A Strange Session --> August 22, 1967

[drjohncarpenter]

Here's a little background on the RCA Hollywood studio session for Elvis Presley that never was, and only revealed by RCA's Ernst Jørgensen many years after the fact.

It was guitarist/arranger/producer Billy Strange's first shot at revitalizing Presley's recording career. Songs were carefully chosen, hot Los Angeles musicians booked. All was ready for a session on Tuesday, August 22, 1967.

Can you imagine how bummed Billy must have felt when he got the news to call off the session?

It became a very strange, last-minute cancellation.

The explanation was that Presley associate Richard Davis was driving one of Elvis' cars when he hit and killed a gardener who had unexpectedly stepped into the street. Possible bad publicity for Elvis! But research proves this actually occurred in March 1963!

So it remains a mystery to this day why "management told Elvis to immediately vacate his Rocco Place house and fly to Las Vegas."

_____

So what about the studio date, how involved was the singer? It seems a lot.

The song list in Billy's capable hands was prone to change, and did so right up to the August 22 deadline. Elvis submitted tons of suggestions, and many were of a more up-tempo nature than the final selections, such as Roy Hamilton's wonderful rhythmic rocker, "Don't Let Go." A few that were discussed did see Presley recordings later on, but only a few.

The assembled Los Angeles musicians and vocalists, like Al Casey, Chuck Berghofer, B.J. Baker, Thurl Ravenscroft and Larry Knechtel, would eventually pop up at Presley dates led by Strange in March and October 1968, and for the June 1968 sessions in support of Steve Binder's NBC-TV Special.

The unused selections, noted in Ernst's A Life In Music, JAT's session books and elsewhere, are below. There could be more that got short-listed, but they have not surfaced. Also included are links to the original artist singles.



1 - Here Comes Tomorrow (Charles Singleton, Horace Ott)
- unknown song!



The next title could either be a ballad hit from 1962 or a gritty rocker from the same year.

I'll wager it was the rocker.



2a - Ramblin' Rose (Noel Sherman, Joe Sherman)
- #2 hit for Nat "King" Cole in September 1962

- Nat "King" Cole - Ramblin' Rose

620000_Capitol 4804.JPG

2b - Ramblin' Rose (Fred Burch, Marijohn Wilkin)
- a Jerry Lee Lewis B-side released in January 1962
- very much reminiscent of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say"
- interestingly, songwriter Fred Burch placed three tunes on Elvis' 1967 "Easy Come, Easy Go" soundtrack EP

- Jerry Lee Lewis And his pumping piano - Ramblin' Rose

620000_Sun 374.JPG

2c - (Love Is Like A) Ramblin' Rose (Fred Burch, Marijohn Wilkin, Obrey Wilson)
- stunning up-tempo cover from 1965, by Ted Taylor and produced by Billy Sherrill
- Taylor was a former member of the Cadets, the doo-wop vocal group who first cut “Stranded In The Jungle”
- see: http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/thebookofseth/ted-taylor-im-so-satisfied-love-is-like-a-ramblin-rose

- Ted Taylor - (Love Is Like A) Ramblin' Rose

650000_Okeh 7222.JPG

3 - I Tell The Sea (Tom Jones, Gordon Mills)
- waxed by Tom Jones in 1965
- Mills was also Tom's manager

- Tom Jones - I Tell The Sea

650000_Decca UK 12121.JPG

4 - Brown-Eyed Handsome Man (Chuck Berry)
- One of the great rockers, released in 1956 as a B-side
- Elvis sang it at "Million Dollar Quartet" jam that December, all there spoke in awe of Berry's songwriting

- Chuck Berry - Brown-Eyed Handsome Man

560000_Chess 1635.JPG

5 - I'll Never Find Another You (Tom Springfield)
- #4 hit in 1965 for the Seekers
- British Invasion folk-rock tune, replete with 12-string guitar, a la the Byrds
- Sonny James had a country hit with it in 1967

- Seekers - I'll Never Find Another You

650000_Capitol 5383.JPG

6 - Tonight I Won't Be There (Arthur Kent, Ed Warren)
- 1961 ballad by r&b singer Adam Wade
- Wade made #7 with "Take Good Care Of Her" earlier that year, which Elvis covered in 1973

- Adam Wade - Tonight I Won't Be There

610900_ Coed 556_Wade.JPG

7 - Baby What You Want Me To Do (Jimmy Reed)
- classic 1959 blues shuffle which hit r&b top ten in 1960
- Presley had performed it at the "Clambake" after-party in April!
- Elvis also cut classic live versions during small combo jams taped for 1968 NBC-TV Special

Jimmy Reed - Baby What You Want Me To Do

591109_Vee-Jay 333_Reed.JPG

Pretty cool session, it might have been. Right?

Instead, because of what happened, RCA's Felton Jarvis won a reprieve of sorts, and got assigned three straight Presley sessions in Nashville in September and October 1967 and January 1968, with some success.

Enjoy!

If anyone knows more, please share.

_____

Topic inspired by FECC member Bodie.

_____


BONUS ERNST

Here are the pages where this strange session was discussed, including the error about it being cancelled because of a car accident.

All so interesting, curious and . . . mysterious!

'

[Rich_TCB]

Very interesting - thanks Doc & Bodie.

Who was Richard Davis? I can't recall at the moment.

Rich

[drjohncarpenter]

Richard Davis was a member of the Memphis Mafia, starting in the early 1960s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Mafia

[rickeap]

Elvis doing the Seekers - oh dear!
There were reports in the 70s that he was considering a song by another Australian artist, Brian Cadd, Let Go or Gingerman. These would have been good material for Elvis at the time (some AC/DC woul;dn't have hurt either).
I would have loved to hear Don't Let Go. Jerry Lee Lewis did a great version of it in 1979

[rickeap]

Thanks for the info Doc

[midnightx]

Great post Doc.

[KingOfTheJungle]

Doc, good post...BUT...

are you sure the "Ramblin' Rose" slated for the sessions was the Nat 'King' Cole song?

I would think a much more likely contender would be Jerry Lee Lewis's 'Sun' track of the same name.

[epf]

Thanks Bodie and Doc. Great info. Very behind the scenes. Great.

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

Interesting, DJC. I enjoyed that section of the Ernst book and it's good to begin fleshing out what might have been. In comics books, be it Marvel or DC, I recall they used to have "What If" titles that explored roads not taken by their respective heroes.

At a point where we have analyzed the known facts of familiar sessions seemingly to death, it is the more mysterious aspects of his legacy that remain a wide open vista. Whether it's Ernst Jorgensen's open-ended search for Sun nuggets (on recordings, photos, touring, etc.) or that would-be gem version of "Feelings" ( :lol:_or whatever else it we love -too hate?- to speculate about) we should embrace the fact that we still have more to learn about Elvis Presley.

[Rtn 2 Sndr]

Had this session taken place, it would be interesting to speculate on whether the songs from this session would have been added to some of Elvis' other studio recordings from 1966-67 to create an LP. I think a studio LP by Elvis after years of soundtracks and the occasional compilation LP would have been well received by the fans.

I think a studio recording of "Baby What Do You Want Me To Do" in 1967 would have been a standout.

I could also imagine Elvis singing the Nat King Cole version of "Ramblin' Rose". Elvis had already tackled "Mona Lisa" on his home recorder, so this may have been a logical choice for him.

Unfortunately, we will never know.

[midnightx]

Had this session taken place, it would be interesting to speculate on whether the songs from this session would have been added to some of Elvis' other studio recordings from 1966-67 to create an LP. I think a studio LP by Elvis after years of soundtracks and the occasional compilation LP would have been well received by the fans.

I think a studio recording of "Baby What Do You Want Me To Do" in 1967 would have been a standout.

I could also imagine Elvis singing the Nat King Cole version of "Ramblin' Rose". Elvis had already tackled "Mona Lisa" on his home recorder, so this may have been a logical choice for him.

Unfortunately, we will never know.

And a much needed creative endeavor for Elvis. Fortunately, Elvis would cross paths with Steve Binder shortly thereafter.

[Harty]

Iam still sure, that a studio version of "Baby what you want me to do" exists. Elvis played this song very often in his 68 special with his guys and with a nice solo in his standup show as well. Also he did the song live in 1969. The 68 version sounds very familiar with his muscians. What do you think ?

[Alexander]

Great post! Thanks for the info, although I hear the Colonel mumbling on the background, saying "pretty neat bonus material!"

[rickeap]

Right on Alexander - just after he mumbled about how much percentage his boy could get on each song

[brian]

Had this session taken place I wish more original material would've been recorded instead of all those covers.
I always liked the songs Billy Strange wrote and arranged for Elvis so it's a shame he wasn't planning on writing songs for this particular session.

[Swingin-Little-Guitar-Man]

i enjoyed that doc! Nice post.

[londonflash]

Enjoyed reading that post.

Among other things, I've always wondered what Guitar Man would have sounded like from this session without Jerry Reed on guitar.

[Simon1]

Interesting post to read Doc, and what a shame it didn't take place.
The information about Richard Davis killing that gardener was also new to me.
Thanks for posting.

Cheers,
Simon

[brian]

Enjoyed reading that post.

Among other things, I've always wondered what Guitar Man would have sounded like from this session without Jerry Reed on guitar.

probably not as good it's been said the guitarists had trouble getting the sound down at the September 67 session so Felton called Jerry Reed in to play guitar.
I think without Reed it's very possible that Elvis and the band could of made several attempts but probably would've ended up with no satisfactory master.

[brian]

Iam still sure, that a studio version of "Baby what you want me to do" exists. Elvis played this song very often in his 68 special with his guys and with a nice solo in his standup show as well. Also he did the song live in 1969. The 68 version sounds very familiar with his muscians. What do you think ?

I think if he did Sony or the old RCA would've released it by now.

[joshferrell]

it's interesting that this "lost" session took place in 1967 when elvis was bored with his music/movies,then almost exactly 10 years later there's a "lost" session in 1977 when elvis was bored again..also in the mid 60's elvs started slurring his speach on the recordings and started to record real sad depressing songs then almost exatly 10 years later he starts in with the slurring on the speech and starts recording depressing sad songs,it makes me wonder if elvis had lived if he would have made a
comeback in1978 like he did in 1968,..

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

Good point. I've thought of that before or something similiar.

Very interesting - thanks Doc & Bodie.

Who was Richard Davis? I can't recall at the moment.

Rich

Richard Davis was a member of the Memphis Mafia, starting in the early 1960s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Mafia

In that big Elvis DVD documentary set about 5-7 years ago (later declared an illegal set and then recalled), there were a lot of great (then recent) interviews with Mr. Davis.

I found him rather likeable with a sharp sense of humor. We can't always say that about some people but when he wasn't running people down accidentally, he struck me as one of the more likeable guys around him if less known to fans. I guess he never did write that book....

And hey, what did Bodie come with, exactly? I'd like to see that thread.

[Bodie]

Greg,

My topic is still on the first page only locked now, nothing of interest but the Doc can add much more to this subject than i can so i asked for mine to be locked.

Im not sure when Elvis and Richard parted company but he is seen in TTWII and i do know that Richard was around Elvis as late as '72.

He is also seen is a few films, he can be spotted in the film Tickle Me when Elvis is performing 'It Feels So Right', Richard is the guy in the light-blue shirt in the background on the left clapping his hands.I know Red's in this scene as well and is that Joe on the right sitting on the table?

[elvissessions]

Richard Davis was a likable guy, though in his later years, he came down to pretty much telling the same Elvis story over and over again, embellishing it a bit more each time -- to the point that it almost began to seem fabricated.

I also always found him to be one of the prime examples of arrested development among members of the Memphis Mafia:

On the one hand, he had some marvelous opportunities in life we all must envy; on the other, he missed some critical stages in his own development when he might have figured out what he could do with his life.

Without Elvis, it seemed he floundered a bit and was eventually reduced to accepting donations from fans to help support his new wife and children. Their needs continued after his sudden death in his sleep -- though, again, fans did try to help along the way.

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

That's sad to hear and confirms the worst about the "MM." I was just giving my initial impression from the big DVD set and yes, I do recognize him from a movie or tow.

With all due respect, I feel like I've seen more than enough of George Klein and Joe Esposito to last a long time so in comparision, he seemed refreshing.