosen for the original concept for the show. Billy Strange was also brought back on board and he brought Davis along. The pair wrote two new songs for the special, Nothingville and Memories.
Nothingville was a short piece that fit into the original concept of the show, which was a “story” about a young man leaving home for the big city. Nothingville is where he ends up:
Nothingville—only a two-bit town where nothing’s real,
treat me like a country clown in Nothingville.
I ain’t a-gonna hang around while doors keep slamming in my face.
People keep putting me in my place.
It’s a rat’s race at a snail’s pace—Nothingville.
Being little more than a minute in length, those are all the lyrics to the song! It acted as an intro to a longer, loosely structured medley that included portions of Big Boss Man, Little Egypt, Trouble, and Guitar Man.
It was released as part of the soundtrack album ELVIS (RCA Victor LPM-4088) in October 1968. There isn’t a lot to say about Nothingville except that Elvis sings it perfectly and it’s a shame there isn’t a longer, fuller version.
Overall grade: ✮ ✮
Personal fave
No. Its brevity is why I gave it only two stars and why it would be difficult to imagine anyone listing this snippet among their favorite Elvis recording. Refer to the Progress report in Memories below.
Progress
Refer to the Progress report in Memories below.
This is the American picture sleeve for Memories / Charro (RCA Victor 47-9731), released in February 1969. While lots of people bought the album advertised on the front cover, very few people paid to see the movie advertised on the back.
Memories
Writers: Strange-Davis
Recorded: June 23, 1968
Released: November 22, 1968
Catalog number: RCA Victor 47-9731
Billboard Hot 100: #35
Cash Box Top 100: #24
Strange and Davis also contributed Memories to the NBC-TV special. Davis said that the show’s producers asked for a song about looking back over the years: “I had to write it in one night. I stayed up all night at Billy Strange’s house in Los Angeles. He had a little office set up in his garage. I wrote it right there.”
It’s a lovely ballad with lyrics considerably more “poetic” than was usual for an Elvis track: “Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind. Memories, sweetened through the ages just like wine.
Memories was eventually released as a single in early 1969. Unfortunately, while it is a gorgeous reading of a gorgeous song, it wasn’t the strongest choice for a single. It peaked at #24 on Cash Box but only got to #35 on Billboard.
Not being remotely country, this record did not come close to the national country Top 40 surveys.
In the UK, Memories was released as the b-side of If I Can Dream and so did not chart.
Unfortunately, this record has not sold enough copies to qualify for an RIAA Gold Record Award.
Overall grade: ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮
Personal fave
Top 40. When Elvis sings “Of holding hands and red bouquets and twilight trimmed in purple haze and laughing eyes and simple ways and quiet nights and gentle days with you” it is among my favorite moments of anyone singing anything.
Progress
Both Nothingville and Memories were smart songs that fit the original concept of the NBC-TV Special. Given that A Little Less Conversation was to have played a key role in that concept, it would seem that Elvis had taken a liking to Strange and Davis. That they had provided him with three good numbers in a few months must have counted for something!
As Elvis recorded both songs at American Sound Studio in January 1969, it’s possible that Davis had already pitched In The Ghetto and Don’t Cry Daddy to Presley in mid-1968. According to Davis: “Don’t Cry Daddy is a pretty sad song. He got to the end of it and it was just real quiet and Elvis says, ‘I’m gonna cut that someday for my daddy.’ And, by God, he did—he lived up to his word.”
It’s not difficult to infer Presley making that statement sometime in 1968. Other sources claim that Elvis didn’t hear either song until shortly before he recorded them.
This is the American poster for Charro, filmed in July and August 1868 but not released to theaters until March 1969. Despite Presley’s return via the NBC-TV special and its attendant hit single (If I Can Dream) and soundtrack album (ELVIS), few people showed up at their local cinemas to see this movie. Cool poster, though.
Charro
Writers: Davis-Strange
Recorded: October 15, 1968
Released: February 25, 1969
Catalog number: RCA Victor 47-9731
Billboard Hot 100: Did not chart
Cash Box Top 100: Did not chart
Davis and Strange then submitted the title tune for the next Elvis movie. Charro was a slight genre piece, fitting the ersatz spaghetti-western feel and look of the movie. It was used as the flip-side of Memories, giving Strange and Davis writing credits on both sides of an Elvis single.
It’s nothing much, although appropriate for the movie. Elvis sings with passion but sounds a bit ridiculous (“You’ve been halfway to hell and back again and now you laugh in the Devil’s face”). Understandably, Charro failed to chart.
“I’m sure that Elvis was happy for me. I think he was the kind of guy that enjoyed other people’s success, especially if he had something to do with it.”
While this is the theme song to a western/cowboy movie, this record did not come close to the national country Top 40 surveys.
In the UK, this record was not released on a single.
Needless to say, this record has not sold enough copies to qualify for an RIAA Gold Record Award.
Overall grade: ✮
Personal fave
No. It would be difficult to imagine anyone listing this snippet among their favorite Elvis recording (but the world’s a funny place).
Progress
This was the fourth song from the Strange-Davis team that Elvis recorded in seven months. That it was a dud didn’t seem to bother Presley much. While Davis and Strange had yet to provide him with a meaningful hit, Elvis definitely liked the new guys’ songs!
These are the American (top) and German (bottom) picture sleeves for Clean Up Your Own Backyard / The Fair Is Moving On (RCA Victor 47-9747), released in June 1969. The American sleeve promotes the movie The Trouble With Girls while the German sleeve makes no mention of it. That is because by this time it wasn’t profitable to release Elvis movies in most parts of the world.
Clean up your own backyard
Writers: Strange-Davis
Recorded: October 23, 1968
Released: June 5, 1969
Catalog number: RCA Victor 47-9747
Billboard Hot 100: #35
Cash Box Top 100: #25
In October 1968, Davis and Strange returned with another song for the next Presley movie. The soundtrack for The Trouble With Girls (And How To Get Into It) was cut then with their Clean Up Your Own Backyard being the highlight. This song has arguably the wittiest lyrics in any song that Presley ever recorded:
Armchair quarterback’s always moaning,
second-guessing people all day long.
Pushing, fooling, and hanging on in,
always messing where they don’t belong.
When you get right down to the nitty-gritty,
isn’t it a pity that in this big city
not one little-bitty man will admit
he could have been a little bitty wrong?
I could see any number of country stars taking those lines to the top of the country charts (although Dolly Parton always comes to mind).
Clean Up Your Own Backyard was released as a single in mid-1969 as the follow-up to In The Ghetto (see below). It peaked at #25 on Cash Box but only got to #35 on Billboard.
Despite being a fine record and Presley’s most overtly country single ever, it failed to come close to the national country Top 40 surveys.
In the UK, this record reached #21.
In 1992, this record was certified by the RIAA for a ‘new’ Gold Record Award for sales of 500,000 copies in the US.
Overall grade: ✮ ✮ ✮
Personal fave
No. While I loved seeing Elvis do a third song in 1969 that reflected a bit of “social consciousness”—after If I Can Dream and In The Ghetto it seemed like he was trying to start a trend in pop music—it has never been high on my list of favorite Presley platters.
Progress
A week after recording Charro for the movie of the same name (above), Elvis recorded this Strange-Davis number for the soundtrack for The Trouble With Girls. The quality of this recording on hearing it on the radio the first few times made it sound like it was almost on a par with the Memphis sessions of January and February 1969. That is an amazing statement to make about an Elvis soundtrack recording after 1962!
Due to scheduling problems—first with the upcoming NBC-TV special and then the outstanding sessions at American Sound Studio in January and February—Clean Up Your Own Backyard wasn’t released until June 1969, almost eight months after being recorded.
It is considered by some fans to have been the (unfortunately) final part of the Elvis “Social Consciousness” Trilogy of 1968-1969, with If I Can Dream and In The Ghetto being the first two.
This is the American picture sleeve for the comma-less Don’t Cry Daddy / Rubberneckin’ (RCA Victor 47-9768), released in November 1969. The front promoted the FROM MEMPHIS TO VEGAS / FROM VEGAS TO MEMPHIS album while the back promoted the movie Change Of Habit. The album, the single, and the movie. The first two were hits.
Don’t cry, daddy
Writer: Scott Davis
Recorded: January 15, 1969
Released: November 17, 1969
Catalog number: RCA Victor 47-9768
Billboard Hot 100: #6
Cash Box Top 100: #6
Mac’s Don’t Cry Daddy could have been the kind of sentimental hokum that Bobby Goldsboro took to the top of the charts with Honey in 1968. In the song, the singer is a father speaking to his two children about the death of their mommy. But Elvis’s vocal is so intimate, so emotional, that the lyrics about a man talking to his children about the death of their mother are moving. (The children respond in the refrain: “Daddy, Daddy, please laugh again.”)
In hindsight, this probably wasn’t the best choice as the follow-up single to Suspicious Minds in 1969. A real rocker would have been a better career choice (Heck, the flip-side, Rubberneckin’, might have been the better A-side.) That didn’t stop this record from reaching #6 on both the Billboard and Cash Box pop charts.
Being basically a country weeper, this record climbed into the national country Top 20 surveys, Presley’s most successful outing there since 1958.
In the UK, this record reached #8.
In 1970, this record was certified by the RIAA for a Gold Record Award for sales of 1,000,000 copies in the US.
Overall grade: ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮
Personal fave
No. Despite Presley’s unbelievably gorgeous singing—it is amongst his finest performances—country weepers have never been something I want to hear more than occasionally.
Progress
While Don’t Cry Daddy was recorded a week before In The Ghetto, it was the latter that everyone gambled on as being the first single from the American Sound sessions. Suspicious Minds wisely followed as the second single. Don’t Cry Daddy was held back for Christmas release, a good decision as the song’s overt sentimentality would fit the season better.
Initial copies of In The Ghetto / Any Day Now (RCA Victor 47-9741) were issued in picture sleeves featured a blurb for the as-yet-unreleased album as “Coming Soon FROM ELVIS IN MEMPHIS LP Album.” Later copies were issued in picture sleeves featured a blurb for the newly-released album as “Ask For FROM ELVIS IN MEMPHIS LP Album.” While there is no way to know when each sleeve was actually manufactured, collectors consider the “Coming Soon” sleeves to be first printings and the “Ask For” sleeves to be second printings.
In the ghetto
Writer: Scott Davis
Recorded: January 20-21, 1969
Released: April 15, 1969
Catalog number: RCA Victor 47-9741
Billboard Hot 100: #3
Cash Box Top 100: #1
In January 1969, Presley returned to record in his hometown of Memphis for the first time in fourteen years. Working with producer Chips Moman in his American Sound Studio, Elvis knew the future of his career rested on these sessions. He was very careful in the songs he selected and one of them was another from Davis, In The Ghetto.
Elvis loved the song and In The Ghetto became the first single from the now legendary ’69 Memphis Sessions. It made it to #1 on Cash Box, his first chart-topper since Return To Sender in the final weeks of 1962. Unfortunately, on Billboard, it stalled at #3.
“I had always wanted to write a song called The Vicious Circle. I always thought it was like, the kids are born there, they grow up there, they die there.”
Not being remotely country, this record did not come close to the national country Top 40 surveys.
In the UK, this record reached #2.
In 1969, this record was certified by the RIAA for a Gold Record Award for sales of 1,000,000 copies in the US.
Overall grade: ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮
Personal fave
Top 40. In April 1969, I was 17 years old. So I was at my peak years for being a fan of rock and pop music and a buyer of both singles and albums. Fortunately, this coincided nicely with Elvis entering what I consider his peak years as a mature artist, 1968-1970. In The Ghetto was a daring record—a white, southern male singing sympathetically about the vicious circle of poverty and crime that can define the life a black, northern man—and it certainly struck a responsive chord with me as I was blossoming into a proverbial “bleeding heart liberal,” which I remain fifty years later.
Aside from how fine the song was, Presley’s singing is simply amazing: sympathetic and understanding without any hint of the kind of overt sentimentality that could have ruined the song. The only thing that keeps it from being a Top 10 among my personal faves is it doesn’t have a good beat so you can’t dance to it.
“There is a vocal-only version of In The Ghetto on the SACD of 30 #1 HITS where you can hear only Elvis’ vocal from the master take. The richness of his voice is incredible!” – Craig LaPine
Progress
In The Ghetto was the seventh and final Mac Davis song that Elvis Presley recorded. For more on the importance of this song and this recording in the career of Elvis Presley, click on over to the article “The Importance Of ‘In The Ghetto’ ” on this blog.
This is the “clever” picture sleeve for the electronically “remixed” version of A Little Less Conversation (Elvis vs JXL) from 2002. It’s supposed to be a soccer ball (or what the world calls a football).
A little less conversation (Elvis vs JXL)
Writers: Strange-Davis
Recorded: March 7, 1968
Released: May 1, 2002
Catalog number: RCA/BMG-07863-60575-7
This is the seven-inch single with the JXL Radio Edit Remix.
Catalog number: RCA/BMG-07863 60570-1
This is the twelve-inch single with the Extended Remix.
Billboard Hot 100: #50
Cash Box Top 100: Does not apply
In 2001, the original version of A Little Less Conversation from the Live A Little, Love A Little soundtrack was used in the movie Ocean’s Eleven, bringing it to the attention of a new generation of music-lovers. Tom Holkenborg, a DJ in the Netherlands who went by the name Junkie XL (or JXL), started scratching to it in clubs, which somehow brought it to the attention of Nike.
The Elvis estate granted permission to Junkie XL to remix an outtake of A Little Less Conversation from the soundtrack sessions and use it for commercial purposes. For the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Nike’s advertising campaign (titled “Secret Tournament),” the main television commercial featured the remixed A Little Less Conversation.
Reaction to the track was overwhelmingly positive and a single credited to Elvis vs. JXL was released around the world in May 2002. It reached #1 in the UK and also topped the chart in as many as twenty countries, making it Presley’s biggest international hit since Way Down in 1977.
In the US, the World Cup doesn’t carry as much weight so the Nike commercials weren’t a big deal. Subsequently, the remixed A Little Less Conversation also wasn’t a big deal, failing to even reach the national Top 40 pop survey.
Overall grade: ✮ ✮
Personal fave
No. While I am glad that this happened if only in that it helped Elvis reach millions of young people who would have probably ignored him for the rest of their lives, I just don’t dig the electronics and their overall effect on the sound and feel of the original recording.
Progress
The remixed A Little Less Conversation is one of the most unlikely global hits of the 21st century. It can be argued to have been a bit of a global phenomenon and introduced countless millions of young people to Elvis Presley.
When it was tagged onto the ELVIS: 30 #1 HITS compilation in 2002, it sent sales of the compact-disc through the roof, passing 6,000,000 in the US and selling at least that many copies in the rest of the world!
Unless something else like this comes along, it is unlikely that Elvis will ever reach the top of the pop charts again.
Mac Davis’s first album, SONG PAINTER, was released in 1970. It included fine versions of Memories and In The Ghetto. It was both a lightweight concept-album and one of the first albums that could have been designated singer-songwriter but, perhaps because it’s too pop and too country, never is.
Mac Davis
Morris “Mac” Davis died September 29, 2020, at 78. Davis became critically ill following heart surgery in Nashville, according to a tweet from his family. His manager confirmed the entertainer’s death in a statement. Born in Lubbock, Texas, in 1942, Davis would evolve into a country and adult-contemporary crossover star with solo hits like Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me, Stop And Smell The Roses, and One Hell Of A Woman. (Rolling Stone)
In 1974, he was named Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music and was nominated for Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association. The pull-quotes in the large, grey type above are from Mac Davis, as is this one: “Every performer who ever performed in rock and roll or even close to it is lying if they tell you that they weren’t influenced in some way or another by Elvis Presley. He turned the world around.”
Given the seven songs that Mac Davis contributed to the Legend of Elvis Presley, he should be given a prominent place alongside Steve Binder and Chips Moman for assisting the hapless Elvis of the mid-’60s in becoming the potent Elvis of the late ’60s.
After the American Sound sessions in January and February 1969, Presley was busy putting together a band and rehearsing for his debut in Las Vegas in July. He would not return to a studio to record again until June 1970. By this time, Mac Davis had launched his own career as a singer and released his first album, SONG PAINTER.
His days of offering his best new songs to Elvis were over …
FEATURED IMAGE: The photo at the top of this page was cropped from the front cover of Mac’s first album SONG PAINTER (Columbia CS-9969), released in May 1970. It was a “concept album” with the eleven full-length tracks interspersed with short snippets (less than thirty seconds each) of three other songs, tying the whole together as a musical autobiography. Original pressings of CS-9969 featured this lovely photo of Mac looking like a mid-’60s folksinger. Later pressings featured a close-up of Mac looking like a mid-’70s country singer.
Nice piece, Mr. N! Always liked and respected the “Memories Man.” Got a kick outta the story Mac use to tell about the Colonel rubbing the top of his curly head to bring him luck – and it worked! Didn’t realize he had written seven tracks for the King! Glad at least one made it to #1 (Billboard rag mag doesn’t count anyway;).
I’m soooo tired of reading and hearing that “Suspicious Minds” was the King’s Last #1… [email protected]#$! Nice of Billboard to just eliminate the entire ’70s when the ’70s was the King’s Biggest Selling Decade and that’s NOT even including ’77 on! That’s a fact, Jack – take it to the bank!
Now, since ya covered the “Memories” Man” passing, how about a piece on the Biggest Selling F of the ’70s: Helen “I Am Woman” Reddy! Keep On Singing!
R.I.P., Mac and Helen …
ERR
Thankee kindlee, young stir!
E’s last chart-topper in the US was “Burning Love,” which was #1 for one week (November 11, 1972) on the Cash Box Top 100.
Given the massive sales of “Way Down” in the wake of his death in late 1977, one would think that record would have leapfrogged to the top of the charts. Since the reported sales of all Presley Product by RCA after they purchased his catalog in 1973 are suspect, it didn’t even reach the Top 20!
If Mr Presley had recorded a few of Ms Reddy’s songs, I would write a piece about her.
Do the clam!
N
You’re more than welcome, Grizzly!
Technically, “Steamroller Blues” was his last #1 on Record World in 1973. ;) As well as it should have been! Ditto for “Way Down”!
As for Mz. Reddy covering the King… well, I beatcha to it and commented on it below (among other thangs). ;)
ERR
Well, you know how grizzled I can get when I don’t have the data right in front of me — meaning I need to see a copy of Record World with SR at the top.
Um, I never said anything about Helen covering Elvis.
N
Couldn’t agree more re. “Clean Up Your Own Back Yard”: other than the title being a lil weird and long, it shoulda went a helluva lot higher than #25! Especially being released in between two #1 hits! Great lyrics and slide guitar, along with ’68/’69 King vocals—shoulda been a Top 5 hit!
Hmmmm, doncha find it a lil suspicious (pun intended) that “Clean Up” and “Memories” charted the same on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts?!
ERR
Well, young ‘un, straight country wasn’t played much on Top 40 radio in 1969, so it didn’t get a lot of airplay. I would have used it as a flip-side to another American Sound track, like “Power Of My Love.” Now hearing that on the radio would have caught some attention …
N
1.
Regardless of what genre was played in drug-ridden ’69, who cares – it was ELVIS!! What’s the reason for “Sugar, Sugar” goin’ #1 in ’69?? Not a bad song, but crap next to CUYOBY!!
2.
As for “Power Of My Love,” I can make a solid argument as the King’s greatest track Ever! Not mine, but a helluva lot better than either “In The Ghetto” or “Suspicious Minds.” I’d say the same for “Stranger In My Own Home Town.” That and POML were the two definitive King Classics of the ’69 Memphis Sessions. So yes, it shoulda been a single, but not with CUYOBY as a lost flip.
3.
I’ll give ya another lost ’69 gem that wasn’t part of the Memphis Sessions: “Change Of Habit”! If I didn’t know any better, I woulda sworn that was the greatest R&R drummer ever on that track, RONNIE TUTT. {Back in your cage, Ronnie!)
4.
Speaking of the Super-Drummer, did ya know that after the King passed on, he played for Helen “Ruby Red Dress” Reddy? Where’s that tribute I asked ya for?? ;) Ever hear her version of “Raised On Rock”? Yes sir, Mr. N, she did it too…
And the King owned her Free And Easy album on 8-track! I hear the King dug it :) And why wouldn’t he? He knew great music and singing when he heard it! Back-to-Back with her “Angie Baby” #1 Classic!
Get on the article, Grizzly!!
ERR
Thanks for the comment!
1.
At the time CUYOBY came out, Elvis had had only two BIG hits in the previous six months after several years of mostly having not-such-big-hits, so he wasn’t automatically granted the level of airplay that he’d had at the beginning of the decade. For the most part, Top 40 radio rarely played country (although there were occasional exceptions (such as “Stand By Your Man” and “Ode to Billie Joe”).
Even the Beatles’ sides that were too obviously country-tinged (such as “Act Naturally” and “What Goes on”) did not fare all that well on the US charts.
2.
“Break it! Burn it!
Drag it all around.
Twist it! Turn it!
You can’t tear it down.
Cause every minute, every hour you’ll be shaken
by the strength and mighty power of my love.
Crush it! Kick it!
You can never win.
And no, baby, you can’t lick it,
I’ll make you give in.
Every minute, every hour you’ll be shaken
by the strength and mighty power of my love.
Baby, I want you, you’ll never get away.
My love will haunt you, yes, haunt you night and day.
Punch it! Pound it!
What good does it do?
There’s just no stopping the way I feel for you.
Cause every minute, every hour you’ll be shaken
by the strength and mighty power of my love.”
That would have sounded G-R-E-A-T on the radio!
3.
The excellent drumming of “Change Of Habit” was by LA session great (and former Mouseketeer) Carl “Cubby” O’Brien.
4.
Alas, Helen Reddy did absolutely nothing for me. Lawdy Lawdy Lawdy, Miss Clawdy but I tried to like her in Pete’s Dragon, if only for my daughter’s ake. Just didn’t happen.
Life’s tough, nyet?
N
PS: “Sugar, Sugar” was a massive worlwdide hit because it was as infectious as all get-out: “Sugar, ah honey honey. You are my candy, girl, and you got me wanting you.” ABBA shoulda done it …
Holy shiiiiiiiit, Big N, what the hell you smokin’? I just read your “Meeting Elvis and Yeti on Mount Rainier” and you are one smoked-up, drugged-out, ol’ hippie-dippie, mudda-fugga! But I gotta say, I LOVED IT and I bet the King does too!
Now, just wait until it’s Tom Jones’s time. (Heaven forbid!) E and Bob will be waiting for ya at the bottom of the mount.
Rock on, Grizzly!
ERR
Back in 1972, I put an ounce of some fine fine superfine cannabis sativa in a one-gallon Folgers Coffee can along with a scoopful of my cat’s poop (while it was still moist, natch). I buried that can in my parents’ backyard (of course I didn’t tell them and of course I buried it deep). Six years later, I dug it up. It had transmogrified into some really primo schidt, man, and I still have some of it. I mean, I only have to take an ittybitty hitty off a doobie of schidtty and then, like WOW!, I get inspired!
Hence the Mount Rainier piece.
Glad you enjoyed.
N
PS: If you ever find your way out here, I’ll turn you onto my stash – you’ll never be the same afterward …
Being raised on Elvis and Helen (and let us Not forget Tom Jones!), the Polk Salad Rocker don’t smoke that wacky weed! Now, if ya got a fresh pack of American Spirits Lights, I’m on my way!
ERR
Tell you what, you get out here, sit next to me, I’ll light up a doobie of my prino schidt and take two hits instead of one, and you’ll get a contact high just from sitting with me. I’ll even pull out a copy of the Original Loud Jets Pure Rock’n Roll: Golden Elvis Hits album and play it LOUD!
N
I enjoyed this article, both as a tribute to Mac Davis and as an overview of Elvis’ recordings of Davis’ songs. I fully agree about the importance of the Billy Strange/Mac Davis songwriting duo in Elvis’ career - a brief but critical time.
T
Thanks for the comment. Glad you enjoyed the piece.
Most Elvis fans weren’t paying a lot of attention to his career in 1968-1969 and really underestimate how important each decision he and Parker and RCA made at that time. Billy Strange and Mac Davis and Steve Binder and Chips Moman and the American Sound band were essential to Presley extricating himself from the mess of blues that his movies had put his career in.
Rockahula, baby!
N