I Am An Elvis Fan (and I Want My Own Way)

Inspired by Troy’s in-depth post over at The Mystery Train, I decided to give this “I Am an Elvis Fan” thing a shot myself. Go check out Troy’s introductory words to get some background, if you are unaware of the current marketing campaign called I Am An Elvis Fan. An album will be released with songs chosen by the fans, which is an interesting concept. A list of songs was released, and fans had to choose three out of each category. This already doesn’t work for me, as an Elvis fan, because I want to choose my own songs. Also, the categories leave much to be desired. There’s no category for “Blues”, for example. For real? Also, the category of “Love Songs” is too broad. Most of his songs in the 70s had to do with love being lost, so I suppose those count. But I couldn’t help myself. I added some categories, and I had to do some rearranging and re-labeling because I am bossy and I can’t accept the rules of the game, as stated.

I am curious that there is not a category for “70s”, just “50s” and “60s”. Kind of gives you an idea that that “rise and fall narrative”, with the thought being that Elvis’ productivity somehow fell off in the 70s, still persists. I also find it interesting that Sony’s List for the 50s doesn’t include ANY of the songs Elvis cut in 1958 in those crazy loud awesome RCA sessions right before he left for the Army. Songs like Wear My Ring Around Your Neck, I Got Stung, etc. Those are some of the most exciting songs Elvis ever recorded.

First, I will play by their rules, and pick three songs (bolding the titles) from the list they provided. Then, I will put together my own lists, with my own added categories. I am sad that I couldn’t add a category called Duets because Doh, Elvis only did a couple of duets in his entire life (what a shame, what a crime).

Sony’s list

’50s
1. That’s All Right
2. Good Rockin’ Tonight
3. Baby Let’s Play House
4. I Got A Woman
5. Hound Dog
6. Don’t Be Cruel
7. Mystery Train
8. Blue Suede Shoes
9. Money Honey
10. Heartbreak Hotel
11. Shake, Rattle & Roll
12. All Shook Up
13. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy

’60s
1. In The Ghetto
2. Suspicious Minds
3. Gentle On My Mind
4. Don’t Cry Daddy
5. Surrender
6. Good Luck Charm
7. Devil In Disguise
8. She’s Not You
9. Suspicion
10. The Girl Of My Best Friend
11. His Latest Flame
12. Love Letters
13. Memories

GOSPEL
1. Peace in the Valley
2. Crying in the Chapel
3. How Great Thou Art
4. If I Can Dream
5. Amazing Grace
6. Swing Down Sweet Chariot
7. Joshua Fit The Battle
8. Take My Hand Precious Lord
9. Lead Me, Guide Me
10. He Touched Me
11. Milky White Way
12. You’ll Never Walk Alone
13. Where Could I Go But To The Lord

LOVE SONGS
1. I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
2. Any Way You Want Me
3. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me
4. One Night
5. Can’t Help Falling In Love
6. Love Me Tender
7. Always On My Mind
8. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
9. Unchained Melody
10. Loving You
11. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling
12. It’s Now Or Never
13. The Wonder Of You

MOVIES
1. King Creole
2. Jailhouse Rock
3. Trouble
4. Return To Sender
5. A Little Less Conversation
6. Viva Las Vegas
7. G.I Blues
8. Follow That Dream
9. Bossa Nova Baby
10. Rubberneckin’
11. Blue Hawaii
12. Loving You
13. Teddy Bear

COUNTRY
1. I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water
2. Kentucky Rain
3. For The Good Times
4. Guitar Man
5. Blue Moon of Kentucky
6. Just Because
7. Long Black Limousine [this is country?]
8. I’ll Hold You In My Heart (Until I Can Hold You in My Arms)
9. She Thinks I Still Care
10. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
11. Welcome to My World
12. Funny How Time Slips Away
13. There Goes My Everything

IN CONCERT
1. Polk Salad Annie
2. Suspicious Minds
3. Just Pretend
4. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling
5. Bridge Over Troubled Water
6. See See Rider
7. Walk A Mile In My Shoes
8. I Can’t Stop Loving You
9. You Gave Me A Mountain
10. An American Trilogy
11. Burning Love
12. My Way
13. A Big Hunk of Love

And now here is my list. And I couldn’t only pick three in some categories, although I did my best. I really can’t play by the rules. Neither could Elvis so I’m fine with that. I left a ton of great ones off. But I figure many of those (“Suspicious Minds”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, and others) have appeared on enough compilations. I wanted to highlight some songs that don’t get as much play.

MY BOSSYPANTS LIST

50s
Mystery Train
My Baby Left Me
A Big Hunk ‘O Love (Elvis at his bossiest and most demanding)

60s
A Mess of Blues
Power Of My Love
Long Black Limousine
Stuck On You (covered that here)
Put the Blame On Me (this one hits the sweet spot for me – it’s so dumb, so fun. You can hear him clapping on the track.)
It Feels So Right (sexypants Elvis)
You’ll Be Gone (listen to his freakin’ VOICE)

70s
Promised Land
Talk About the Good Times
It’s Still Here (ouch)
Solitaire (ouch, but gorgeous)
Padre

LOVE SONGS
Is It So Strange (this song should definitely get more attention. Thanks to June Juanico, it has a bit. This was “their” song. I love it so much.)
Ain’t That Loving You, Baby
Any Way You Want Me (I think this is one of his best vocal performances)
I Beg Of You
I Want You With Me (okay, Elvis, calm down)
One Night
Trying to Get to You (I love comparing the version he did as a young man, a boy, really, and the version he did as a grown man. Covered that here.)

GOSPEL
Milky White Way
If the Lord Wasn’t Walking By My Side (On my iPod, this is one of my most-listened-to Elvis songs)
Run On (Elvis is at his most macho when he sings gospel.)
Working on the Building
Where Could I Go But To the Lord?

COUNTRY
T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Tomorrow Never Comes (Wrote about that here)
Faded Love
He’ll Have To Go (I think this may have the lowest note Elvis ever reached)
Fairytale (I absolutely love his performance of this song. He is pissed.)
U.S. Male
The Fool

BLUES
Santa Claus Is Back In Town
Reconsider Baby
Baby What You Want Me To Do (from the sit-down session in the 1968 Comeback Special – covered that here)
Stranger In My Hometown
Down In the Alley

MOVIES
New Orleans (one of his craziest most inhibited performances, both vocally and physically – I covered this before)
A Little Less Conversation
The Lady Loves Me (this may not be the best song he ever did, but I must include it because A. It’s a duet and B. It’s a duet with Ann-Margret)
Frankfort Special (who else is going to pick this song? Talked more about it here)

BALLADS
Fool
Sylvia (Songs like this are the ones the 50s rock ‘n roll purists have a hard time accepting. It’s their loss. This song is very silly in many ways, but boy, he sings the hell out of it. Powerful.)
This Is the Story (starts slow, major build.)
The Fair Is Moving On
Without Love (unbelievable performance)
If I Can Dream (I’m with Troy: I have no idea why this was listed under “Gospel” in the original list. Covered that, at least once, here).

IN CONCERT
Polk Salad Annie (so dirty it should be illegal)
My Babe
Lawdy Miss Clawdy (I love the boozy 70s arrangement of this song, with the horn section, it’s hilarious to me, and more entertaining than the 50s version. It’s Elvis as a floozy whorehouse Madame)
Never Been to Spain (love love his performances of this song)
You Gave Me a Mountain (classic)
America the Beautiful (there’s only one recording of it that I know of, and it blows the top of the roof off. It’s Elvis as a Pentecostal gospel preacher. Listen to the spoken part. The reason Elvis gets away with it is because he is sincere. He means it.)

I have skipped many of my favorites. But I am already way over my quota.