10 Essential Elvis Presley Songs
“What’s your favorite Elvis Presley song?”
Being that I wrote a book titled Cloning Elvis, I’m probably a good person to ask that question.
But as a pretty big Elvis fan that’s a difficult, if not impossible, question for me to answer.
Yes, I do have my favorites, but at the same time when you’re into Elvis, you like a lot of his songs.
Even the ones that deep down you know are pretty dopey, yet you enjoy because it’s Elvis.
So if you met someone who had no idea who Elvis Presley is/was/will always be to them, and you had to quickly introduce them to his music, what songs would you play for them.
What Elvis songs would you deem essential for this person to listen to?
That’s the task I gave myself.
To prevent things from getting unwieldy, and to force me to really chose, I limited the list to 10.
Below are what I believe are the 10 Essential Elvis songs, that you can listen to on You Tube or Spotify.
Here’s the are on my You Tube Channel:
And here they are on Spotify:
Why I chose these 10 Elvis songs:
Heartbreak Hotel
This was Elvis’s first number one hit and the first release from his contract with RCA.
The song reached number one on both Billboard’s Pop Chart and Country & Western Chart.
In many ways, “Heartbreak Hotel” was the song that shot Elvis Presley to the top 1950s music.
Hound Dog
I honestly don’t feel I need to explain this choice.
“You ain’t nothing but a hound dog” is practically synonymous with Elvis.
Elvis performed “Hound Dog” on his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which 82.6 percent of American’s with TV’s tuned in to watch.
If I’d left this off, this list would be absolutely worthless.
Don’t Be Cruel
Simply an awesome song that is pure Elvis.
It was the B-Side to “Hound Dog,” which it knocked out of the top spot on the chart.
The two songs switched back and forth between number one for 11 weeks in 1956, proving that the only real challenger to Elvis Presley at that point was Elvis Presley.
Elvis also performed “Don’t Be Cruel” on his first Ed Sullivan appearance. It was the first song he did that night.
Love Me Tender
Elvis may have become the King of Rock and Roll, but at his core, he was a ballad singer.
That designation originally made Sam Phillips of Sun Records pass the young singer up.
But how can anyone not be moved by Elvis’s vocals on a ballad?
“Love Me Tender” is a simple yet deep love song and the title of Elvis’s first motion picture.
Jailhouse Rock
When I was a kid this was my favorite Elvis song.
This song exemplifies what 50s rock and roll was about, and why it frightened many adults whose children loved Elvis.
As Christian Slater’s character Clarence said at the beginning of True Romance (written by Quentin Tarantino):
“In Jailhouse Rock he was everything rockabilly is about. Nah, nah, nah, I mean he IS rockabilly. Mean, surly, nasty rude.”
The song is also the title to Elvis’s third movie.
Movie or not, this song is Elvis at his best.
Can’t Help Falling In Love
The song was written for Elvis’s 1961 movie, Blue Hawaii — his second movie following his discharge from the Army.
This song has transcended the movie and is one of the best love songs Elvis ever recorded.
During most of his 1970s concerts, Elvis concluded his shows by singing this song
If I Can Dream
Possibly the most meaningful song Elvis ever performed.
It was the closing number for his 1968 NBC Special today known as the ‘68 Comeback.
This song is powerful and Elvis specifically wanted to sing it given all that had happened in America that year, including the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his hometown of Memphis.
Suspicious Minds
Released in 1969, “Suspicious Minds” went on to become a quintessential song of Elvis’s rhinestone studd jumpsuit live performances.
The album version is slower than the way Elvis performed the song in concert, which is why I chose the Aloha from Hawaii recording for this list.
And while I love listening to Elvis sing “Suspicious Minds,” there’s nothing like watching him perform it live — as in this clip from a Las Vegas show in 1970.
https://youtu.be/Y_RCvsiavuM
Burning Love
“Burning Love” was Elvis’s last number one hit during his lifetime.
It contains his early rocker vibe of the 50s while transitioning into the more mature performer of the 1970s.
It’s also my main go-to karaoke song, so yes I might be a bit biased in selecting this for the list.
American Trilogy
Let’s face it. Only Elvis Presley could pull this song off.
It contains “Dixie” which was a popular song in the southern United States, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” which was a Union Army song during the Civil War, and “All My Trials” a Bahamian lullaby which is believed to have been inspired by an African-American spiritual song.
Elvis came to transcend American cultural divides and he still does.
And as a song, its almost impossible to listen to Elvis perform this song and not get the chills.