MP3 Gerald Nelson - Songs I Wrote for Elvis

60's rock Elvis Presley movie submission

19 MP3 Songs
ROCK: 60's Rock, POP: 60's Pop



Details:
Songs I wrote for Elvis

I thought it might be fun to put together a CD of the original demonstration recordings of songs that I wrote for Elvis Presley. Some he recorded, some he didnât. He was such a good friend and I respected his friendship so much that I never ask him to record any of my work. Lamar Fike or Freddy Beanstalk put those that he did in his hands. Usually they would send me a script and say: âWrite something for this movieâ. For the most part that was either fun or insane.

Fun: âDominique My Bullâ I think that was for the âStay Away Joeâ film wherein he buys a bull to breed, the bull turns out to be gay and wonât perform that for which he was purchased. He gets the idea for he and his Indian girl friend to show the bull what to do! They didnât use this song in the movie, perhaps today they might? Another fun write was âThe Chicken Scratchâ. Lots of laughter in the studio when I was trying to make the guitar sound like a chicken.
Insane: âYoga Is As Yoga Doesâ Now how does one go about writing a song around that title? I thought that this scripted nonsense has to be a joke. It turned out to be the absolute worst Song I ever heard! This crazy composition was used in the âEasy Come Easy Goâ movie along with two others that are on this CD, âSing You Childrenâ and âThe Love Machineâ. There were four songs in this movie. I wrote three of them. The best song of the four that I submitted was âEasy Come, Easy Goâ, they didnât use that one. Go figure.

The Elvis movie producers passed on a song âLazy Love Affairâ, for which film I forget. But the demo recording that you can hear on this CD, was later used in two movies: Miami Blue and Caged Fear.


He recorded âIf I Were Youâ and put it in the âLove Lettersâ album. Oddly enough this song, even today, gets quite a bit of airplay and sales around the world. Itâs the only non-movie song of mine that was ever submitted to him.

For those of you who like âtid-bitsâ here is an interesting one for you. A contemporary standard, âTragedyâ, was written by Fred Burch and me. The song has sold millions and millions of records and has been recorded by 20-25 different artists over the years. We wrote the song for Elvis! Chet Atkins was Elvisâs producer at RCA at the time and I sent it to Chet for Elvis. Chet passed on the song. Years later Chet told me that he âmissed on that one, but that he would make it up to meâ He did. He recorded it in years to come by Charlie Rich, Floyd Cramer, and the Anita Kerr Singers. I didnât include it in this collection because Paul McCartney later purchased the publishing, you know that Beatle boy, and it is too much trouble to get a license for use in a little project like this.

I hope you get some fun out of listening to some of this stuff. By the way check out âIf I Were Youâ and âTragedyâ by KATHIA, the Midnight Madness album on CD Baby. Com. Sheâs a great talent!

Gerald Nelson