Legends: Mike Stoller. On the
left and right photos we can see him receiving the Life Achievement
Award, on 15/10/2005.
The
roll call is staggering - Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling
Stones, The Beach Boys, John Lennon, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, and
Frank Sinatra are just some of the artists who have recorded songs
written by the golden team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. They
boast a rich catalog of songs that will live forever. Among the
luminous jewels framing the Leiber And Stoller songbook include
standards such as Stand By Me, Love Potion Number Nine, On Broadway,
There Goes My Baby, Yakety Yak, Poison Ivy and numerous others.
Rock
And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees, Leiber And Stoller created a
wondrous array of timeless and eminently tuneful rock 'n' roll
classics that endure generation after generation. Graced with
Stoller's sublime and inventive melodic contours and Leiber's
evocative and sophisticated wordplay, the duo are rightly
acknowledged among popular music's most important and groundbreaking
songwriters of the past century.
Goldmine had the immense pleasure of sitting down with Stoller
in Beverly Hills to reminisce about his work writing the music
behind many of Presley's most quintessential recordings. Most
recently, four Leiber/Stoller songs (Hound
Dog, Jailhouse Rock,
Don't and She's Not You) have taken
their proud place on the new smash Presley compilation, Elvis 30
#1 Hits.
Initially you didn't even know who Elvis Presley was.
The
first time I got a sizable royalty check was in 1956, and it was
$5,000. I thought I'd never see that much money at the same time
again. And I went to Europe for three months and came back in style
'cause $5,000 took you a long way in those days, especially in
Europe. My first wife and I came back on an Italian ocean liner, the
Andrea Doria. We almost made it to New York. The Stockholm ran into
the Andrea Doria. There were a lot of people killed, nor as many as
there could have been, fortunately. But there were over 50 people
who were killed. The boat sank. We climbed down a Jacob's ladder
swinging wildly over a broken lifeboat, which we got into. We
couldn't steer the boat because the rudder was broken. We were
ultimately picked up by the Cape Ann, a freighter standing by. From
the Cape Ann, I sent a telegram to Atlantic Records. I was supposed
to have met Jerry and Lester Sill at Atlantic's offices. Until that
time, all of our productions for Atlantic had been done in Los
Angeles, so I hadn't really met anybody at the label except for
Nesuhi Ertegun. Anyway when the Cape Ann pulled into New York harbor,
Jerry was waiting for me [laughs]. He said, "Hey you're alive!" I
said, "I guess so." "Great to see ya, man!" He said, "Listen, we
have a smash hit!" I said, "You're kidding!" And he said, "No,
Hound Dog." And I said, "Big Mama
Thornton's record?" And he said, "No, some white kid named Elvis
Presley." I said, "Elvis who?"
What was your first impression of Presley's version of
Hound Dog?
It
sounded kind of stiff and a bit too fast - a little nervous. It
didn't have that insinuating groove like on Big Mama's record.
Did you grow to like it?
After
it sold seven million copies it began to sound better, yeah
[laughs].
Who pitched Hound Dog to Presley?
Elvis
knew Big Mama's record, but Big Mama's version of Hound Dog was
written for a woman. And so Elvis couldn't perform it that way.
There was a group, Freddie Bell & The Bell Boys, working in the
lounge in Vegas who had recorded it. They had altered the lyrics -
the altered lyrics don't really mean terribly much. They made it
sound like the song was written about a dog. Big Mama's record had
the original lyrics, which were written about a freeloading gigolo.
After that, Elvis' music publishers, the Aberbach brothers, Jean and
Julian, contacted us. We had known them out in L.A. They used to
have a home and office out here on Hollywood Boulevard, just west of
La Brea. We had talked to them a number of times about other
matters. They called and asked if we had any other songs that we
thought might be good for Elvis. Jerry thought of this ballad that
we'd recorded called Love Me. It was a song we had recorded with
Willie & Ruth on our own label, Spark Records. They were two members
of a gospel vocal quintet.
How does their version differ from Elvis'?
The
song is the same, but first of all Willie & Ruth were a duet who
sang in harmony. Their record featured piano triplets. It was a
strong performance, but Elvis' is a really special performance. The
odd thing is Elvis' version of Love Me became a big hit on the
charts and was never released as a single. It was part of an EP. To
be honest, when we first wrote Love Me we were thinking of it as
sort of a takeoff, a Homer & Jethro type of thing. It's got all
these masochistic lyrics. [recites lyrics] "Treat me like a fool,
treat me mean and cruel but love me." It could have been a joke, but
Elvis' performance makes it genuinely touching.
Legends:
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller with Elvis (1957); and Jerry Leiber
and Mike Stoller, working on the studio.
Next, Elvis recorded your Hot Dog and
Loving You.
Loving You was a love ballad. It was our attempt to write a song as
simple and direct as an Irving Berlin song.
Did you read the movie script before coming up with the song?
I
think we took a glance at it. Was that the script that was
originally called Lonesome Cowboy? Elvis liked
Loving You and
recorded it. Subsequently the studio changed the name of the film to
Loving You.
What was the idea behind Hot Dog?
It
was a song we had which we rewrote for Elvis to do in the film. We
had originally recorded a different version of that song with a guy
named Young Jessie. His real name was Obie Jessie - very good singer
and good all-around musician. He had been with a rhythm-and-blues
group called The Flairs. Later he subbed on The Coasters' dates for
Searchin' and Young Blood, when one of the fellas was unavailable.
We submitted Hot Dog and
Loving You
through the proper channels, which meant Freddy Bienstock, who
worked for his cousins, the Aberbach brothers. That was the system
that had been established. No one was supposed to approach Elvis
directly.
Tell me about how you and Jerry came to write many of the hey songs
for the Jailhouse Rock
film.
Jailhouse Rock is the title of a
song which we wrote for the film. Later, the producers decided it
should be the title of the movie as well. Jerry and I came to New
York - it must have been around March of '57. We came in for an
undetermined amount of time - two, three weeks, maybe a month at
most. We had already started producing records for Atlantic. We also
wanted to see what else was happening in New York. We were
considering the possibility of moving there. We took a suite at the
Gorham Hotel. It had a living room and two bedrooms. Because we were
going to be there for a while, we moved a rented upright piano into
the living room. Jean Aberbach had given us a script, and we kind of
threw it in the corner with some magazines. We were having a great
time in New York, really having a ball. We were going out to
cabarets and jazz clubs and the theater.
So
writing those songs for Elvis was not at the top of your list of
priorities?
No,
hardly. And as I recall, I think it was on a Saturday morning, there
was a knock at our door and Jean Aberbach walked in. He said, "Well,
boys, where are my songs?" We said, "Don't worry. You're gonna get 'em."
And he said "I know, because you're not going to leave this room
until I get them." And then he pushed a big overstuffed chair in
front of the door, the only way out. He said, "I'm going to take a
nap.” He literally went to sleep, and we couldn't get out. So we
thumbed through the script and wrote four songs in about four or
five hours. (Jailhouse Rock,
Treat
Me Nice, I Want To Be Free and
[You're So Square] Baby I Don't Care.)
I can't say that the songs were overworked. We didn't have time to
overwork them. We were in too much of a hurry to get out of that
hotel room.
Tell me about writing
Jailhouse Rock.
The
script indicated that Elvis was in prison and there was an amateur
show among the prisoners. That's where the idea for the song came
from. We wrote it quickly. Jerry's very fast and very funny. That
song was a vehicle that Presley could really work. When we recorded
it we knew we had it by take nine. But Elvis went on into the 20s
saying, "I can do it better!" He loved to sing. He really felt
comfortable in a recording studio. We were recording at Radio
Recorders Annex in Hollywood.
Treat
Me Nice
has a great groove.
I
like the track. Actually I'm playing piano on that record. I don't
know that I played that well, but it seemed to work. [laugh]
I Want To Be Free
?
I
remember that Jean Aberbach said, "I love that image of a bird in a
tree in the lyrics." Good track. The other song was
[You're So Square] Baby I Don't Care.
It was just a fun song. But it worked. It was a good record for him.
I
enjoy the scene in
Jailhouse Rock where Elvis performs the song by a pool and
you're part of his band playing piano.
In
our Hawaiian shirts. That was the only costume which the studio
supplied. The rest of it was our own clothes. They were really
saving money. The studio and Tom Parker figured that they were gonna
make a fortune on this film, so like, "Let's not waste money with
costumes." [laughs] The movie was shot at MGM Studios in Culver
City.
Recount the first time you and Jerry met Elvis.
Elvis
had requested us to be at the
Jailhouse Rock
recording sessions. He knew of the records that we produced, so he
requested that we be there. That's how we met him. He was very
easygoing and very easy to be with. I was showing him some figures
on the piano, and he joined in the upper registers. And we were
doing some freehand boogie-woogie. The studio was like his living
room. He also had his pals with him who had become hired companions.
These were his high-school buddies and local guys from Memphis and
cousins. We'd show Elvis the way we thought the songs should go. I
think Elvis had heard demos, but I don't remember making them. There
must have been because he had approved the songs.
Did Elvis know intuitively when a take was a keeper?
Yeah,
I think so. He was very astute in that sense, but as I said before
he always tried to make something better. He worked very hard in the
studio. It was hard work, but it appeared to be effortless for him
because he loved what he was doing. If he liked a song he would just
keep going, "Yeah, I can do it better. Wait a minute, let me try
this. Give me one more shot!" As I said, we were up to take 27 or
something on Jailhouse Rock when he finally said, "OK, let me hear
that take that you think is the one." And he came back in and
listened and said, "Yeah, you're right. That's the one."
You and Jerry acted as unofficial producers of those sessions.
At
that point, I don't think the title of producer had come into being
for recordings. Had it been a film, the credit would not have been
producer, it would have been director. Our role on those sessions
evolved. Elvis trusted us, and nobody stopped us. Colonel Tom came
in and out of the studio. When Steve Sholes was there, he would call
out the take slates, like "RCA 39-4734, take three." When we took
over we just started yelling, Jailhouse
Rock take four, Jailhouse Rock
take five!" Jerry worked from the booth, but he would come out on
the floor too. I worked in there with the musicians. I played piano
on just one track, Treat Me Nice. Dudley Brooks played on the
other sides. He was a good piano player. Scotty Moore, Bill Black, D.J. Fontana, and The Jordanaires were also on the sessions. Jerry
and I worked together with Elvis very well. But on the last day of
recording, some of the guys from the film studio came over and they
approached Jerry and said, "Listen, we're gonna start filming on
such-and-such a date. You should come over and play the piano player
in the film." He said, "But I'm not a piano player." They said,
"That's all right, you look like one." [laughs] The day that Jerry
was supposed to report at MGM for wardrobe he had this horrible
toothache. He said, "Man, I can't make it. You better go in my
place." I said, "But they wanted you." He said, "They won't know the
difference." So I went and the only thing they said to me is, "You
better shave your beard off 'cause it's a scene stealer." [laughs]
It was done over a number of weeks. I wasn't allowed to say anything
in the film [laughs] 'cause then you've got to get paid. Elvis'
musicians and I were covered under a Musicians Union contract. They
had a scale payment for something called 'sidelining,' which meant
that whether you played on the original recording or somebody else
did, you went through the motions of playing for the camera. I think
we got 36 bucks a week for that.
Were you actually playing piano along with the music during the
scene where Elvis sang?
Yeah,
but it didn't matter. The piano had no strings inside. It had keys,
but there was nothing inside, so you couldn't hear anything.
Did you hang out with Elvis much on the set?
I
hung out with Elvis and his band on the set. Elvis was normally kept
at a distance, but on one occasion he invited me up to his penthouse
suite. The Presley entourage had the whole top floor of the Beverly
Wilshire Hotel. So I went up with all the guys. There was a pool
table there, and Elvis and I were shooting pool. I looked up at one
point and nobody else was there. Elvis came back into the room and
he said "Aw Mike, I feel real bad, but the Colonel's here and he
don't want nobody else here. So I guess you gotta go."
When did you recognize Elvis was a little more special than you and
Jerry initially felt he was?
In
the beginning we were kind of curious about this guy who was such a
big hit, a white guy singing R&B mixed with country. But he was very
knowledgeable, and we found that out when we hung out with him at
Radio Recorders. We would talk about blues records, and he knew a
lot about blues. He surprised us. He also knew all of our stuff. And
of course, in addition to that, he knew all the country stuff and
gospel. While we were working on the
Jailhouse Rock
recording sessions, we realized he was a very special talent.
One of the most beautiful songs you ever wrote for Elvis and one of
his own personal favourites is the # 1 smash,
Don't.
Don't was written for him by request.
One afternoon, it was a Friday, while we were doing the filming, a
lot of which is "hurry up and wait," he said, "Hey Mike, why don't
you write me a real pretty ballad?" I said, "I will. I'll call
Jerry, and we'll get to work." I called Jerry that evening and we
got together on Saturday and wrote Don't.
I thought it was a good song for Elvis. I like the song and I like
what he did with it. As I recall, it's 12 bars long, but it's not a
blues [song]. On Sunday, we booked a studio to do a demo and we
called Young Jessie to sing. I gave the demo to Elvis on Monday and
he loved it. Then there was a big to-do with Colonel Parker and the
Aberbachs because I hadn't gone through the proper channels. They
were afraid, because when Elvis fell in love with a song, he really
fell in love with it and he might insist upon recording it. Although
so many aspects of his career were handled by other people, the one
thing that he handled himself was picking the songs he sang. He
would not sing a song he didn't like, at least not until much later.
They had this fear he might record something and they might not own
the publishing. I'm referring to Tom Parker and the Aberbachs.
Legends: Jerry Leiber and Mike
Stoller.
That was a crucial mistake on the Colonel's part to not allow Elvis
to record quality songs just because they didn't own the publishing
rights.
Yes,
I agree with you. And certainly it would have been better for Elvis'
career, but it wouldn't have satisfied Tom Parker. He wanted Elvis
to grind out the same thing over and over. He didn't want to take
any chances. You stretch a little bit artistically and it's a
wonderful thing. Look what happened with The Beatles. They
stretched. It was wonderful. It was exciting. I think Elvis had the
ability to do that, but the Colonel wasn't willing to chance
anything with his golden goose.
What's your take on the Colonel today? Do you think overall that the
Colonel was the right person to be guiding Elvis' career?
He
certainly helped to make Elvis a superstar. But ultimately he
wouldn't have been the best person to guide the career of somebody
with an innate talent like Elvis - and not just a talent but a
supreme talent. At one point, Jerry was invited to a very elegant
New York cocktail party and was approached by an agent and producer,
Charles Feldman. He said, "I'm so happy to meet you because I've
just optioned a novel by Nelson Algren called
A Walk on the Wild
Side."
He said, "Here's what I want to happen. I have already gotten the
following people involved: Elia Kazan to produce, Bud Schulberg to
write the script. I have James Wong Howe to do cinematography. And I
want you and your partner to write the score, and I want Elvis
Presley to play the lead." Jerry called me up and told me this, and
we were thrilled. We were so excited. We thought, "Wow, we're gonna
be able to bring this exciting plum to Jean and Julian and The
Colonel and Elvis." We went up to the Hill & Range office 'cause
Elvis Presley's music was co-owned by Elvis and the Aberbachs. Jean
was there, and Julian came in. The Colonel was somewhere else. The
whole thing was laid out for them. They said, "We will have to speak
to The Colonel. Can you wait outside?" So we waited outside and we
figured The Colonel would be over the moon about this. We waited a
long time, and we were summoned in by Jean and he said [adopts
Viennese accent], "The Colonel says if you ever dare try and
interfere in the career of Elvis Presley again you will never work
in New York, Hollywood, London or anywhere else in the world." That
was it. We virtually stopped writing for Elvis after that. After
King
Creole, the only songs we submitted to Elvis were songs
that we'd already written or recorded before.
Wasn't Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello
written for Elvis?
No,
it wasn't. As a matter of fact, with one exception, we stopped
writing for him altogether and only submitted previously written and
already recorded songs. As for Just Tell
Her Jim Said Hello, we had a demo that was considerably
different than the way Elvis did it. It had a very different feel,
less country, more Latin.
The one exception was
She's Not You.
Right. Doc Pomus called us up one day. We were all in the Brill
Building. Doc was an old friend, and we had produced lots of Doc and
Morty's [Shuman] songs with The Drifters. Mort had either gone off
to Japan or moved to Paris. Doc called us and said, "Come on up.
Let's write a song for Elvis." So we wrote
She's Not You with him,
the three of us. That was written for Elvis at Doc's request.
The three songs you and Jerry wrote for
King
Creole
have a
distinctive New Orleans, Dixieland sound.
The
inclusion of brass instruments in the arrangements was a departure
from Elvis' usual quartet. Michael Curtiz, the director of
King
Creole, was at the sessions. That was probably the best movie that
Elvis ever made. It had the best story, the best script and the best
cast. We wrote three songs. One was King Creole. Unlike
Loving You
and Jailhouse Rock, which were
written first and then became the title of the films they were in,
King Creole was the title of the film before we wrote the song.
Elvis did a great job on it. I especially liked
Trouble, and I loved
the way he did it in the comeback special.
What inspired you and Jerry to write a song such as
Trouble?
We
had written songs like that before - Riot In Cell Block #9, Framed,
kind of talking blues things - and we knew Elvis could do that kind
of stuff.
That track captured less of the happy-go-lucky Elvis. it carried a
menacing undercurrent of sexuality and danger.
Yeah.
It was braggadocio, like John Henry, Paul Bunyan - one of those
bigger-than-life folk heroes. The other song,
Steadfast, Loyal And
True was a high-school alma mater-type of song. Just the other day I
heard this acapella version of it. It's on that four-CD box
that came out recently [Today, Tomorrow And Forever]. I
thought it was charming. I really enjoyed it.
You and Jerry also oversaw those
King
Creole
sessions.
Yes,
we did, in so far as the songs that we wrote. I remember that the
studio was very crowded. The Colonel was there, Michael Curtiz and
Steve Sholes were there. There were lots of film studio executives
in there. And of course Thorne Nogar, the great recording engineer,
was there too.
Was there a formula you and Jerry followed when writing songs for
Elvis Presley?
No.
We didn't write from formula. I mean you're influenced by everything
you've heard in your life when you write. But no, we had no formula.
There are different types of songs. Love Me is quite different from
Loving You, which is quite different from
Don't. King Creole is quite different from
Jailhouse Rock.
You and Jerry wrote a holiday song for Elvis,
Santa Claus is Back in
Town.
We
were at the session. We wrote it in the hallway between takes on
something else. [laughs] They needed another holiday song. It was
spur of the moment.
It's one of the more pure blues songs Elvis recorded.
Yeah,
and it's a little risqué. Obviously RCA Victor didn't catch on to
the fact that "Santa Claus is coming down your chimney tonight"
didn't really refer to a chimney. [laughs]
Many of the songs you and Jerry wrote have a delightful element of
humour. Two songs Elvis recorded of yours fit that bill,
Girls! Girls! Girls! and
Little
Egypt.
Girls! Girls! Girls! and
Little
Egypt were both written for The Coasters, who were sort of
our alter egos. We wrote funny songs for them. Jerry's the lyricist
and I write the music, but we work closely with each other on
everything. The Coasters were really our voice.
Girls! Girls! Girls! wasn't
a big hit for The Coasters. So we said, "Well, maybe Elvis could do
it," and be obviously liked it.
What was the procedure toward getting your songs to be considered by
Elvis?
Same.
You'd present it to Freddy Bienstock. I know Elvis did
Little
Egypt in the comeback special.
Little
Egypt was also in Roustabout. There were songs you
wrote specifically for Elvis. And then there other songs he recorded
that were first done by other artists. Do you believe Elvis
delivered a better performance of those songs you specifically wrote
for him to sing?
That's hard to say. I think Elvis' performance of the songs that we
wrote for him were generally better than those that were written for
someone else. Love Me is an exception. It was a great performance. I
like the original version of Bossa Nova Baby done by Tippie & the
Clovers better than Elvis' version. It's got a Latin feel and it had
certain elements of bossa nova, but it wasn't the real thing. The
Clovers' version was much cooler than Elvis' version, which was in
the film Fun In Acapulco.
Was Dirty, Dirty Feeling originally
written for the film
King
Creole?
I
think it might have been. It was written for him. It did come out on
one of his albums [Elvis is
Back].
Were you surprised by Elvis' versions of any Leiber And Stoller
songs he recorded?
You
mean songs that were done by other people first?
Yes.
Yeah, there were some that were very different from
the originals. Three Corn Patches. Somewhere along the line I lost
the original acetate. It was recorded by O.C. Smith, but it never
came out. The band was virtually the Count Basie Band with an
arrangement by Frank Foster. It was cookin', but it was jazz. And
Elvis' version is not jazz. lt's not cookin' that way. It's plodding
by comparison.
Your impression of Elvis' rendition of
Fools Fall In Love?
If I
remember correctly, I thought it was in the wrong key I thought it
was too high for him. It could have been that he learned it from the
Drifters' records, and I think that as sung by Johnny Moore, who had
a higher voice. That happened sometimes with Elvis. He'd learn
something, and he'd want to do it in the same key that he learned it
in. He covered another Drifters record also,
If You Don't Come Back. Elvis
didn't do a bad performance of that at all. Of course, I'm partial
to the Drifters' because we produced it, and we got what we wanted
out of the chart and evervthing else.
If You Don't Come Back and Three Corn Patches were not on the
Elvis Presley Sings Leiber and Stoller album for this reason....
At one point in Elvis' career, The Colonel wanted a pile of money
and, since he took 50 percent of everything that Elvis got, they
sold all of the artist royalties to RCA Victor. I believe it was for
$5 million. However, they continued to record Elvis after that.
Those two songs were not among the ones that Parker had sold. So the
album actually contains only performances on which RCA owed no
royalties to Elvis.
I'm curious about a song you and Jerry wrote,
You're The Boss. It
was recorded as a duet by Elvis and Ann-Margret for the film Viva
Las Vegas.
That
was a song that did modestly well in a version we produced as sung
by La Vern Baker and Jimmy Ricks, the bass singer of the Ravens.
After we stopped taking assignments to write for Elvis, we submitted
You're The Boss for a Presley movie. When we didn't hear anything
further about it, we assumed they didn't like it and didn't record
it. Around 1980 when I was in London, I helped put together, an
album for RCA Victor called Elvis Presley Sings Leiber And
Stoller. Some 10 years later RCA decided to release it as a CD.
They told me Thorne Nogar found this version of
You're The Boss, and
it was included on the CD. It was a major surprise for us [laughs]
It was nice. I really liked that.
Speaking of La Vern Baker, Elvis recorded
Saved, a song she first
cut. He did an amazing vocal performance of that song.
Oh,
it's great. I loved it. There's no need to compare them, but La
Vern's record of
Saved is one of our favourite productions. She was
incredible. We did it in Atlantic's old studio, the top floor of an
old brownstone, and the first time I heard Elvis do it was in the
comeback special. Corky Hale, my second wife, had just moved in with
me, and we had a party in our apartment. She cooked a meal, and we
had about 30 people over. She had rented four or five television
sets [laughs] and plugged them in all over the living room. So I
remember that very well. I had no idea Elvis would perform
Saved or
Trouble on the show. He looked so great on that show. It was a
knockout. That was the epitome of Elvis. His performances were
great, and the way he looked was great. It was the way you would
have hoped Elvis would have stayed.
Did you ever see Elvis live in the Vegas years?
Yes.
I went to see him a few times. I introduced Corky to him. He was
very polite. Sometimes I'd see the Colonel playing $100 chips at the
roulette table.
Did he ever see you?
Oh
yeah, he wasn't particularly interested. He was more interested in
playing roulette with Elvis' money.
[laugh]
What were your impressions of his live show?
Disappointment.
Why?
Sad.
He had become bloated. He was doing a caricature of himself. Yes, he
still had a great voice, but he seemed to be making fun of himself.
It's one thing to have a sense of humour about one's self but he
really was like an Elvis impersonator, and it was sad.
Do
you think Elvis knew how good he was?
I
don't know. That's a hard question. And if he did - let's put it
this way, in the early days, he was extremely confident in the
studio. He was very confident, and if you read that as knowing how
good he was, I suppose he did. On the other hand, when he went on
the movie set, he was very insecure. I remember one incident in
particular where a couple of actors were sitting around talking.
They were talking about their wives or their cars, just family
stuff, and they were laughing, and Elvis walked in and wheeled
around and said, "You think you're so hot?" He thought they were
laughing at him.
Are there any Leiber and Stoller songs that you feel Elvis would
have done a great job with?
Yeah,
I'm sure there are many that he could have done. Years later when he
was working with Chips Moman, I was told that they had actually cut
a track of Kansas City, but the voice never went on. I would have
loved to have heard Elvis sing it.
Lastly, why do you think the songs you and Jerry wrote connected so
well with Elvis personally and on a commercial level?
It's
hard for me to say I know that he liked what we wrote. He respected
us. We came to know what a great talent he was very quickly after
starting to work with him. The other thing is there was a creative
rapport, and we were told numerous times after
Jailhouse Rock that
he considered us his good luck charms. He always wanted us in the
studio. That was one of the things also that we got into a hassle
with the Colonel about. The Colonel said, "You have to come out to
California." Jerry was ill and I wasn't gonna go out anyway I don't
know what songs were done on those sessions 'cause we weren't there.
Elvis wanted us to be in the studio with him, and they were willing
to fly us anywhere in order to please him. Of course we'd been
functioning as unpaid producers on the records of our songs
[laughs]. Somewhere between five and 10 years ago, Jerry and I went
to Memphis for the first time. Georgie Klein, a long time friend of
Elvis' from Memphis, who we first met in the '50s, gave us a special
tour of Graceland. While we were doing that he said, "You know what
really killed Elvis? He really wanted to do something important as
an actor. He wanted to do something like a Marlon Brando or a James
Dean." And of course that's what we brought to them with
A Walk on the Wild
Side
and the Colonel killed it.
Source:
Goldmine magazine. |