Elvis Recorded "Tiger Man" At Sun --> Mystery Solved ?

[Ciscoking]

By incident I listened to his show in San Bernadino, November 13, 1972, ES.
Towards the end of the show he sings Mystery Train/ Tiger Man..referring to the latter..guess what he says.."that was my second record"....

[Ton Bruins]

By incident I listened to his show in San Bernadino, November 13, 1972, ES.
Towards the end of the show he sings Mystery Train/ Tiger Man..referring to the latter..guess what he says.."that was my second record"....

He said that some times before, didn't he ?

[Ciscoking]

Sure..but he says it at any occasion..seems he was pretty convinced it really was..

[Renan]

By incident I listened to his show in San Bernadino, November 13, 1972, ES.
Towards the end of the show he sings Mystery Train/ Tiger Man..referring to the latter..guess what he says.."that was my second record"....

Two years and three months after August 1970. So, again he states that Tigerman was his second record.

Well, I do not have doubts that Elvis did record Tigerman on Sun records. I just have my fingers crossed for maybe someday we may be added in the "not too many people heard it" list.

[the full sp]

By incident I listened to his show in San Bernadino, November 13, 1972, ES.
Towards the end of the show he sings Mystery Train/ Tiger Man..referring to the latter..guess what he says.."that was my second record"....

Fantastic! Does he specifically refer to Tiger Man though, or just say it after the medley?

[Ciscoking]

Just says it after the medley..

[the full sp]

Just says it after the medley..

Interesting. Is it possible he's gettin this all mixed up with "Mystery Train"?

[Ciscoking]

Yes..this could be.

[the full sp]

Also of note is Elvis performing "Tiger Man" on it's own during the 11th August Midnight Show 1973. Before performing it Elvis says "I'm gonna show you something ladies and gentleman, the normal tempo of the song is like this..." They start going, then he tells Ronnie it's not that fast, then they play about a 1 minute long version at a much slower tempo than he usually did it, even slower than the Jam during the Today sessions in 1975. Yet Rufus Thomas Jr's original is not that slow at all, in fact only slightly slower than Elvis' usual lightning-fast live versions. So this begs the question, is Elvis referring to the normal tempo of the song as the tempo he recorded it in back at SUN? As the creator of this topic would say, food for thought.

[ekenee]

Theory time:

What if.... while recording "Mystery Train" Elvis segued right into "Tiger man" but Sam faded it out before the release.

So it no accident that the medley was sung in the 70's.

This is not unprecedented. Remember the Studio version of Guitar man, then he started singing "What'd I say".

[the full sp]

Very imaginative thinking ekenee! It's not beyond the realms of possibility, and would be super cool if true. I mean after all, Elvis thought he screwed the take up with his high-pitched yell on "Mystery Train" and may have just carried on fooling around into "Tiger Man" Yet I highly doubt it happened!

[drjohncarpenter]

Define "many".

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/many

By incident I listened to his show in San Bernadino, November 13, 1972, ES.
Towards the end of the show he sings Mystery Train/ Tiger Man..referring to the latter..guess what he says.."that was my second record"....

Thanks for the additional research.

By 1972, the song was firmly entrenched as a medley with "Mystery Train."
But I do agree Elvis is, yet again, specifically referring to "Tiger Man."

What if.... while recording "Mystery Train" Elvis segued right into "Tiger man" but Sam faded it out before the release.

Sorry to burst your balloon, but this is impossible, as the full master take comes to an ending.
And none of the five Presley Sun singles fade out, nor do any of the known outtakes.
Do any of the most celebrated Sun recordings fade out? I cannot think of one.

Again:
By the summer of 1955, Elvis had four "records" out. "Mystery Train" would be the flip side of his fifth "record." He would never call "Mystery Train" his "second record."

[dannyboy1]

Once again, the answer is as simple as the fact that Elvis simply mis-remembered this early part of his career. I mean, "Tiger Man" wasn't his second record, was it? But this wasn't unusual. He made other incorrect statements about his own career at other times. And when he had established using a comment on stage he would frequently repeat it from show to show, without assessing its accuracy each time.

[drjohncarpenter]

... the answer is as simple as the fact that Elvis simply mis-remembered this early part of his career.

Everything presented in this topic contradicts this comment. Please revisit the previous pages.

[KiwiAlan]

Strange that Elvis always refers to Tiger Man as his second and not song.

As we no that this was not true - Tiger Man did not appear on any record the so called mystery is solved.


Elvis was blowing smoke by accident or design.

[drjohncarpenter]

Strange that Elvis always refers to Tiger Man as his second and not song.

As we no that this was not true - Tiger Man did not appear on any record the so called mystery is solved.

Nice try, but wrong.

Making a "record" is parlance, especially in Presley's era, for cutting a track. There are many instances of Elvis, and other artists, speaking of trying to make a "record." Sometimes they succeeded, sometimes not.

Please revisit the previous pages of this topic to get up to speed on his 1954 recording of "Tiger Man."

[KiwiAlan]

What 1954 recording of Tiger Man?

There is absolutely no written or verbal confirmation that such an item exists or was recorded...apart from Elvis statements.

Without a second source this can not be treated as fact. No media would accept the evidence as such to date.

[londonflash]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread!

[KevinK]

Question is, aswell as "Did Elvis record 'Tiger Man while at Sun?'", which, so far, the general assumption is 'yes he did'.., where is this recording if it still exists??? Who has it, and why won't they share it?

[ekenee]

Did the Sam Phillips estate have a collection of Sun Acetates?

Or a tape stash?

Has the estate been searched or investigated by Ernst or somebody else?

I believe Elvis recorded "Tiger man" at Sun, but it may have come to the

same fate as dozens of other titles. It was simply recorded over.

[Rtn 2 Sndr]

[quote="ekenee"]Did the Sam Phillips estate have a collection of Sun Acetates? [/quote]

I have often wondered the same thing--does the Phillips family have any tapes or acetates in their collection?

[drjohncarpenter]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread!

Thanks.

For those still confused, this is a possible chronology for "Tiger Man" at Sun:

1954
Jul 5-7
"That's All Right"
"Blue Moon of Kentucky"

(Sun 209, "That's All Right" b/w "Blue Moon of Kentucky," July 1954 - "First Record")


Aug
Tiger Man
Blue Moon

(DJ acetates, "Tiger Man" and (perhaps) "Blue Moon," Sep 1954 - "Second Record" REJECTED)


Sep
Tomorrow Night
I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')
Satisfied
I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine
Good Rockin' Tonight
Just Because

(Sun 210, "Good Rockin' Tonight" b/w "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine," Oct 1954 - "Second Record")

Billboard had a solid review of Sun 210 in their first Nov issue, implying a mid-Oct release.




Billboard - Nov 6, 1954

[ekenee]

You know what I thought was strange was that for 3 months or so, Elvis was Sam's priority.

July you have Sun 209.

August he released nothing!

Sept. he releases nothing!

Oct. he releases Sun 210.

3 months and only 2 releases. Consecutive releases by the same artist, by an unknown, untested,
young singer. He must have had some faith.

[drjohncarpenter]

Sam Phillips was a smart man, with a great deal of vision.

[Old Shep]

ekenee wrote: "Did the Sam Phillips estate have a collection of Sun Acetates?

Or a tape stash?

Has the estate been searched or investigated by Ernst or somebody else? "

Nope! Sam always stateted I has nothing, the world hasn´t heard yet, but he wasn´t interviewed to to some of the new found Sun outtakes such as "Harbour Lights" or the acetates. Let´s hope he left his family (Ernst and the world) a stack of unreleased demos and acetates, but that´s no big chance and I fear, theses things would have been lost again in another collection, to be never heard!

O.S.