ELVIS PRESLEY – “Jailhouse Rock”
Presley’s first No.1 was all about the voice and the rhythm just did the job it had to. “Jailhouse Rock”, his second, is nothing without its beat. The lyrics are funny, of course, and Elvis as skilful as before (his specific trick here is combining a breakneck holler with the pinpoint comic timing the song asks for). But without that tension-racking drum and piano rhythm, half heartbeat half roll, “Jailhouse Rock” would just be a skit. Every time those piano chords hit and linger it’s a promise made to your hips that good things are just seconds away: so much of the fun in dancing (in pop) is rooted in that anticipation.
7
One of the most explosive intros evs – the snare sounds like it was made of sheet metal, beaten with a sledgehammer by the beefiest convict on the whole cell block.
Vocally, Elvis pulls off an almost monotone scream. He never sang quite like this again, and you can only imagine how frustrating it must have been for his fans when his post-army 45s were all delivered in a baritone with country/operatic leanings: “Elvis, scream for us!”
All this and Leiber and Stoller’s sly “you’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see”. What, it was a mixed prison?
No, apparently it was Leiber/Stoller’s revenge for Elvis’ mangling of the real lyrics of “Hound Dog”.
Found myself wondering the other day, since Popular is approaching the 20-years-ago mark, who would be the first artist to return to number one having already featured in Popular. Then realised that of course it’s already happened, back in the days of Haloscan comments and before the project had much of an audience. But as Tom put it, the 999th, 1000th and 1002nd Number Ones were “such a disgraceful fiddle” that we’ll reword the question: who’s going to be the first artist to get to number one *with new material* after featuring in Popular? Madonna? Kylie? U2? T— T—? Place your bets…
A disgraceful fiddle will see Lieutenant Pigeon return to the top with a three minute edit of this mutha . If I have anything to do with it.
My bet is George Michael.
DESERT ISLAND DISCS WATCH:
Kay Smart, Circus performer (1958)
Bob Hope, Comedian, actor (1961)
Dennis Taylor, Snooker player (1986)
Clive James, Writer, Broadcaster (2000)
Bill Cullen, Businessman, Writer (2003).
What we’re not hearing in the DiD watch is the reasons castaways give for their choices. Arch-conservative Bob Hope might seem an odd Elvis fan but his reason for this choice is part of the legend of the show. It would scare off the natives, he said.
There’s a list to savour. Long time fans of the programme tuned in and said “Oh good, it’s Bill Cullen today”
I doubt it Mark. I think they just left the radio on after Today or The Archers. I don’t even know who Bill Cullen is. Hold on…
… Oh, I see. The cue to roll over and go back to sleep.
Dog gone. RIP Jerry Lieber.
Took them a long time to get round to Clive James, didn’t it. This was of course the first single – excluding “Here in my Heart” of course – to enter the UK chart at Number One. Anyone know why that was? Was there a big pre-release campaign, records given out to radio stations weeks in advance? Presley had been having hits here for a couple of years by this time so a new release by him was obviously big news. Was the film released before the record, or simultaneously perhaps?
Looking into the question posed in #3: does March 2009 pass the ‘new material’ test?
Tom Jones? Guess he does, although not quite the same act!!