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Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs?
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: NightWing Date: 13 Sep 23 - 07:58 PM The Wikipedia article on the Million Dollar Quartet recording (December 4, 1956) lists the following cuts as "Traditional":
"When The Saints Go Marchin' In", "Jesus Walked That Lonesome Valley", "I Shall Not Be Moved", "Down By the Riverside", "Blessed Jesus (Hold My Hand)", and "On the Jericho Road"
The same Wikipedia article quotes Cash's '97 autobiography:
Elvis wanted to hear songs Bill [Monroe] had written besides "Blue Moon of Kentucky", and I knew the whole repertoire. So, I'd say that "I doubt he'd have been bothered with Appalacian [sic] stuff" is unlikely to be true. At that time, that "Appalachian stuff" was no more than a generation old. I find it extremely unlikely that he didn't know, appreciate, and (at least occasionally) play it in the same way (and for much the same reasons) that musicians today know, appreciate, and play stuff from the '70s, '80s, and '90s.'
How much he recorded of such music is another question. That music simply wasn't in his style, so would likely not have been marketable to his fans.
BB, |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST Date: 11 Sep 23 - 07:28 AM 'Down By The Riverside'. I doubt he'd have been bothered with Appalacian stuff - there's a sub-plot in an early movie, where 'hillbilly music', ie Appalacian/Celtic gets a lot of shade - 'One More Day' is the song he doesn't sing. Sounds like one from Elvis' slush pile https://youtu.be/oB9YAVEqWrY |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 10 Sep 23 - 05:11 PM It's the use you put the song to..... As above, the thread is about "Elvis" not an abstract folk concept 'you.' It's pop music. The general industry is "hospitality." Fortune & fame run one-two on the reasons why big time artists & producers are in it. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Severn Date: 10 Sep 23 - 04:16 PM I would think that whoever put together "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You" had heard the old French song " Plaisir D'Amour", which was covered by Joan Baez and a few others over the years. "Some wise-add said 'Only Russians are fools'...." Yeah, THAT one! And "It's Now Or Never", of course, was "O Sole Mio". I have heard some of Elvis' slow numbers sing as lullabies to put babies to sleep that they surely could be counted as Folk Songs by now. I have felt for a long time that any song sing as a lullabye is being used in a Folk context, so it qualifies. Anybody whose infant won't go to sleep even after you have sing every official one, and has to resort to any slow song you can think of it had had to start improvising further verses to whatever you were singing " When you wish upon the sun, Makes no difference what you've done.... " Earth....what you're worth Sky....No need to wonder why ....and on into the night. That's the folk process in action. Writing them like and how they usta back when. Putting kids to sleep. Hoeing the garden etc. It's the use you put the song to..... |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton Date: 05 Sep 23 - 01:32 PM "Heartbreak Hotel" was a rewrite by Mae Axton, (Hoyt's mother) based on an old blues done by Cisco Houston called "Hard Rock Hotel". I've heard that Elvis was a folk song fan. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were folk song fans, mostly blues. When I played music with Guy Carawan, we sang "Houndog Bay At The Moon" written by an Oklahoma english professor. Mike used to play for UCLA fraternities and I know he heard us sing that song. I often wondered if that's where they go the idea for "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog" they wrote for Big Mama Thornton. I think Elvis was close to folk roots and his influence Big Boy Croodup would indicate this. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 04 Sep 23 - 04:47 PM Thread title: Yes.he.did. First song on Modette's wiki link above is Hedy West's 500 Miles. And if Elvis is not the #1 recording of Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani's Aloha 'Oe on any given list, it's surely in the top three. Elvis covered a lot more Bob Dylan than most consumers realize (folk/not folk.) And a lot of gospel was already 'stolen' (or adopted) by various protest movements over the years before Elvis got around to it. Listener's choice on what genre he sang it to. More from the wiki: 500 Miles (Hedy West) Aloha 'Oe (Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani) Amazing Grace (John Newton) Blowin' in the Wind (Bob Dylan) Cottonfields (Lead Belly) Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Bob Dylan) Down by the Riverside (trad.) The First Noel (trad.*) Frankie and Johnny (trad.) Froggy Went A-Courting (trad.) I Shall Not Be Moved (trad.) Old MacDonald Had a Farm (trad.) Tomorrow Is a Long Time (Bob Dylan) Walk That Lonesome Road (trad.) When the Saints Go Marching In (trad.) |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,RJM Date: 04 Sep 23 - 03:48 PM The op asked if ELVIS sang any folk songs, not whether half of his repertoire have become folk songs because they are sung by ordinary folks for their own pleasure, ordinary folks sing opera for their own pleasure and play classical music for their own pleasure, ordinary folks play jazz for their own pleasure, in fact most forms of music are played by ordinary folk for their own pleasure but it does not make them folk songs I used to play pop music from the sixties. during the early sixties, but it was not folk music. it was the hits of the day, that i was playing for my own pleasure all of us in our group knew what it was and it was not called folk music by any of us. when i saw jimi hendrix it was jimI hendrix not bloody folk musiC FFS |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Grishka Date: 04 Sep 23 - 02:52 PM About half of Elvis's repertoire has become folk songs in the sense that they are sung by ordinary folks for their own pleasure, with strumming guitars. Good rock'n'roll is a different matter, though. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 04 Sep 23 - 01:41 PM Well, Elvis did record a lot of gospel material but whether any of those songs could be called trad, I don't know. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST Date: 04 Sep 23 - 11:54 AM when i listen to my documentaries about the stars i fined it is very good to hear that elvis never wrote any of his songs at all. elvis stole old recordings from artists that he would like. when elvis when he was 15 years old he listen to his dad play the shelton brothers sing aura lee he liked the song too much. i watched it in my house i have today and found it on a cd album called the roots of elvis. in 1949 tony martin had a number 2 hit with there's no tomorrow that song stayed in the charts for many weeks. i have seen many tribute stars do elvis songs like love me tender a song written by vera maxwell and ken derby set to the tune of aura lee. from joe. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: NightWing Date: 13 Sep 23 - 07:58 PM The Wikipedia article on the Million Dollar Quartet recording (December 4, 1956) lists the following cuts as "Traditional":
"When The Saints Go Marchin' In", "Jesus Walked That Lonesome Valley", "I Shall Not Be Moved", "Down By the Riverside", "Blessed Jesus (Hold My Hand)", and "On the Jericho Road"
The same Wikipedia article quotes Cash's '97 autobiography:
Elvis wanted to hear songs Bill [Monroe] had written besides "Blue Moon of Kentucky", and I knew the whole repertoire. So, I'd say that "I doubt he'd have been bothered with Appalacian [sic] stuff" is unlikely to be true. At that time, that "Appalachian stuff" was no more than a generation old. I find it extremely unlikely that he didn't know, appreciate, and (at least occasionally) play it in the same way (and for much the same reasons) that musicians today know, appreciate, and play stuff from the '70s, '80s, and '90s.'
How much he recorded of such music is another question. That music simply wasn't in his style, so would likely not have been marketable to his fans.
BB, |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST Date: 11 Sep 23 - 07:28 AM 'Down By The Riverside'. I doubt he'd have been bothered with Appalacian stuff - there's a sub-plot in an early movie, where 'hillbilly music', ie Appalacian/Celtic gets a lot of shade - 'One More Day' is the song he doesn't sing. Sounds like one from Elvis' slush pile https://youtu.be/oB9YAVEqWrY |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 10 Sep 23 - 05:11 PM It's the use you put the song to..... As above, the thread is about "Elvis" not an abstract folk concept 'you.' It's pop music. The general industry is "hospitality." Fortune & fame run one-two on the reasons why big time artists & producers are in it. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Severn Date: 10 Sep 23 - 04:16 PM I would think that whoever put together "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You" had heard the old French song " Plaisir D'Amour", which was covered by Joan Baez and a few others over the years. "Some wise-add said 'Only Russians are fools'...." Yeah, THAT one! And "It's Now Or Never", of course, was "O Sole Mio". I have heard some of Elvis' slow numbers sing as lullabies to put babies to sleep that they surely could be counted as Folk Songs by now. I have felt for a long time that any song sing as a lullabye is being used in a Folk context, so it qualifies. Anybody whose infant won't go to sleep even after you have sing every official one, and has to resort to any slow song you can think of it had had to start improvising further verses to whatever you were singing " When you wish upon the sun, Makes no difference what you've done.... " Earth....what you're worth Sky....No need to wonder why ....and on into the night. That's the folk process in action. Writing them like and how they usta back when. Putting kids to sleep. Hoeing the garden etc. It's the use you put the song to..... |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton Date: 05 Sep 23 - 01:32 PM "Heartbreak Hotel" was a rewrite by Mae Axton, (Hoyt's mother) based on an old blues done by Cisco Houston called "Hard Rock Hotel". I've heard that Elvis was a folk song fan. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were folk song fans, mostly blues. When I played music with Guy Carawan, we sang "Houndog Bay At The Moon" written by an Oklahoma english professor. Mike used to play for UCLA fraternities and I know he heard us sing that song. I often wondered if that's where they go the idea for "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog" they wrote for Big Mama Thornton. I think Elvis was close to folk roots and his influence Big Boy Croodup would indicate this. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 04 Sep 23 - 04:47 PM Thread title: Yes.he.did. First song on Modette's wiki link above is Hedy West's 500 Miles. And if Elvis is not the #1 recording of Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani's Aloha 'Oe on any given list, it's surely in the top three. Elvis covered a lot more Bob Dylan than most consumers realize (folk/not folk.) And a lot of gospel was already 'stolen' (or adopted) by various protest movements over the years before Elvis got around to it. Listener's choice on what genre he sang it to. More from the wiki: 500 Miles (Hedy West) Aloha 'Oe (Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani) Amazing Grace (John Newton) Blowin' in the Wind (Bob Dylan) Cottonfields (Lead Belly) Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Bob Dylan) Down by the Riverside (trad.) The First Noel (trad.*) Frankie and Johnny (trad.) Froggy Went A-Courting (trad.) I Shall Not Be Moved (trad.) Old MacDonald Had a Farm (trad.) Tomorrow Is a Long Time (Bob Dylan) Walk That Lonesome Road (trad.) When the Saints Go Marching In (trad.) |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,RJM Date: 04 Sep 23 - 03:48 PM The op asked if ELVIS sang any folk songs, not whether half of his repertoire have become folk songs because they are sung by ordinary folks for their own pleasure, ordinary folks sing opera for their own pleasure and play classical music for their own pleasure, ordinary folks play jazz for their own pleasure, in fact most forms of music are played by ordinary folk for their own pleasure but it does not make them folk songs I used to play pop music from the sixties. during the early sixties, but it was not folk music. it was the hits of the day, that i was playing for my own pleasure all of us in our group knew what it was and it was not called folk music by any of us. when i saw jimi hendrix it was jimI hendrix not bloody folk musiC FFS |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Grishka Date: 04 Sep 23 - 02:52 PM About half of Elvis's repertoire has become folk songs in the sense that they are sung by ordinary folks for their own pleasure, with strumming guitars. Good rock'n'roll is a different matter, though. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 04 Sep 23 - 01:41 PM Well, Elvis did record a lot of gospel material but whether any of those songs could be called trad, I don't know. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST Date: 04 Sep 23 - 11:54 AM when i listen to my documentaries about the stars i fined it is very good to hear that elvis never wrote any of his songs at all. elvis stole old recordings from artists that he would like. when elvis when he was 15 years old he listen to his dad play the shelton brothers sing aura lee he liked the song too much. i watched it in my house i have today and found it on a cd album called the roots of elvis. in 1949 tony martin had a number 2 hit with there's no tomorrow that song stayed in the charts for many weeks. i have seen many tribute stars do elvis songs like love me tender a song written by vera maxwell and ken derby set to the tune of aura lee. from joe. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: DonMeixner Date: 21 Jul 21 - 03:11 PM Never a fan. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Mark Finn Date: 21 Jul 21 - 01:31 PM "Old Shep"? |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: Peter the Squeezer Date: 21 Jul 21 - 02:12 AM A mate of mine sings Elvis songs in a Yorkshire accent. Very funny! "Tha's nobbut a whippet" |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST Date: 20 Jul 21 - 05:11 PM Sounds like a good idea, Dave the Gnome - maybe I'll start a thread about it. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: mg Date: 20 Jul 21 - 04:42 PM a composed one about shrimp boats going to loosian...sounds folklike. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 20 Jul 21 - 03:42 PM Define folk song,,, (Ducks and runs) |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Guest Date: 20 Jul 21 - 08:08 AM Elvis sang "I'll take you home again, Kathleen" and "Danny Boy". |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Joseph Scott Date: 19 Jul 21 - 01:50 PM "I Was Born Ten Thousand Years Ago" was a folk song. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Rossey Date: 18 Jul 21 - 04:45 PM Having been a bit silly with 'Old Macdonald..' Elvis did record a few usually non controversial modern folk standards of the time.. 'Early Morning Rain' etc. He also has a stab on a private home recording of 'Blowing in the Wind' roughing it out, (in the wrong key for him). |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Rossey Date: 18 Jul 21 - 03:55 PM One you may not here very often, Elvis did also record a completely tasteless version of 'Old Macdonald'. The king talks meat, or rather sings about it. Probably the worst song of his film career. Truly awful. Veggies beware. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,RA Date: 18 Jul 21 - 11:44 AM 'That's Alright Mama' apparently features some traditional blues verses... |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: pattyClink Date: 18 Jul 21 - 10:30 AM Yes. Haven't heard American Trilogy for years. American Trilogy live 1973 |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: mayomick Date: 18 Jul 21 - 09:04 AM All my Trials |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton Date: 18 Jul 21 - 08:48 AM Mae Axton redid the old folk blues called "Hard rock Hotel" to "Heart Break Hotel". Mae was Hoyt's mother. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: Big Al Whittle Date: 18 Jul 21 - 06:22 AM Loads of his songs were in my pub repertoire, and I play them now and then for my pleasure. Are You Lonesome Tonight, Its Now or Never, All Shook up, The Wonder of You, etc People like his songsand they are firmly embedded in the public consciousness In time people will forget Elvis but variants of his songs will become folksongs. I think. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Modette Date: 18 Jul 21 - 05:19 AM Here's a list of Elvis's recorded songs. Elvis 1953-1977 recordings |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: Bonzo3legs Date: 18 Jul 21 - 05:16 AM I was a fan from the start to1959, after that / forget it! |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: Helen Date: 18 Jul 21 - 05:06 AM I forgot about that one: Muss i denn We learned it in school. I have to admit I'm not a full-on Elvis fan so I definitely won't have much more to contribute to this thread but I'll be reading it with interest. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: Dave Hanson Date: 18 Jul 21 - 02:21 AM Wooden Heart is or was a traditional German song I believe. Dave H |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: Helen Date: 17 Jul 21 - 11:14 PM Aura Lee might not count as a folk song, on second thoughts. |
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Subject: RE: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: Helen Date: 17 Jul 21 - 11:13 PM Hi Lin, The only one which comes to my mind is Aura Lea "The tune is familiar to modern audiences from the 1956 Elvis Presley #1 hit 'Love Me Tender' with new lyrics by Ken Darby, a derivative adaptation of the original. A later Presley recording for the film The Trouble with Girls entitled "Violet (Flower of N.Y.U.)" also used the melody of 'Aura Lea'." |
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Subject: Did Elvis ever sing any folk songs? From: GUEST,Lin Date: 17 Jul 21 - 10:35 PM With all the songs and different genres of music he performed I was wondering if Elvis Presley ever covered any folk songs? Of course he covered "pop", Gospel, country and other styles but just curious if he ever sang any traditional folk or even touch on some contemporary folk throughout his music career? I tried doing a search once some time ago now, but was unable to find any connection with Elvis and folk music at all. Maybe someone else doing a search might come up with something. Thanks. |
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