Elvis must have been very dedicated to get this song right on February 20, 1969. It took him 29 takes to get to the final Master take. And man, was it worth his dedication:
What we hear here is that Elvis and the band very much started with the original in mind. The original by Jerry Butler that hit the charts a week after Elvis recorded it (new entry on #70), while his album "The Ice Man Cometh" with the song on it was in the charts for a couple of weeks already.
Only The Strong Survive is the only song on From Elvis in Memphis by African American songwriters (Jerry Butler, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff).
(..) Butler co-wrote the song in 1968, but the original inspiration was from when his girlfriend broke up with him in high school. He asked his mother for advice, who said: "Son, you've just started to live. There are more girls in the world, some better, some worse, some just as good, and a whole lot of lonely ones, looking for a good man like you"
The night before Butler sat down to write the song with Gamble and Huff, Gamble remembered saying to a friend on the phone, "in order to make it in this world, only the strong survive." Butler grafted in his mother's advice on to Gamble's phone conversation, while Gamble and Huff supplied their signature hooks. When Butler released the song in early 1969, it became the biggest hit of his career.
Still not completely satisfied with Elvis' 29th take of the song, Moman produced a voice repair (most probably on February 22) to the song. This - perhaps with some input from Felton Jarvis - became the final cut that was send into the world:
I love the song.
Sources
https://www.keithflynn.com/recording-sessions/690219.html#03
https://www.youtube.com/c/elvispresley/videos
https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard-Magazine.htm
https://www.bol.com/nl/p/iceman-cometh/9200000113327389/
https://www.youtube.com/c/jazzyscookie/videos
Book: From Elvis in Memphis by Eric Wolfson (2021)
Book: Only the Strong Survive: Memoirs of a Soul Survivor by Jerry Butler (2000)
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