I'M LEAVIN'!!!!!!

[Delboy]

Good song innit????

[Rob]

I've always liked it. Especially the live versions.

Not necessarily off topic though.

[Narek]

I enjoy the guitar in it a lot

[ColinB]

Good song innit????

As an Elvis song, it's a little different.

He must have felt pretty crushed that it didn't do much in the chart.

I have a theory.

In the early days, he got so much publicity from his 'live' performances, and his singles were so perfect for their time, that no promotion was necessary.

To get a hit, they simply had to release a single !

The DJ's played it to death, & a high chart place was virtually guaranteed.

But later on, this wasn't the case.

And Elvis & his management & record company didn't seem to have any idea how to promote his releases !

They still thought it was sufficient to release them !

Some good songs & performances faired poorly in the chart because of this............

[Pete Dube]

Colin -
I think you're largely right, but I also think that a combination of momentum and commercial appeal plays a part in a single's success (or lack thereof). Elvis simply lost momentum in '71 by releasing a string of un-commercial singles. I'm Leaving is a lovely performance, but it's not particularly commercial. The same applies to I Really Don't Want To Know. That record did as well as it did on the charts because of momentum from his hit streak of 69-70. But the release of the un-commercial Where Did They Go Lord?/Rags To Riches and the sub-par Life/Only Believe brought his momentum to a screeching halt. Elvis hit big again with Burning Love, and the momentum of that single's success carried over to Separate Ways/Always On My Mind, and to a lesser extent to Steamroller Blues (which mostly benifited from the exposure of the Aloha show).

[familyjules]

But the release of the un-commercial Where Did They Go Lord?/Rags To Riches and the sub-par Life/Only Believe brought his momentum to a screeching halt.

Rags To Riches isn't commercial? To my ears it's two of the catchiest minutes of Elvis's career!

Jules

[Delboy]

In 70/71 RCA saturated the market. A focus on quality may have been better. Having to listen to 'Life' on the radio a year or so after 'Suspicious Minds' must have been a wrench.

[elvisa]

It`s partly a good song......but it turns me off with too much la,la,la,la,la,la,la

[likethebike]

I agree with Pete that the song is uncommercial although I don't necessarily see "I Really Don't Want to Know" as that way. (That baby sold 750,000 copies where it suffered was airplay.) It's lyrically and musically downbeat, doesn't have an obvious hook and worst of all (for fan and DJ recognition) doesn't really sound like an Elvis record.

Colin- I think in the early days RCA was so desperate to recoup its $35,000 that did a full court press on promotion. Later on Elvis' releases were so big they promoted themselves. When the market changed, RCA didn't change with it. Somewhere along the line I also think RCA got a little cheap and preferred not to spend bucks on promotion. They made a truck load of money on stuff like Let's Be Friends and even Elvis' new stuff had a guaranteed built in profit margin> They must have thought, "Why spend more?"

Interestingly, if you think of most Elvis' '68 and onwards successes they all mostly tie in to some sort of outside media event- two tv specials, a movie, Elvis touring for the first time in almost decade, the MSG show.

Plus, in the 1970s Elvis had a very idiosynchratic audience. Part wanted to hear big hear big ballads like "The Wonder of You" and part wanted to hear more rocking stuff like "Burning Love" or more lyrically contemporary stuff like "In the Ghetto".

I also think post-72 (so it wouldn't affect "I'm Leavin") but Elvis suffered in the US from being associated with the 1950s. There was a severe backlash to the brief oldies revival that saw Elvis, Chuck Berry and Ricky Nelson all in the Top Ten during the same week. Elvis didn't suffer as much as his contemporaries but artists like Dion could appear on American Bandstand with a contemporary records and still not inspire Top 40 airplay. (The lone brief exceptions were Sedaka and Paul Anka who did hook into some MOR play in 1974-1975).

[Pete Dube]

Rags To Riches isn't commercial? To my ears it's two of the catchiest minutes of Elvis's career!

Jules

It's wasn't commercial relative to the U.S. pop charts back in the spring of '71. In fact, RTR failed to make the top 40. It was the B side Where Did They Go Lord? that was a modest top 40 hit (#33). For the record, I like both perfromances, particularly WDTGL? They just weren't good choices for singles (both would've been acceptable as B sides).

[Pete Dube]

I agree with Pete that the song is uncommercial although I don't necessarily see "I Really Don't Want to Know" as that way. (That baby sold 750,000 copies where it suffered was airplay.)

But the relative lack of airplay for IRDWTK was due to it not having top 40 pop radio commercial appeal. It's more-than-respectable sales is what pushed it to #21. A decent showing for a record that doesn't really have pop chart appeal. It is a terrific performance.

[Joe Car]

Colin -
I think you're largely right, but I also think that a combination of momentum and commercial appeal plays a part in a single's success (or lack thereof). Elvis simply lost momentum in '71 by releasing a string of un-commercial singles. I'm Leaving is a lovely performance, but it's not particularly commercial. The same applies to I Really Don't Want To Know. That record did as well as it did on the charts because of momentum from his hit streak of 69-70. But the release of the un-commercial Where Did They Go Lord?/Rags To Riches and the sub-par Life/Only Believe brought his momentum to a screeching halt. Elvis hit big again with Burning Love, and the momentum of that single's success carried over to Separate Ways/Always On My Mind, and to a lesser extent to Steamroller Blues (which mostly benifited from the exposure of the Aloha show).

A ridiculous amount of releases from 69 thru 71, didn't help! Something like 10 lp's, not to mention all the singles that were released as well.

[Juan Luis]

But the release of the un-commercial Where Did They Go Lord?/Rags To Riches and the sub-par Life/Only Believe brought his momentum to a screeching halt.

Rags To Riches isn't commercial? To my ears it's two of the catchiest minutes of Elvis's career!

Jules

Well..It did not help that it was a major hit for uncool (to young pop crowd of 70s) Tony Bennet whom many years later did become kool when pop artists started to appreciate the other non-rock artists. Btw..Elvis' studio effort was not as hot as late 76 effort..the only time imo he gave it all on that particular song cause his studio cut/ master single was taken from at least 2 takes that were independently lackluster,unfinished... and released edit made the grade..barely.

[Juan Luis]

It`s partly a good song......but it turns me off with too much la,la,la,la,la,la,la

Yes...I have always stated that too many la la las...did not help it reach hit status..imagine the "la la las" voices (part) plucked by Burton on guitar....that would have been great imo. I will check if song loses too many lyrics if replaced by guitar pluckin'!

[familyjules]

Well..It did not help that it was a major hit for uncool (to young pop crowd of 70s) Tony Bennet whom many years later did become kool when pop artists started to appreciate the other non-rock artists. Btw..Elvis' studio effort was not as hot as late 76 effort..the only time imo he gave it all on that particular song cause his studio cut/ master single was taken from at least 2 takes that were independently lackluster,unfinished... and released edit made the grade..barely.

I can see that it would have been seen as an unhip song. But despite the edit I really can't agree that the released version only barely made the grade. To my ears it's a spinechilling and incredibly moving performance. I think Elvis nails it. Everytime I hear Rags To Riches it makes me grin ear to ear and when he sings that bridge part I'm very often reduced to a quivering wreck!

Jules

[Scarre]

I´m too lazy to search for it but (the original thread)...Delboy!...We want new PICS of your castle. It´s been wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too long.
Is it a 100% ready, or do you still have some painting to do?

[ColinB]

... I'm very often reduced to a quivering wreck!

I'm just the same !

But with me, it's when I open my credit card statement..............................

[Delboy]

I´m too lazy to search for it but (the original thread)...Delboy!...We want new PICS of your castle. It´s been wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too long.
Is it a 100% ready, or do you still have some painting to do?

Scarre

I forgot about that. I've been in for about 8 months now. Revelling in Aloha DVD on a 50" Surround sound plasma!! I'll post some pics soon of the inside.

Cheers

[familyjules]

I agree that the focus went off on Elvis's singles by 1970. The 1969 singles from the American sessions were such obvious single material, but the 1970 Nashville sessions, strong as they were (and no one is a bigger fan of these sessions than myself) seemed more album oriented. This isn't to say that the material is weaker overall than the 1969 sessions, but I don't hear so many obvious singles. I've always thought I've Lost You was a terrible choice for a single.

Moving into 1971, I'm Leavin' sounds like a really really strong album cut, but not really the a-side of a 45. I think I'd have gone with It's Only Love - indeed this was a major hit after Elvis's death here in the UK.

Jules