Established at the famous Brill Building, Shroeder was commissioned to write some songs for an upcoming artist already making noise in Shuman and Pomus would go on to write 20 more songs for Elvis Presley. They split in after moving to England, where Pomus became a professional poker player and Shuman continued writing songs on his own.
Mac Davis is the only entry on this list who was also a singer. Mac Davis was by far not the most frequent Elvis contributor.
Davis would, later on, achieve successful singing and acting careers during the s. Elvis Presley worked with countless musicians and songwriters over a year career.
Much akin to modern pop musicians, Elvis, and his peers relied heavily on established songwriters to write their hits.
For Elvis Presley, however, song lyrics were just a guideline for him to impose his unique style and flavor on these songs. Over the years, Elvis repeatedly demonstrated how he could transform music into a sensual experience. His style, influences, and voice emanate through his music to this day. At the ripe age of 14, he gained notoriety as an energetic singer who put his twist on songs.
In short, Elvis was not just a singer or performer, he was a visual and tonal artist who gave life to the songs he performed. Elvis Presley reportedly learned to play guitar in his early teens through neighbor Lee Denson. He would go on to be accompanied by his guitar on several stage performances.
Even though we weren't wealthy or anything, it was a whole big step up from the way that Smitty Junior had to live. I was messing around with it after he left and I just went [ sings ]: 'In the ghetto'. I thought, man that just fits. I had always wanted to write a song called 'The Vicious Circle'. There's nothing that rhymes with circle, if you wanna know the truth about it.
A child is born in a situation, his father leaves and he ends up acting out and becoming his father. Being born, dying and being replaced by another child in the same situation is basically what I was talking about.
Dying is a metaphor for being born into failure, a situation where you have no hope. If you listen to the song it's more poignant now than it was then. Instead of getting better it's gotten worse. Back then we had gangs and violence in a few cities.
Now we have it in almost every American city. I didn't know that it was important, but I just knew that it was a hit if the right person cut it'. I think Elvis took a huge chance in doing 'In the Ghetto'. It was a big risk. When they released it I was totally surprised that he saw fit to put that out as a single.
That was not his image at all. He was always middle of the road when it came to controversy. I was shocked that the Colonel allowed him to put out 'In the Ghetto' because it was controversial at the time. But I'm glad he did. In fact, it was Elvis' idea to add another 'and his mama cries' at the end of that song. The song originally finished [ sings ]: 'And another little baby child is born-in the ghetto'. That was the end of it. To me the circle had been done, but he just emphasized it by saying 'and his mama cries' again.
It would have been a hit without him doing it, but he improved it'. I didn't go to a lot of the shows. I was invited to the big night in Vegas. It was just a huge thrill to me. He did 'In the Ghetto' and winked at me and said, 'Hi Mac'.
I forget what he said, maybe something like, 'Here's my first number 1 in quite a while'. The music started up, and he just kinda winked at me. I wanted to jump up and down and say, 'That's me!
First coming to prominence as the writer of B. The idea for 'Suspicious Minds' came to me one night. First the title came-I thought about it and lived with it a while. Then the lyric came to me: 'Caught in a trap, I can't walk out because I love you too much baby'. What I was trying to say is we can't live together, attain our dreams or build on anything if we don't trust one another.
That's what I mean by suspicious minds. If there's distrust in a relationship or you're wondering if your partner wants to be with somebody else, you can't go forward. The chorus, which says, 'We can't go on together with suspicious minds', is what I was trying to get across with the song. I was lucky to start the song in an abstract way- 'Suspicious Minds' captured a lot of soul. In Houston, I grew up on a lot of soulful artists and I learned a lot from them.
I put 'Suspicious Minds' together in about a week-a week and a half. I was a writer trying to write a great song, a hit song, and it came off just right. He booked American Studios for two weeks.
Chips Moman and Don Cruise were partners. Chips was more the creator, and Don was a good businessman who had a lot of heart and soul.
He kept the studio goin' through a lot of lean years. American Studios was like Motown. A lot of hit records came out of there. Don came up to me one day and said, 'You know Elvis is coming in? I analyzed it a little bit.
Elvis was in his early 30s. I thought, 'How can you be a rock star and be in your mids and still be viable? Elvis had released a lot of songs from his movies, and his musical career had really gone down as far as controlling the national charts.
Tom Jones was the sex symbol at the time. I believed in Elvis and knew something great was in the air to bring him back. Every time I'd walk into the studio, Don would grab me and say, 'You come up with anything for Elvis? One morning I came into the studio and Don said kind of urgently, 'Elvis will be here in a couple of days. You think you'll have anything? Then he said, 'Well, what about the old catalog?
What about 'Suspicious Minds? But as soon as Don said that, in my head I saw a golden number one. That's the song I've been looking for! Elvis liked it immediately and said, 'Let's hear that again'. He heard it again and it hit him the same way. He asked for a tape and took it home. Priscilla loved the song too, so the excitement and momentum about 'Suspicious Minds' kept building and building.
That's how he got his name. Before that, they were able to get quite a bit of the publishing and songwriter royalties. To get an Elvis cut, writers would give up almost anything. Most of the time the Colonel or his publishing executives would try to take half of a song or more. I'd never give up my songwriting royalties. I'm not gonna sell it like a used car.
That's the way I looked at it. I was signed to Chips' publishing company, Press Music. Chips was the one who told them, 'Look, I'm not giving up any publishing on this song. If that's what you want, then I'm keeping the master and y'all can leave! Elvis' performance on 'Suspicious Minds' is great. He got into the song and made it his own. It was number one in 27 countries. It's the number one song of all-time for Elvis Presley. I got an award two years ago from Graceland where it was selected as Elvis' all-time favorite song.
I believe it is. Elvis had a lot of great songs, but at the time of his comeback, he needed a mature rock song. People were rooting for him to come back, and I'm happy that my song helped him do that. It reinvigorated Elvis as an artist and brought him a newfound respect.
I wanted to write a song that would move people and would capture the essence of Elvis'. Ken Sharp is the author of the new book, Writing For The King , an officially sanctioned Elvis Presley book that showcases over interviews with songwriters whose work was recorded by the artist.
The book is available through www. Buy Writing For The King. Included are two CDs, the first contains previously unreleased RCA recordings of Elvis performing live in Las Vegas through , the second a selection of the original demos submitted to Elvis. No part of any article on this site may be re-printed for public display without permission. Never before have we seen an Elvis Presley concert from the 's with sound.
Until Now! Included we see a live performance of the elusive Long Tall Sally seen here for the first time ever. This is an excellent release no fan should be without it.
The interviews of Elvis' Parents are well worth hearing too. Love Glastonbury? This is a tricky question to answer, and there are various viewpoints around it. Did Elvis write his own songs? The shocking truth Image: Getty. A young Elvis performing Image: Getty. Elvis as an older performer Image: Getty. Elvis Presley.
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