Gary Pig Gold: ELVIS CALLING
ELVIS’ HOT 100
What with that silly Baz
Luhrmann cartoon, among other things, currently swinging a spotlight anew over
you-know-who, I thought it more than
high time to put the focus firmly and directly back upon what REALLY counts.
Yes, his music.
Because, as The Man The Myth Himself duly explained to the U.S. Junior Chamber
of Congress in 1971:
Without a song the day would never end
Without a song a man ain’t got a friend
Without a song the road would never bend
Without a song...
So I keep singing a song.
Good night.
Thank you.
100. “Old MacDonald”
(whilst getting into Double
Trouble with Annette Day no less)
99. “Here Comes Santa Claus”
(has hung beneath my mistletoe
ever since hearing it featured, repeatedly, in a late-
80s very-late-night television
ad for some mail-order Elvis Xmas compilation)
98. “Surrender”
(speaking strictly Nerk Twins, I
bet when this one first came out John HATED it
…but Paul? He was [secretly] …intrigued)
97. “Fools Rush In”
(Elvis doing Ricky doing Elvis)
96. “The Walls Have Ears”
(more than worth watching Girls!
Girls! Girls! for)
95. “Follow That Dream”
(caught the movie on TV yet
again just the other night)
94. “Moody
Blue”
(I was actually listening to
this when the news broke on 8/16/77)
93. “Party”
(I've never kissed a bear / I've
never kissed a goon / But I can shake a chicken
In the middle of the room)
(© WB Music Corp., Warner-Tamerlane
Publishing Corp., Leeds Music Corp.,
92. “Old Shep”
(too bad there weren’t any cell phones handy when Elvis first sang this in 1945 at
the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show…)
91. “Early Morning Rain”
(the undeniable highlight of the Elvis: A Canadian Tribute album …along with
“Snowbird,” of course)
90. “Any Way You Want Me (That’s How I Will Be)”
(Strong as a mountain …yet weak as a willow tree)
89. “Fever”
(Peggy? Elvis is Back!)
88. “Big Boss Man”
(that’s just gotta be Jerry Reed on the nylon 6-strings on the ’67 version, right?!)
87. “Money Honey”
(the very last song from Elvis’ very first RCA Victor album …from Elvis’ very first
RCA Victor recording session)
86. “Got A Lot O’ Livin’ To Do”
(sung to Big Mama Gladys in Loving You …if you watch closely)
85. “It’s Now Or Never”
(What do you get when you prep “O Sole Mio” for American ears? 20 million copies
sold …and counting)
84. “I Was The One”
(truer words were seldom ever sung)
83. “My Way”
(even better than Sid Vicious’!)
82. “I Love You Because”
(this is how Elvis, Scotty, Bill and Sam Phillips spent their Fourth of July, 1954)
81. “Loving You”
(Duane Eddy twanged a cooool version as well)
80. “My Happiness”
(Elvis …for Gladys)
79. “Sweet Caroline”
(hear Elvis positively kneel on Neil)
78. “Tumbling Tumbleweeds”
(Live from …or should I say in Graceland, February ’66!) (or was it at 10550 Rocca
in Bel Air??)
77. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
(for the eight-minute-plus, undubbed Our Memories Of Elvis, Volume 2 mix)
76. “Patch It Up”
(Ronnie Tutt’s drums thoroughly thundered this one home on stage)
75. “Bossa Nova Baby”
(for those fiddle-de-dink keyboard ’n’ bass breaks at the end of each chorus)
74. “She’s Not You”
(I must admit it wasn’t until that ELV1S CD that I finally recognized this one)
73. “Until It’s Time For You To Go”
(things did get kinda morbid, musically and otherwise, post-Priscilla, didn’t they?)
72. “A Little Less Conversation”
(even the Junkie remiXL!)
71. “See See Rider”
(Elvis opened his final concerts with this one …how else to segue out of
“Also Sprach Zarathustra”??)
70. “Guitar Man”
(yeah, that’s just gotta be Jerry Reed!!)
69. “Ready Teddy”
(Elvis makes his Ed Sullivan Show debut with this sock hop ball)
68. “Stuck On You”
(still sticks like glue!)
67. “Suspicion”
(Viv Stanshall’s interpretation, produced by Keith Moon I kid you not, also torments
my heart)
66. “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck”
(with rhyming couplets every syllable the equal of even Jonathan Richman’s, by
heck!)
65. “Elvis Sails”
(yeah: the whole darn EP!!)
64. “Always On My Mind”
(so sorry, Willie, but you should’ve left this one with “E”)
63. “Wooden Heart”
(I’m still not sure why this one beat so far out of the Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits
Vol. 1 box for me…)
62. “Blue Christmas”
(Accept NO Substitutes this December 25th!)
61. “I Got A Woman”
(another road-tested gem from Elvis’ first RCA session)
60. “You Gave Me A Mountain”
(Live from Hawaii via Satellite, that is)
59. “Flip, Flop And Fly”
(shrewdly medley’d with “Shake, Rattle and Roll” for his World Television Debut as
1956 dawned)
58. “I Got Stung”
(I do believe this to be one of Elvis’ shortest chart-toppers)
57. “Baby I Don’t Care”
(and Buddy Holly cut a far-from-square version as well!)
56. “If I Can Dream”
(where hope keeps shining on ev-er-y-one)
55. “Good Luck Charm”
(later covered, electro-pop style! – by none other than Alvin and the Chipmunks)
54. “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin”
(y’know, my Dad was a huge Ink Spots fan too)
53. “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You”
(just how to possibly follow-up “Heartbreak Hotel”??)
52. “You’re A Heartbreaker”
(Elvis, Scotty and Bill …with Sam for Sun)
51. “Love Me Tender”
(note: Extra verse in the movie version)
50. “An American Trilogy”
(One Nation Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Elvis On Tour)
49. “Brown Eyed Handsome Man”
(thrill as that Million Dollar Quartet marvel over C. Berry’s coffee-colored lyrics)
48. “Young And Beautiful”
(That ain’t tactics, honey: It’s just the Big Beat Ballad outta Jailhouse Rock)
47. “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”
(for the vintage-’69 Live in Vegas version)
46. “Baby What You Want Me To Do”
(a ’68 Comeback SUPER Special!!)
45. “Love Me”
(originally envisioned by writers Leiber & Stoller as, quote, “a parody of country and
western music.” In Elvis’ hands however…)
44. “Crying In The Chapel”
(sat most securely right alongside The Supremes and Sam the Sham atop the June
12, 1965 Billboard Hot 100)
43. “A Fool Such As I”
(especially the “you taught me how to milk a cow” USS Arizona Memorial Benefit
performance)
42. “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby”
(as Home Recorded alongside Eddie Fadal’s phonograph in Waco, TX circa
Summer of ’58)
41. “Can’t Help Falling In Love”
(the raw session tapes for this one are a true hoot!)
40. “Polk Salad Annie”
(I actually prefer Elvis’ to Tony Joe’s)
39. “Way Down”
(ever notice how so many singers’ final vinyl, before dying, always seem to be so
downright prophetic??)
38. “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)”
(those Beatles did a pretty good version too)
37. “My Baby Left Me”
(D.J. Fontana’s snare!!)
36. “Blue Moon”
(cut at Sun on August 19, 1954 …but still sounds more like 2054!)
35. “Promised Land”
(I vividly recall being carted off to school one cold, too-early morning and being
immediately warmed upon hearing this blasting out of the bus driver’s radio)
34. “Such A Night”
(to my ears, the defining three-minutes-30 of A Legendary Performer, Volume 2)
33. “Viva Las Vegas”
(perfect, in every single way) (…and not a bad at all movie either)
32. “Tomorrow Is A Long Time”
(who knew The King collected Dylan bootlegs??)
31. “Milkcow Blues Boogie”
(hold it, fellows…)
30. “Burning Love”
(hunka! hunka!)
29. “Don’t Cry Daddy”
(even managed to survive a 1997 “duet” with Lisa Marie Presley)
28. “Treat Me Nice”
(Vince Everett’s Greatest Hit)
27. “I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone”
(Sun # 217 …say no more)
26. “Trouble”
(you came to the right place)
25. “Baby Let’s Play House”
(ever heard Mungo Jerry’s version? I’m damn sure The Cramps did!)
24. “Return To Sender”
(never understood what “Special D” meant until years later)
23. “I Need Your Love Tonight”
(another of the King’s cut by Alvin’s Chipmunks!)
22. “I Forgot To Remember To Forget”
(wherein Elvis, Scotty and Bill bid a most fond farewell to Sun Records)
21. “Teddy Bear”
(custom-crafted, and perfectly fit for The King. As such, it instantly sold about a
billion copies…)
20. “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”
(another ’68 Comeback Special)
19. “I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine”
(Elvis’ second-ever B-side, vintage ’54)
18. “Don’t Be Cruel”
(right there on the backside of “Hound Dog” = one of the Greatest 7-inch one-two
punches EVER)
17. “Little Sister”
(why, even those Ghost Rockets did a version!)
16. “In The Ghetto”
(Mac Davis’ working title when composing? “The Vicious Circle”)
15. “Too Much”
(just LISTEN to Scotty Moore’s direct-from-the-Twilight-Zone guitar solo!)
14. “Merry Christmas Baby”
(definitive reading, to my ears)
13. “Good Rocking Tonight”
(yep, I certainly remember when I first heard the news)
12. “All Shook Up”
(Wild as a Bug!)
11. “Kentucky Rain”
(an absolute favorite amongst of all of his “comeback” hits)
10. “Tryin’ To Get To You”
(‘68 Special rendition) (of course!)
9. “Hound Dog“
(also Absolutely required listening – and viewing – is its 6/5/56 Milton Berle Show
unveiling)
8. “His Latest Flame”
(yes, Marie’s the name)
7. “Suspicious Minds”
(the Vegas That’s The Way It Is rendition especially …once again, thanks in no
small part to drummist Ronnie Tutt)
6. “Devil In Disguise”
(one of the Very First songs I Ever remember hearing …by Elvis or by anyone else
for that matter)
5. “Mystery Train”
(the book is damn good too)
4. “Jailhouse Rock”
(should’a stuck the horns from the movie version onto the RCA 45 though)
3. “Blue Moon Of Kentucky”
(“Them’s some powerful checks!” composer Bill Monroe marveled upon receiving
his fair shares of Elvis’ debut B-side)
2. “Heartbreak Hotel”
(has there been any mid-Sixties British Invader who hasn’t cited this particular two-
minutes-six as the initial inspiration behind their ultimate career choice??)
1. “That’s All Right”
(the First …in SO many ways!!)
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