Whooeeeee, never thought someone could, or would, take this song by you know who, turn it upside down, let the sound of the coins falling from its trousers produce a song track utterly its own, groove heavy, emotionally convincing, reeking of the 1950s ... voice, phrasing, backup singers, tight band that makes every note count and a bass line running through it like a freight train with a metronome in the firebox.
The organ coda weaving through the song is a tonal match for Billy Swann's light sweet phrasing with just enough emotional urgency that made me play it a few more times after I found it.
I don't remember dancing to the original but this version begs you push the chairs back in the kitchen.
First version
https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2020/09/song-of-the-day-dont-be-cruel-reinvented.html
Interesting for sure. Like it. Stay well
Posted by: Susan Sullivan | September 13, 2020 at 05:21 PM
Great tunes.
Posted by: Jeffrey Piccoli | September 13, 2020 at 08:48 PM
PT you the man!! I’m in Bethel Maine alone in my sister’s kitchen rockin to Don’t be Creul. Aaaiiieeee!!!! Thank’s PT. T
Posted by: T Maguire | September 13, 2020 at 10:28 PM
T, I played the song half a dozen times in a row after first hearing it.It's a perfect bookend to the version by The King. I love that it has several gospel-ish riffs in the arrangement, perfect because E listened to that music on Sundays as he was growing up in a two room house Tupelo, MS and later in public housing or low rent homes in the poor neighborhoods of north Memphis.
Posted by: Paul A. Tamburello, Jr aka pt at large | September 13, 2020 at 10:43 PM
A little research shows that Elvis was a fan of country music, he was even more inspired by blues, gospel and rhythm-and-blues, including the Memphis radio shows hosted by such local disc jockeys as B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, who actually sang on those programs. You can hear faint echoes of much of this in Billy Swan's cover.
Posted by: Paul A. Tamburello,Jr. aka pt at large | September 13, 2020 at 10:57 PM
I love the reinvented/resurrected song. Thanks for the link...fabulous!
Posted by: B.L. | September 13, 2020 at 11:04 PM
The first sixty seconds, organ underpinning and sinuous syncopated base line, sweet honeyed vocal leading into a crescendo of muted electric guitar picking gain momentum and enter a zone of fearless fabulous reinvention. You can search high and low and you'll never find one as compelling and true to the spirit of the song,written by Elvis and Otis Blackwell in 1956, as this one.
https://secondhandsongs.com/work/1033/versions
Posted by: Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large | September 13, 2020 at 11:28 PM
You are right- it must have taken nerve to take that one on. Did you notice how the drums played a military cadence? Interesting.
Posted by: Susan M Bennett | September 14, 2020 at 10:42 PM
There is so much going on…the only nod to the original is the backup singers. The rest? Just tore up the original and left the pieces on the floor and put it back together with different pace phrasing rhythms instrumentation. The singer’s voice is vaguely King-ish with its sweet upper register. Maybe you had to have experienced listening to the original when it came out in 1956 to appreciate how eerily fabulous the rendition really is.
Posted by: Paul A Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large | September 14, 2020 at 11:44 PM