let the muSSSic play

This song is about poverty, describing a child who can't overcome his surroundings and turns to crime, which leads to his death. It was the first song Elvis recorded with a socially-conscious message. He was reluctant to do it for that reason, but knew it would be a hit.

This was written by Mac Davis, who entered the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2006. At the ceremony, Davis explained: "It's a simple matter of growing up with a little boy who's father worked with my father. He lived in a part of town that was a dirt-street ghetto. I grew up in Lubbock, Texas, and it was a ghetto in every since of the word, but we didn't use that word back then. I was trying to come up with a song called 'The Vicious Circle,' how a child is born, he has no father, and the same thing happens. The word 'Ghetto' became popular in the late '60s to describe the poor parts of town. A friend of mine, Freddy Weller, who used to play guitar for Paul Revere And The Raiders, showed me lick on the guitar one day. I went home and fiddled around with it, I wrote the song and called him up at 4 in the morning and sang it to him. He knew I'd written a hit with his lick, but that's the way it goes."

Davis wrote this as "In The Ghetto (The Vicious Circle)." RCA Records got Davis' permission to drop the subtitle before presenting it to Elvis.

Davis had written some songs for Elvis that were used in his movies, including "A Little Less Conversation" and "Clean Up Your Own Backyard." When Elvis was making his comeback and recording in Memphis, his management asked Davis if he had anything they could use. Davis sent them a tape with this and "Don't Cry Daddy," as the first 2 songs, and Elvis recorded both of them.

This was Elvis' first Top 10 hit in 4 years.

If Elvis turned this down, the song would have gone to Rosie Grier, a minister and former football player.

Memphis was Elvis' hometown. It was the first time he recorded there since 1956. This was the first release from those sessions.

In 2007, Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley recorded tracks that were composited with Elvis' original version to create a duet with this song - similar to what Natalie Cole did with her father's song "Unforgettable." Some proceeds from the sale of the song went to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina.

As part of a series of re-releases of Elvis songs in the UK in 2007, this re-entered the UK chart at #15.
Source:Songfacts

This was the last #1 hit for Elvis during his lifetime. A remixed version of "A Little Less Conversation" hit #1 in the UK in 2002.

Memphis singer Mark James wrote this. He recorded and released his own version, but it didn't go anywhere. Memphis Soul producer Chips Moman brought this to Presley in 1969, and Elvis immediately fell in love with it and decided he could turn it into a hit, even though it had flopped for James.

This was recorded between 4-7 in the morning, during the landmark Memphis session that helped Elvis reclaim his title of "The King."

This was a big comeback song for Elvis. It was 7 years since his last #1 hit.

Elvis' publishing company, along with his manager Col. Tom Parker, tried to get their usual cut of the royalties from this and threatened to stop the recording if they didn't. Elvis insisted on recording the song regardless.

This song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. (thanks to Eileen for her help with these)

Artists to cover this song include Dwight Yoakam, Waylon Jennings, The Heptones, Candi Staton (#31 UK), B.J. Thomas and even The Fine Young Cannibals, whose 1985 version not only hit #8 in the UK, but was bizarrely referenced on the American TV show Psych, when Shawn tells his partner Gus: "Don't be Fine Young Cannibals cover of Suspicious Minds. We're going to find her."

In the UK, Elvis had a hit with this song three times. First in 1969 when it was originally released, then in 2001 when a live version recorded at The International Hotel, Las Vegas, in August 1970 was issued and went to #15, then in 2007 when it was re-issued to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Elvis' death, going to #11.
Source:Songfacts

This was written by the songwriting trio of Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson Thompson. It was originally recorded by Brenda Lee in 1971.

This song tells the story of a man who admits that he didn't always do the things he should have to show appreciation for his lady, but wants her to know he was always thinking about her.

The Country Music Association named this Single Of The Year in 1982.

Elvis Presley recorded this in 1972. His version reached #9 in the UK. A cover version by The Pet Shop Boys made UK #1 in December 1987. They had released it after performing it on a BBC Elvis tribute show. (thanks, Adam - Dewsbury, England)

Levi's used this in a 2004 commercial where a guy goes to great lengths to retrieve his jeans. He brings his old girlfriend a flower as a peace offering, then grabs his jeans and leaves while she puts it in water.

In the January 2006 issue of Esquire magazine, B.B. King said that this was his favorite song.

In 1987, The Pet Shop Boys released a dance version on their album Introspective which was the Christmas #1 in the UK and reached #4 in the US. Neil Tennant explained to 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, "We were approached by Central TV to be on a program called Love Me Tender, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, and for some reason, we agreed to do it. Rob Holden, who worked with our manager, Tony watkins, got us a load of Elvis cassettes and the first track on the first one Chris picked up, Magic Moments With Elvis, was Always On My Mind. We were originally going to do a house version of Baby Let's Play House but there wasn't time. We wouldn't have done Always On My Mind unless it was very different from the original, so we added an extra chord to it. There's a B flat at the end of each chorus that wasn't in the original. It makes it far more like a pop song." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)

As part of a series of re-releases of Elvis songs in the UK in 2007 his version re-entered the UK chart at #17.

This was the theme song to the first of 31 Elvis movies. The movie was titled The Reno Brothers before it was renamed to capitalize on the song.
Originally, Elvis had just a small role in the movie, but during filming it became apparent that he was a really big deal, and his role was expanded to take advantage of his stardom. His character is killed at the end of the movie, but Elvis re-appears to reprise the song. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

The music is based on a 1861 Classical piece called "Aura Lee."

RCA Records received over 1 million pre-orders for this song, making it the first single to ship as a gold record before it was released.

This was released as a single in September 1956. It didn't appear on an album until March 1958, when it was included on Elvis' Golden Records. (thanks to Eileen for above 2)

This was also a hit for Richard Chamberlain in 1962 and Percy Sledge in 1967.

Linda Ronstadt covered this in 1978. US Radio stations edited her version together with Elvis' original, creating a duet. This version became very popular, but was never released as a single or available for sale.

In 1956, this replaced "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog" on the Billboard chart, making Elvis Presley the first artist to replace himself in the #1 position. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France

This was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who also wrote "Hound Dog," which became a huge hit when Elvis recorded it. Leiber and Stoller excelled at writing catchy Pop songs with elements of Blues music. Their songs could be very funny and clever, and often take place in unusual situations. Some of their other hits include "Love Potion #9" and "On Broadway." Mike Stoller played piano on this track.

This was featured in the Elvis movie of the same name, where Elvis plays a wrongly-accused convict who becomes a star when he gets out. The film, which is considered one of the best of his 31 movies, is famous for the scene where Elvis performs this song in an elaborate dance number taking place in prison.
The movie score was the first one that Leiber and Stoller wrote. Stoller recalled to Mojo magazine April 2009: "We flew in to New York from LA, where were living at that time, and we had a hotel suite. We had a piano put in, in case the muse struck us, and Jean Aberbach - he and his brother (Julian) owned Hill & Range Songs and they had to deal with Colonel Parker but created Gladys Music and Elvis Presley Music-handed us a script for a movie. We threw it in the corner with the tourist magazines that you get in hotels. We were having a ball in New York, going to the theatre, going to jazz clubs to hear Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, doing a lot of drinking. On a Saturday morning- we'd been there about a week-Jean knocked on the door and said, in a very Viennese accent, 'Vell boys, you vill haf my songs for the movie.' Jerry said, 'Don't worry Jean, you'll have them' Jean said, 'I know.' And he pushed a big chair in front of the door and sat down and said, ' I'm going to take a nap and I'm not leaving until you have my songs.' So we wrote four songs (including this one) in about five hours and then were free to go out."

The line, "Number 47 said to number 3, You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see," is a sly reference to prison sex but was not offensive enough to create any controversy over the song.

This was a massive hit. It was #1 on the US pop charts for 7 weeks, and also reached #1 on the Country and R&B charts. In the UK, it entered the charts at #1, becoming the first song to do so. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

Elvis joined the army shortly after this song was released.

Ozzy Osbourne played a Heavy Metal version of this in 1987 when he did a tour of prisons.

ABC television ran a series of educational cartoons called "Schoolhouse Rock" in the '70s. Millions of kids learned about grammar, history, and astronomy from them. The title was a play on this song.

Sha-Na-Na played this at Woodstock in 1969. Very few of the attendees saw their performance, as they didn't go on until Monday morning (the event was scheduled to end at midnight on Sunday, but ran long). Jimi Hendrix followed Sha-Na-Na to close out the festival.

January 2005 marked what would have been Elvis Presley's 70th birthday. In commemoration, Elvis' record label re-released this in the UK where it went straight to #1, making it the oldest recording ever to top the UK charts. It also became the third single to hit #1 twice in the UK, following "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "My Sweet Lord," both of which were also posthumous re-releases. (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)

In 2007, Chris Rock performed this on the Movies Rock TV special, where modern Pop artists performed classic movie songs. Brown re-created Elvis' scene from the movie. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

The Cramps recorded a version of this on the CD The Last Temptation of Elvis. All profits went to a music therapy charity. (thanks, Richard - London, England)

This song was covered by the Blues Brothers, and featured at the end of the movie of the same name. The brothers and the band are playing this song to their fellow inmates. (thanks, Supanerd01 - melbourne, Australia)

On November 4, 1957, this topped both the Pop and R&B charts. In an odd twist, the next five positions on both charts were also the same songs: "Wake Up Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers, "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke, "Silhouettes" by the Rays, "Be-Bop Baby" by Ricky Nelson, and "Honeycomb" by Jimmie Rodgers. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

This is a cover of a 1964 song by Soul singer Gloria Jones, whose original version became something of a hit on the UK Northern Soul circuit. She was good friends with Marc Bolan and joined his group T-Rex as a backup singer and keyboard player in 1974. They later married, and she was driving the car (a Mini) at the time of the accident that killed him in Barnes Common, South London in 1977.

This was written by Ed Cobb, who was the manager of the Standells and the Chocolate Watchband, for whom he also wrote songs, including "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White." (thanks, nick - London, England)

Soft Cell is the duo of Marc Almond and David Ball. They started recording this as a "throwaway cover song." The choices were "Tainted Love" or a Frankie Valli song.

In the book 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, Marc Almond called this song "A mixture of cold electronics with an over-passionate, over-exuberant, slightly out of key vocal." Almond recalls, "Dave (Ball) introduced me to the record and I loved it so much and we wanted an interesting song for a encore number in our show. Dave loved Northern Soul and it was a novelty to have an electronic synthesizer band doing a Soul song. When we signed with our record company, they wanted to record it. They told us to put bass, guitar and drums on it as they said it was too odd. They put it out anyway and the next thing it was gathering radio play and then it was #1. I was fascinated that it was originally by Gloria Jones, the girlfriend of Marc Bolan and I'd always been a T-Rex fan." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)

The whip-crack sounds were made on hand-held synth-drums.

The style of the backing vocals were copied from "Heart Full of Soul" by the Yardbirds.

As AIDS began to spread, this song took on new meaning. Soft Cell's Mark Almond thinks there is an unintentional relation to this song to the rise of AIDS in gay communities when it was released.

In the US, Soft Cell is a one-hit-wonder, but they did very well in the UK, scoring many other hits like "Bed Sitter," "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" and "Torch."

In 1981, this was Britain's Top Single of the Year. It recharted there in May 1991, hitting #5.

The 12-inch dance single features a medley of "Tainted Love" and "Where Did Our Love Go." (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL)

This was used in a Levi's commercial where the sound of an EKG in an operating room starts to sound like the song and the staff begins singing along.

Marilyn Manson covered this in 2001 for the film Not Another Teen Movie. While performing at Glastonbury in 2002, Mark Almond jokingly said "This is a Marilyn Manson song" before performing it. (thanks, Adam - Dewsbury, England)

This was used in the movie Coneheads in the scene where Dan Akroyd's character is bringing his daughter and some friends to school. The friends mock the musical notes after the vocal phrase, "Sometimes I feel I have to...Get away" (thanks, chet - saratoga springs, NY)

Gloria Jones has said that she considers the Soft Cell version to be the best one: "I loved the emotion in his voice. Their version was far better than mine."

This reached #1 in 17 different countries. In the US, it spent 43 weeks on the Top 100 chart, which was a longevity record at the time. (thanks, Adam - Dewsbury, England, for above 2)

Rhianna's sampled this on her 2006 song "S.O.S (Rescue Me)." (thanks, nathan - l-burg, KY)

This was covered by the Palast Orchester and their singer, Max Raabe - German performers who play in the style of 1920s-1930s dance bands. It's on their 2002 album Super Hits Nummer 2, which also features renditions of "Lady Marmalade," "Uptown Girl" and "Let's Talk About Sex." (thanks, Katie - Melbourne, Australia)

This song is a description of the way you need to survive in capitalistic society. It deals with Manson's personal struggle of being a wormboy (or middle class loser) to being a famous Rock Star. He's making a link between the American Media and Nazi propaganda, as well as the need to to be physically perfect because of the hyper-reality we are brainwashed by. It's also about the Rock Star looking down on the worms that make him what he is - this need to be more then a worm is what made him a star. The average rebel can relate to the song because Manson is making ugly fashionable, which is easier to achieve than the perfection we see on other CD covers and on MTV. (thanks, Mac TheKnife - Cape Town, South Africa)

The "Antichrist Superstar" is a character Manson took on to make people question their belief in God. It is a play on "Jesus Christ, Superstar," which was the name of a Broadway play.

Radio stations usually play an edited version that says "every other hater" rather than "every motherf***er." (thanks, Nick - Paramus, NJ)

The Eurythmics originally recorded this in 1982. Manson gave it a much more ominous sound fitting of the band.

The album is a collection of remixes and covers, with a few originals. This was the only song to get a lot of attention.

This paved the way for Manson's next record, Antichrist Superstar, to debut at #3 on the US pop album charts. The top 2 spots were held by Celine Dion and Kenny G.

Around the time this was released, Manson was gaining a cult following of alienated white suburban teens.

This became a hit thanks to MTV, which declared this a "Buzzworthy" video and put it in heavy rotation.

This was produced by Nine Inch Nails leader and Manson's mentor, Trent Reznor.

Manson often comes up with song inspiration in his dreams, but the idea to cover this song came from his first acid trip, according to his autobiography The Long Hard Road out of Hell. He says that he hallucinated a "slower, meaner" version of the dance hit playing, sung in his voice. (thanks, Stefano - Old Bridge, NJ)

In Manson's auto-biography, he related to this song by mentioning that he met people who wanted to be abused by him; and who wanted to use him as well. (thanks, Renae - Mill Grove, PA)

This song is a duet between Furtado and Timbaland, who produced the album. The lyrics are a flirtation between the two, typical of a couple who meets at a dance club or other social gathering. They are both sexually active, but the girl doesn't want the guy to take advantage of her and think of her as a slut, so even though she is attracted to him, she will tease him and test him to make sure he has strong "game," meaning he is a good talker and exudes confidence. As the song progresses, he proves himself and she agrees that they both want the same thing. At this point, there is no need to play games, as he has passed the test.

At the time, Furtado was romantically linked to fellow Canadian Steve Nash, who was the MVP point guard of the Phoenix Suns basketball team. Furtado mentions Nash in the line, "Is that the truth or are you talkin' trash, is your game MVP like Steve Nash?"

The verses are rapped, which was familiar territory for Timbaland, who often raps on his productions, but was a departure for Furtado, who was known for her singing on hits like "I'm Like A Bird" and "Turn Out The Light."

In an interview with Blender magazine, Furtado said that the song is not about sex, but verbal foreplay: "Tim and I called it 'The BlackBerry Song' because everything we say in the song you could text-message to somebody."

Justin Timberlake appears in the video dancing with the extras. (thanks, Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR)

Furtado and Timbaland perform this in the video, which cuts between scenes of them on the phone and in a dance club. They also performed the song on Saturday Night Live, acting out the flirtation with Furtado playing up her sexuality and Timbaland displaying a relaxed cool.
Source:Songfacts