Elvis doesn't get enough credit these days. Sure he didn't write his own songs, but that doesn't take away from how incredible his voice was. My personal favorite is "Suspicious Minds". An incredible song about difficulties in a relationship and how they have to be overcome. I'm also a big fan of "Only the Strong Survive" from From Elvis in Memphis.
It should be noted that Presley wrote pretty much none of the material he sang. "Love Me Tender" is an interesting song. It was written in 1861, then resurrected with new lyrics in 1956. Presley is credited as a co-writer, but it's believed that the credit was more of a publishing thing than anything else. "Jailhouse Rock" was by Lieber & Stoller.
The Presley camp had pretty much the pick of the best material for a long time, although he himself had very little say in what he ultimately recorded. He had a guy for that. He had the most creative say during the Memphis sessions in the late 60's.
As for my favorite recordings by Presley, I'd have to go with:
A Mess Of Blues (Doc Pomus-Mort Shuman)
Blue Moon Of Kentucky (Bill Monroe)
Suspicious Minds (Mark James)
True Love Travels On A Gravel Road (Arthur Owens-Dallas Frazier)
Kentucky Rain (Eddie Rabbit-Dick Heard)
Bossa Nova Baby (Jerry Lieber-Mike Stoller) _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
meccaleccaVoice of ReasonProfile The Land of Enchantment
Sure he does. He's still called the King of Rock & Roll, still sells millions of records, Graceland still does great business. The guy had a great voice, but without the people who wrote the songs, he'd be nothing. All you have to look at are the 80% of the songs he released that are just plain awful.
So if anyone's lacking in credit, it's the songwriters that wrote the hits _________________ http://jonnyleather.com
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