Elvis Presley by Spencer Leigh

Author:Spencer Leigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857161666
Publisher: McNidder and Grace Limited

CHAPTER 10

I Fell

‘Do the Clam, Do the Clam, Grab your barefoot baby by the hand.’

‘Do the Clam’, Elvis Presley, 1965

I. Home Taping

Since Elvis’ death in 1977, RCA/BMG has been trawling the archives for unissued performances to release. Many of his 1970s concert appearances were professionally recorded so there is still a long way to go and although his introductions usually offer little insights, yet more versions of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ or ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ add nothing to his canon.

What is fascinating, however, are the home recordings that have percolated out, notably on the 1999 CD, The Home Recordings, which offered 22 examples admittedly only spread over 50 minutes, They were not always competently recorded and Elvis never intended anyone else to hear them so they present a unique picture of Elvis at home.

Although recorded at Sun’s studio, the Million Dollar Quartet session in December 1956 with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and, arguably, Johnny Cash resembles a lengthy home recording. The microphones were switched on without any tests for balance, so the results are both historical and frustrating. That Christmas, Elvis met up with Red West, who was on leave from the army. They recorded themselves messing around with ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’, swopping lines and laughing and generally having a good time.

Just before he went into the army, Elvis was having fun with Anita Wood. He played a note on the piano and said, ‘That’s your key’ to which she replied, ‘My key?’ as though she has never thought about it. She started singing ‘I Can’t Help It’ with Elvis on piano and repeating the phrase ‘Still in love with you’ when it occurred. They discussed what Anita should sing if she made records. Elvis said that she shouldn’t sound like Julie London, it would be better to sound like Connie Francis and they performed her hit, ‘Who’s Sorry Now’ and the Ink Spots’ ‘When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano’.

Then Elvis was at Eddie Fadal’s house in Texas where they were awaiting orders to go to Germany. He took the doo-wop hit, ‘I Understand (Just How You Feel)’, starting in high tenor and building up to a big ending. The song, based around ‘Auld Lang Syne’, had first been recorded by the Four Tunes in 1953. Perhaps Elvis was considering how he could record it himself. It’s a pity he didn’t as it became a hit for the G-Clefs and Freddie and the Dreamers. Unfortunately, Elvis had to compete with background noise, including a crying baby.

In 1959 Elvis was at home in Germany with a Grundig recorder. He wasn’t doing any sessions in Europe – even though he could have gone to London for a day and the Platters recorded in Paris – and here he sang some gospel, ‘I Asked the Lord’ (with a few notes from ‘Jingle Bells’), which was associated with Mahalia Jackson. There was a Jim Reeves B-side, ‘I’m Beginning to Forget You’ and a stunning vocal on Nat ‘King’ Cole’s ‘Mona Lisa’: if only he had done this in the studio.

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