Jailhouse Rock

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Written by: Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller
Produced by: Steve Sholes
Released: Oct. '57 on RCA
Charts: 27 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

Songwriters Leiber and Stoller had already penned a couple of Presley hits -- most notably "Hound Dog," picked up from Big Mama Thornton -- but their theme song for Presley's third movie was decidedly silly, the kind of tongue-in-cheek goof they had come up with for the Coasters. The King, however, sang it as straight rock & roll, overlooking the jokes in the lyrics (like the suggestion of gay romance when inmate Number 47 tells Number 3, "You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see") and then introducing Scotty Moore's guitar solo with a cry so intense that the take almost collapses.

Appears on: Elvis: 30 #1 Hits (RCA)

Next: Tangled Up In Blue

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