Elvis: The Song That Started It All

It was a rather uneventful recording session at the now –famous Sun Records in Memphis. The date was July 5th, 1954.

A young singer by the name of Elvis Presley was taking a break between sessions when he started fooling around with an old R&B song called “That’s All Right, Mama” by Arthur Crudup. Studio musicians Scotty Moore and Bill Black joined in and before long, it appeared that some sort of musical magic was happening. Producer Sam Phillips was impressed enough that he asked the trio to start over—this time taping the whole thing.

There were no drums on the recording—just the upright bass of Black and Moore’s guitar. According to some reports, Black remarked after hearing it played back: “Damn. Get that on the radio and they’ll run us out of town!”

Well, Sam Phillips DID get it on the air. He handed copies to Dewey Phillips (no relation) of WHBQ and couple of other prominent Memphis DJ’s. Elvis, upon hearing that his song would be played on the radio—had to go to a local movie theatre to calm his nerves!

Dewey played the song on his radio show on July 7th—and reaction was so intense that he played it another 13 times and asked Elvis to come to the studio for an on-air interview that first night. Among other things, Dewey asked Elvis which high school he attended in what was thought to be a roundabout way of informing his audience that his guest was white—after hearing a song which listeners might have assumed was being performed by a black singer.

That song was released on this date in 1954, with “Blue Moon of Kentucky” on the B side.

Here is that original recording in a collage of early Elvis pics:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIWlWA1YTBw

Although the song never charted nationally, it sold about 20,000 copies locally, pushing it to #4 on the local Memphis sales charts. The title dropped off the original “mama” to read simply “That’s All Right”, but Arthur Crudup was given songwriting credit. Despite this, it’s widely believed that the composer never received royalties for his work.

Rolling Stone magazine argued in an 2004 article that “That’s All Right” was really the first rock and roll record. It lands at #112 on their “500 Greatest Rock and Roll Songs Of All Time”

For Elvis, it’s the song that started it all.

If you’d like my blog in your box, just let me know and I’ll add you to the list! Tim.moore@citcomm.com