Can you believe it? Tomorrow would be Elvis Presley’s 84th birthday… To celebrate, our mystery conductor has asked us to play an Elvis song followed by songs by artists who were active when he was. Since that includes half of the ’50’s, all of the ’60’s, and most of the ’70’s, that gives me a lot of leeway… but I stuck with artists who were from the ’50’s and early ’60’s. Elvis was first recorded on Sam Phillips’s Sun Records label, along with a few other names you’ll recognize, so the first half of the list are the Sun artists.

1. Elvis Presley, “Mystery Train” As long as we have a mystery comnductor… From 1955, recorded on a 78 rpm record. Reached #10 on the country chart.
2. Carl Perkins, “Matchbox” Recorded in 1956 as the B side to “Your True Love,” which went to #13 on the country chart. One of his more popular tunes.
3. Johnny Cash, “Cry, Cry, Cry” The Man In Black’s first single, it reached #14 on the country chart in 1955.
4. Jerry Lee Lewis, “Breathless” From 1958, it reached #7 on the pop chart, #4 on the country chart, and #3 on the R&B chart.
5. Roy Orbison, “Ooby Dooby” The original from 1956, it didn’t crack the Top 40. Creedence Clearwater Revival covered it practically note-for-note on Cosmo’s Factory.
6. Little Richard, “Keep A-Knockin'” from 1958, went to #13 on the pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart.
7. Chet Atkins, “Canned Heat” I included this because around the same time Elvis came to RCA Records, Chet was put in charge of the Nashville studios.
8. Fats Domino, “Blue Monday” Reached #9 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart in 1956. Fats was also a Sam Phillips discovery.
9. Ricky Nelson, “Hello Mary Lou” Evidently Ozzie Nelson had more than a little trouble with his son mimicking the King. From 1961, it only reached #9, but James Burton’s guitar solo influenced many guitar players. Burton later played with Elvis as a member of the TCB Band.
10. Bill Haley & The Comets, “Rockin’ Thru The Rye” Only reached #78 on the Hot 100, but reached #3 in the UK, and probably had Harry Lauder spinning in his grave.

And that’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for January 7, 2019.

Monday’s Music Moves Me is sponsored by X-Mas Dolly, Callie, Cathy, Alana, Michelle and Stacy, so be sure and visit them, where you can also find the Linky for the other participants.

Well, that’ll teach me. I usually put these posts together on Sunday afternoon, and always check X-Mas Dolly’s blog for the theme for that week. Now, I knew that last week was a “freebie,” meaning there’d be a theme for this week, too. HOWEVER, when I went to Dolly’s page yesterday at 2 PM, it still said this week was a freebie, so I went with that. Imagine my surprise when I get up this morning to a bunch of M⁴ posts all going with the official “Elvis Songs” theme.

Well, I already had a M⁴ post done, and I briefly considered just going with that, but I just couldn’t. I had seen nearly everyone’s post and saw that The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s greatest hits had been covered pretty well, so I went instead with songs from some of his movies. WLS-TV in Chicago (the ABC station) used to have a “3:30 Movie” every day, and Elvis Presley and Jerry Lewis movies were popular (probably because they could hack them to pieces to fit all the commercials in), so I’ve seen a lot of them, though I can’t remember much about them.

Wooden Heart (from G. I. Blues, 1960) The melody is that of “Muss I Den,” a German song. I knew it sounded familiar.

No More (from Blue Hawai’i, 1961)

Bossa Nova Baby (from Fun In Acapulco, 1963) I had an acquaintance when I was much younger (probably around the time this song was released) who loved this song.

Gotta Lotta Living To Do (from Loving You, 1957)

Trouble (from King Creole, 1958)

And that’s your second Monday’s Music Moves Me for October 3, 2016.

Monday’s Music Moves Me is sponsored by X-Mas Dolly, Callie, Stacy, Cathy, and Naila Moon, so be sure and visit them, where you can also find the Linky for the other participants.