Heartbreak Hotel

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Written by: Mae Boren Axton, Tommy Durden, Presley
Produced by: Steve Sholes
Released: Jan. '56 on RCA
Charts: 27 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

When RCA records signed "hillbilly cat" Presley, they expected more songs like his rockabilly hits from Sun Records. Instead, for his first RCA single, Presley recorded this gloomy, downtempo number, co-written by Axton, his former publicist, and inspired by a newspaper report of a suicide note that consisted solely of the line "I walk a lonely street." But what Sun Records founder Sam Phillips called "a morbid mess" went on to become Presley's first Number One hit and million-selling single, thanks in part to Scotty Moore's steely guitar and a thumping bass line from Bill Black.

Appears on: Elvis 30 #1 Hits (RCA)

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