Roustabout: Another Lost Song?

[poormadpeter2]

I've moved this from the Roustabout FTD discussion as I think it might get lost there. What started out as what I thought would be an unanswered question had turned up some interesting things. So, to show what had happened on the other thread:

by poormadpeter2 » Thu Jun 22, 2017 2:03 am
The Variety review of Roustabout mentions a song called "I've Never Had It So Good." Clearly, that song isn't in the movie, but anyone have any idea what song they could be referring to in Roustabout?

Hi there!! .

The Variety review of Roustabout mentions a song called "I've Never Had It So Good." Clearly, that song isn't in the movie, but anyone have any idea what song they could be referring to in Roustabout?

I found this ittle info! . This mystery song was featured in a 60´s Variety magazine.... . Bye for now .

Variety praised the music in Roustabout as follows:

“Composer-conductor Joseph J. Lilley’s score and featured songs are best part of Hal Wallis pic, with Presley delivering latter in the pleasant, tuneful style he has developed. ‘I Never Had It So Good,’ ‘One Track Heart,’ and ‘Hard Knocks’ all have hit possibilities. Production numbers staged by Earl Barton and vocal accompaniment by The Jordanaires, add to plus value of music.”

(“I Never Had It So Good” is a mystery. It’s not even close to the title of any song Elvis performed in Roustabout.)

Source: http://www.elvis-history-blog.com/roustabout.html

Apparently, "I Never Had It So Good" was to be an alternate ending for the "There's A Brand New Day On The Horizon" scene.

Do we know if the Variety review was definitely from a pre-release press screening?

To answer the last question first. The Variety review was published on November 11 - the same day that the film opened in America. It is clear from the review itself that the reviewer had actually seen the film. This wasn't just a quickly put together review from publicity materials. Therefore the reviewer must have seen a preview version of the movie - the dates prove that. My copy of the Variety review is of very bad quality, but I have scanned it and included it below in case anyone wants to take a look.

img017.jpg

So...where does that leave us?

Well, it's best to go back to what we know so far:

The main Roustabout sessions were on March 2nd and 3rd, 1964. These didn't include the title song, but the discarded song I'm a Roustabout instead.
On April 29th, a track was laid down for Roustabout. On May 14, Elvis put down his vocal. Presumably, the fact that was recorded on a separate day to the rest of the soundtrack is why there outtakes for this song, but not for most of the others?

Now, if Elvisalisellers is correct in saying I Never Had It So Good was an alternate song for the film's ending, is it possible that Elvis recorded Brand New Day on May 14th session, and had recorded I Never Had It So Good in the March sessions? Could it have got lost just as I'm a Roustabout did? Of course, we have no documentation or notes regarding this new, possibly lost, song. Except this:

I Never Had It So Good.JPG

That is a catalog of Copyright entry for July 1963.

The name Bill Anderson meant nothing to me, but apparently he is an American country singer-songwriter who had already had #1 hits on the country charts by the time of this copyright entry. I can't find any recording by him of this, his own song. One could argue that the timing of the copyright entry is just a coincidence - and it may be.

Is any of this something that anyone here has heard of in the past? As a rumour? Can anyone shed any light on this? Under normal circumstances it wouldn't seem remotely possible - but given the lost I'm a Roustabout recording, it may just be that we are on to something.

In the meantime, I have contacted Bill Anderson's Twitter page - it's clearly not run by him, but the message might get to him anyway. We can but hope. Presumably he would remember if he submitted a song to Elvis.

[goldbelt]

It seems 'I Never Had It So Good' may have been written by Morris, Fuller & Barkan, the same team who provided the excellent 'Big Love, Big Heartache' for Roustabout.

A demo recording (by PJ Proby?) shows it was considered for use in scene #66 of Roustabout.


https://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=94869#p1525973

[california boy]

Interesting !

[George Smith]

Interesting thoughts, Peter.

All I contribute is that Anderson (assuming it's the Bill Anderson) was a popular c&w singer/songwriter who was well known to Mae Axton and Buddy Killen, hence the Tree Publishing credit.

As such, unless a backroom deal was done, it's very unlikely that Hill & Range would have used a Tree song in an Elvis movie.

[poormadpeter2]

Interesting thoughts, Peter.

All I contribute is that Anderson (assuming it's the Bill Anderson) was a popular c&w singer/songwriter who was well known to Mae Axton and Buddy Killen, hence the Tree Publishing credit.

As such, unless a backroom deal was done, it's very unlikely that Hill & Range would have used a Tree song in an Elvis movie.

Yes, and that now seems unlikely anyway now that we have the demo to add to the mystery!

[poormadpeter2]

So, thanks to Goldbelt's link to the demo, we now know that a song with that name was in the offing for the film. The big question is why and how it ended up being mentioned in the Variety review. I did wonder if, somehow, it had got in there because it was mistakenly listed in the press book. But the press book lists the songs in the film correctly, with the mistake of "It's a Wonderful World" listed as "A Wonderful World We Live In."

But the pressbook therefore adds even more of a mystery. I assume that this would have been printed BEFORE the press preview of the film. In which case, why isn't I Never Had It So Good included if the Variety reviewer saw it in the movie he saw. And let's for arguments sake say he NEVER saw the film, and it was just a puff piece, where did he get that song title from if it wasn't included in the press pack and publicity materials???

One thing we can probably put to one side is the notion that it was an alternate for There's a Brand New Day. Scene 66, mentioned on the demo, is much earlier in the film according to the few pages of script I have found online. Here is part of scene 61 (the nearest I can find, but a good indication).

scene 61.JPG

I'm sure someone who watches the film more than I do can tell us what the next song is after that scene - or roughly where in the film it appears (how many minutes in). The script is 116 pages long, and this is page 48. So, nearly half-way through I'm guessing?

[timothy_sideburns]

On this thread on here http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=80929 there is a photo of EPE auction material relating to roustabout. On the bottom left of that photo is some sheet music of the song

[jetblack]

On this thread on here http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=80929 there is a photo of EPE auction material relating to roustabout. On the bottom left of that photo is some sheet music of the song

The Sid Wayne / Ben Weisman song of 'Carnival Of Dreams' is also shown in that pic.

Andy

[elvisalisellers]

Knowing that "There's a Brand New Day On The Horizon" in edited "Short version for Shooting" form actually made the released film, it is more than curious that a similar acetate of "I Never Had It So Good" was also prepared.

I never had it so good-acetate.jpg

theresabrandnewday_acetate.jpg

[elvis-fan]

On this thread on here http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=80929 there is a photo of EPE auction material relating to roustabout. On the bottom left of that photo is some sheet music of the song

Note Elvis' character name listed as Charlie Main...

[Mister Moon]

A small addition to this interesting thread :

This is from pages 130-131 of the 1984 edition of the "Recording Sessions" book (Jorgensen, Rasmussen, Mikkelsen) :

A song called "I Never Had It So Good" was an alternate song for the scene in the film where "One Track Heart" was used. We have not been able to find proof that the above mentioned song was actually recorded.

The same information was repeated in the booklet of the pertinent "Double Features" CD.

[poormadpeter2]

On this thread on here http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=80929 there is a photo of EPE auction material relating to roustabout. On the bottom left of that photo is some sheet music of the song

Nice spot!

[poormadpeter2]

A small addition to this interesting thread :

This is from pages 130-131 of the 1984 edition of the "Recording Sessions" book (Jorgensen, Rasmussen, Mikkelsen) :

A song called "I Never Had It So Good" was an alternate song for the scene in the film where "One Track Heart" was used. We have not been able to find proof that the above mentioned song was actually recorded.

The same information was repeated in the booklet of the pertinent "Double Features" CD.

That's interesting, thank you. But if One Track Heart was recorded in March, how come it was appearing in a review in November? Something doesn't add up.

Looking at EJ's 1998 book, the number of the songs are AO, BO, CO etc. They go through to NO - but there is no MO. Keith's website suggests that this was reserved for Shout It Out, but could it be that I Never Had It So Good was recorded in that slot?

One other issue that bothers me. I'm a Roustabout was recorded for the film but not used. The soundtrack barely ran for 20 minutes - so why wasn't I'm a Roustabout included as a bonus track?

[elvisalisellers]

According to the sixth post down on this old thread reviewing the 2007 Elvis Unlimited Inside Roustabout package > https://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27999 < "I NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD" which was the alternate ending for "Brand New Day" doesn't seem to have "ALT" on the label - ODD".

[poormadpeter2]

According to the sixth post down on this old thread reviewing the 2007 Elvis Unlimited Inside Roustabout package > https://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27999 < "I NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD" which was the alternate ending for "Brand New Day" doesn't seem to have "ALT" on the label - ODD".

It seems that the more we find out, the less we know!!!

[Juan Luis]

Very interesting thread!

[kevanbudd]

I Never Had It So Good (Fuller, Barkan, Morris) demo is an upbeat song and one of the better tunes submitted, Though the lyrics are a bit cheesy.
I don't believe the demo is sung by P.J. Proby however.

Good thread, thanks.

Kevan Budd.

[brian]

I wouldn't read too much into it. I've seen newspaper reviews of Elvis concerts where music critics will say that Elvis sings a song called buttercup. They just didn't know the actual name of the song All shook up.

[elvisalisellers]

Another much cleaner-looking acetate is annotated with the words "DEMO - NOT ELVIS" [perhaps the one Kevan relates to above].

It's definitely different to the more vintage-looking one above [typed words are positioned differently on label].

roustaboutdemoacetate_ineverhaditsogood.jpg

[colonel snow]

It's well known that several songwriters were invited to write songs for a certain scene in a movie; here's a scan from a demo version written by Tepper-Bennett. This version was rejected for the movie Roustabout.The version written by Morris-Fuller-Barkan was "used". However the song was replaced in that scene by It's a wonderful world. The idea was now to use the track in the scene were One track heart was sung but finally the producer preferred One track heart. There's no link with There's a brand new day on the horizon.

colonel snow

[colonel snow]

Another mysterious song is "Carnival of dreams" for the movie Roustabout. Its was rejected before recording / shooting in the movie. Nothing is known about this demo version.



colonel snow

[colonel snow]

Knowing that "There's a Brand New Day On The Horizon" in edited "Short version for Shooting" form actually made the released film, it is more than curious that a similar acetate of "I Never Had It So Good" was also prepared.

I never had it so good-acetate.jpg

theresabrandnewday_acetate.jpg

I doubt an acetate (I never had it so good) is made for movie purposes because the song wasn't recorded. The songs used in the movie got a prefix on the Electro- vox acetate like:
ATDS - Little Egypt;
BTDS - Poison ivy league etc;

KTDS - There's abrand new day on the horizon (edited).


colonel snow

[goldbelt]

On this thread on here http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=80929 there is a photo of EPE auction material relating to roustabout. On the bottom left of that photo is some sheet music of the song

The Sid Wayne / Ben Weisman song of 'Carnival Of Dreams' is also shown in that pic.

Andy

This also confirms the writers names for 'I Never Had It So Good' and provides some of the lyrical content to both that song and 'Carnival Of Dreams'.

Nice find.

[poormadpeter2]

I wouldn't read too much into it. I've seen newspaper reviews of Elvis concerts where music critics will say that Elvis sings a song called buttercup. They just didn't know the actual name of the song All shook up.

Clearly you have missed the point that the song title in variety has nothing in common with any within the film but is exactly the same as one that was supposedly discarded. That's not a coincidence.

[elvisalisellers]

Knowing that "There's a Brand New Day On The Horizon" in edited "Short version for Shooting" form actually made the released film, it is more than curious that a similar acetate of "I Never Had It So Good" was also prepared.

I never had it so good-acetate.jpg

theresabrandnewday_acetate.jpg

I doubt an acetate (I never had it so good) is made for movie purposes because the song wasn't recorded. The songs used in the movie got a prefix on the Electro- vox acetate like:
ATDS - Little Egypt;
BTDS - Poison ivy league etc;

KTDS - There's abrand new day on the horizon (edited).

There are Electro-Vox acetates for "songs used in the movie" [above] were prefixes are not noted.