you don t have to say you love me

[tcb4]

no you don t have .... i know ... .. Do you like the song ? It was one highlight in the madison square garden but not really in TTWII because he made mistake like "you dont have to belove me" & don t sing it seriously

Dusty Springfield called it a big shmaltz !! (the song is an italian classic song ). DS' version was dramatic whereas elvis version was more punchy and more "pop". how elvis came to cover the song ? because DS entered the US charts or because he heard the song on radio ? unless someone covered it just before elvis ?. Interesting to mention that DS did an album called "dusty in Memphis" with chips moman & reggie young in 1968. Was it a strategy for EP to record songs that had a good place in the charts ?

[Ben]

no you don t have .... i know ... .. Do you like the song ? It was one highlight in the Madison square garden but not really in TTWII because he made mistake like "you don't have to belove me" & don t sing it seriously

Dusty Springfield called it a big shmaltz !! (the song is an Italian classic song ). DS' version was dramatic whereas Elvis version was more punchy and more "pop". how Elvis came to cover the song ? because DS entered the US charts or because he heard the song on radio ? unless someone covered it just before Elvis ?. Interesting to mention that DS did an album called "dusty in Memphis" with chips Moman & Reggie young in 1968. Was it a strategy for EP to record songs that had a good place in the charts ?

i love this song, it is one of my favorite songs ever!! it has always been one of my favorite songs even when i was only about 8 and i used to say i want it played at my funeral (don't know why, must be a funeral song lol) and then last year my Granddad died and he loved Elvis so i asked my Grandma if she would ask them to play this song when we go into the church and since then i haven't listened to it but i love it still

[Rob]

It is a good song. My favorite Elvis version comes from the evening of June 10, 1972.

[KHoots]

Agreed, Rob. By a long shot for me, too. As a kid, I wore out my MSG LP primarliy on that track.

[tcb4]

for those interested, D Springfield sang the good 12/8 song, in the dvd "Live At The Royal Albert Hall"

[bajo]

Sad to say, but if I'm going to listen to this, I prefer the Second To None studio version. The live version never struck me!

[drjohncarpenter]

how elvis came to cover the song ? because DS entered the US charts or because he heard the song on radio ? unless someone covered it just before elvis ? ... Was it a strategy for EP to record songs that had a good place in the charts ?

Elvis very likely knew Dusty's massive 1966 hit single, and probably heard it quite a bit after finishing his work on "Spinout." Note that charting songs are most always heard on the radio.

It was an incredible year for popular music, just take a peek at some of the singles that year: 1966 Singles.

Elvis covered chart favorites throughout his career, with varying degrees of artistic and commercial success.

[Matthew]

My favourite of Elvis' many performances of this song is actually the original studio master. It moves at the right pace whereas a lot of the stage version were played a little too fast for my liking.

[likethebike]

I like the studio version best although the ending is just a little over the top. I've always found Dusty's a little wispy, more miffed than heartbroken. Elvis really captures the desperate bottom of the lyric particularly on the second verse. He gets more carried away with the song. Some people prefer's Springfield's restraint but I think the songs need Elvis' dramatics.

[Claus]

Interesting to mention that DS did an album called "dusty in Memphis" with chips moman & reggie young in 1968.

Most of Dusty In Memphis was recorded at the American Sound Studios (Springfield's final vocals were recorded in New York) but Chips Moman didn't produce it. The album was produced by Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd.

I much prefer the MSG performance to the studio version.

[drjohncarpenter]

I like the studio version best although the ending is just a little over the top. I've always found Dusty's a little wispy, more miffed than heartbroken. Elvis really captures the desperate bottom of the lyric particularly on the second verse. He gets more carried away with the song. Some people prefer's Springfield's restraint but I think the songs need Elvis' dramatics.

FYI -- where Dusty is sublime, Elvis is channeling Tom Jones.

[JerryNodak]

I don't prefer one over the other. Two singers, two interpetations.

FYI: I like Tom Jones. Well, his early stuff anyway.

[Brad M]

I like it very much. Perfer the versions from 1970 best though!

[likethebike]

I don't see Elvis doing Tom Jones here. Jones never pays attention to the pauses and power of a single word like Elvis does. The pop of Elvis' version is displayed in the fact that it reached #11 and Top Ten in Cashbox and Record World less than four years after Springfield's original. I don't find Dusty's exceedingly breathy performance sublime or even special. I think she mitigates the composition's admittedly melodramatic power.

To be harsh, Dusty Springfield is a performer whose reputation is due a serious downgrade. Her early girl group like hits "Wishin' and Hopin'" and "I Only Want to Be With You" are great as is "Son of a Preacher Man" and she doesn't f*** up on Bacharach/David's near perfect pop song "Look of Love". Most of the rest of her stuff including the vast majority of Dusty in Memphis is fairly ordinary. Even her stuff with Gamble and Huff at the reins seems more an approximation of soul than the real thing. I find her style derivative and limited in emotional, vocal and dramatic range.

I think people are so in love with the idea of her- little British girl committed to R&B recording with the big guns in the States made more appealing by the fact that she was a bit of a martyr- that they forgive her tiny number of great tracks and elevate some of her lesser tracks.

[jbnva58]

One of my faveorite Elvis songs...I remember hearing it in the car in 1970...I was totally bowled over by his interpretation.
Maybe its over the top,but the conviction with which he sings it overcomes the orchestration.
Several years ago a writer in Goldmine said his vocal spoke of a man who was ready to blow his brains out!My point exactly.That is what is unique about his singing here.

[drjohncarpenter]

The pop of Elvis' version is displayed in the fact that it reached #11 and Top Ten in Cashbox and Record World less than four years after Springfield's original. I don't find Dusty's exceedingly breathy performance sublime or even special.

You paint another corner case.

You may dislike Springfield, and dismiss Jones's strong influence on Elvis' singing from 1968 on, but there is no denying the huge difference between a #1 (UK) and #4 (US) hit (Dusty's 1966 single) and a #9 (UK) and #11 (US) success (Elvis' 1970 release).



RCA 47-9916 is a mighty performance by our hero, but some might argue it signaled the beginning of the end of an amazingly creative, commercially successful and exciting run of single tracks issued in the previous two years -- "If I Can Dream," "In The Ghetto," "Suspicious Minds," "Don't Cry Daddy," and "Kentucky Rain" -- almost all culled from his American Sound sessions in 1969.

[likethebike]

I don't dismiss that Jones had an influence on Elvis. Elvis was a listener and Jones was a favorite of his during these years. However, even at his most subtle Elvis was never just mocking Jones. His phrasing always had more country, more gospel and even at his most bombastic more subtlety.

I realize that it's a corner case about Springfield. I don't mind that. I feel some performers and records need to move up in estimation or downwards. I throw it down. You answer. We're talking and thinking about it.

I believe the chart position on Elvis' record was strong because the Springfield was so popular so recently and it wasn't a complete reinvention like Marvin Gaye's "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" which may as well have been a new record. It also didn't benefit from being the flip of an extremely popular song like Aretha's "I Say a Little Prayer". What's more, Elvis' previous 45 was only a modest hit. All that considered it did pretty well.

[Scarre]

A very good song!

[Mike Eder]

I like something fresh Like "I've Lost You" better, but I heard this on a plane flight once and it was so exciting to hear a lesser known Elvis song unexpectedly.Not bad at all.

[ColinB]

You paint another corner case.

I've come across this 'corner case' reference before, but don't know what it means...................

[Suspicious Minds]

I like both versions. Elvis version has a faster backing music and sounded better for that.

[Rob]

I like this song (as I mentioned earlier), but they play it WAY too much on Sirius Satellite Radio.

[tcb4]

Anybody knows who else sang the song ? thanx

[elvis1977br]

Listen to the new Shelby Lynn´s cd , with Dusty´s classics , superb.

[midnightx]

I like this song (as I mentioned earlier), but they play it WAY too much on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Maybe you should write a formal complaint to the FCC - if you are correct, things have gotten way out of hand.