Otis
Blackwell wrote this song primarily and a demo was sent to Elvis Presley in
1956.It was sold for the
price of $25 on Christmas Eve 1955 and had Otis Blackwell singing, playing the
piano and playing a cardboard box that doubled as a drum.Elvis reworked it and subsequently
was named a co-writer.This
was not unusual for songwriters like Otis Blackwell in these days as it was
commonplace for the artists or producer to put their name on the credits to
ensure royalty payments, but in this case the co-writer issue seems genuine
enough.When it was first
recorded by Elvis Presley in New York in July 1956 it was the B-side of a
single release, with "Hound Dog" being on the A-side.It was the seventh recording of
eight takes and immediately made history by becoming the first record to
top all of the Billboard Charts of the day, i.e. R&B, country and
pop.It remained on the
Billboard Hot 100 for 11 weeks and tied with Anton Karas and Johnnie Ray
for the most consecutive weeks at No. 1, only to be beaten in 1992 by Boyz
II Men with "End of the Road".Due to the fact that "Don't Be Cruel"
had as much popularity as "Hound Dog" it was later re-released as
a Double A-side.The original
musicians on the single were Elvis Presley on rhythm guitar, Bill Black on
bass, Scotty Moore on lead guitar, D.J. Fontana on drums and The
Jordanaires singing the backing vocals, but although the producer was
credited as Steve Scholes, it later turned out that Elvis had done the
production and rearranged it on piano himself.The singer Jackie Wilson sang it in Las Vegas with Elvis
Presley in the audience and other artists including Cheap Trick, The
Residents, Jody Miller, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Keith Richards, Jerry Lee
Lewis and Neil Diamond have recorded it.In the world of film and television it has featured in
at least 21 movies and programmes.In 2002 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and
Rolling Stone named it No. 197 in the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in
2004.
Mike Berry recordings
MCA-40432 (MC4190)
This version was a hit in The Netherlands for Mike Berry.
