Elvis Presley - It's Now Or Never

I started this blog as an attempt to evaluate number one singles on a random basis, using a number generator to select hit songs at random.  So the first choice is, perhaps fittingly, by the king of rock 'n' roll himself

Artist: Elvis Presley.
Born: Tupelo, MS, 8/1/1935
Died: Memphis, TN, 16/8/1977

Song: It's Now Or Never
Lyrics: Wally Gold & Aaron Schroeder
Music: Eduardo di Capua
No producer credited

Number One History
3/11/1960 - 8 weeks
5/2/2005 - 1 week

Formats
1960 - 7" black vinyl in generic RCA sleeve (RCA, 45-RCA 1207)
1. It's Now Or Never
2. Make Me Know It
 
2005 - 10" black vinyl in vintage-style generic RCA sleeve with title sticker (RCA, 82876666591)
CD with picture inlay (RCA, 82876666592)
1. It's Now Or Never
2. Make Me Know It
3. A Mess Of Blues

It's often the case that an artist's best work is not what actually makes the top spot.  For me, the real Elvis is contained either in the earliest Sun Records recordings, which are thrillingly raw, or his late sixties creative re-birth which produced classics like Suspicious Minds and In The Ghetto.  Neither era produced number one hits.

Elvis is, of course, the most legendary name in rock music, whose sensual performances shocked the buttoned-up 1950s by mixing r'n'b raunchiness with country-and-western influenced vocals.  But under the baleful influence of his crooked manager, Colonel Tom Parker (actually a Dutch immigrant with a shady past in Breda), he started the sixties as an MoR crooner making terrible movies with bland soundtracks.  'It's Now Or Never' is typical of this style.  It was based on an Italian song 'O sole mio', which dates back 10 1898.  There is, perhaps a bit of drama in the declamatory title line, but it's hard to avoid the feeling that Elvis would have been better off tearing through classic rockers than hamming it up on pseudo-Italian melodrama.


There is only one significant cover of the song is by country singer John Schneider, a top 20 US hit in 1981.  The source song is rather more covered, with versions by stars such as Tony Bennett and Luciano Pavarotti, as well as an intriguing combination of veteran English actor Christopher Lee and Italian metal band Rhapsody Of Fire.


It's now hard to think of Elvis in a positive light, however great and groundbreaking his early music was.  His later life was marked by severe overeating and substance abuse, as he phoned in performances at a Las Vegas residency while wearing ridiculous white jumpsuits.  This is the image favoured by the legion of Elvis impersonators who revel in the tackiness of their idol's decline.  Very sad.