"The leaves mustn't fall" is a song I did for my third album and learned from Moon Mullican, who did it first (based on a true story). Moon Mullican was the first singer/pianist of country music and mixed blues and country together and formed the basis of rock 'n' roll. "Leaves mustn't fall" is a very popular song with people I have found out - so it makes perfect sense Elvis could have done this.

I know Elvis, who mixed blues with country and popularised R&B for white audiences (Moon Mullican with tracks like "I done it" and "Grandpa stole my baby" was the first white artist to do R&B), was influenced by Moon Mullican. Listen also to Elvis' piano playing on "Shake rattle and roll" alt. takes and you get the picture - it is pure Moon Mullican. Of course, Jerry Lee Lewis explored the singer pianist ideas further (Jerry Lee also influenced by Moon of course) while Elvis stuck mainly to guitar and then primarily vocals. Blues piano featured a lot on Elvis' tracks and performances by Elvis like "Reconsider baby" are similar to ones by Moon such as "Early morning blues".

It would be very interesting what would have appeared on Elvis' albums if Elvis had more of a say what went on. When he signed with RCA, of course he had to use RCA-owned songs. Whether Elvis did do this song or not, he would have definitely sung and played a lot of Moon Mullican material. I know he did sing "I'll sail my ship alone". And Elvis also seemed to influence many of Moon's later material, notably the blues balled "Just plain lonesome" where Moon sounds more like Elvis than himself.