Inspired by Jetblack's topic "The Elvis Songs of Aaron Schroeder": http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=93460#p1499533
The Elvis Songs of Winfield Scott.
Winfield Scott (which is his real name, but he is also known as Robie Kirk) was an American songwriter (and baritone lead singer with the quartet The Cues), who wrote or co-wrote several hit songs for several artists. Scott died 26 October 2015 at age 95.
Here is an early recording (1946) by the than 26 yo Robie Kirk on the Queen label - 1946-02-01; matrix: 5051; xref: IN82. As you can see on the label, word & music by himself:
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And Robie Kirk as part of The Cues:
The Cues from New York City backed everyone! LaVern Baker, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner...! They recorded the original version of Bill Haley's Burn That Candle and recorded the Hot 100 classic Why. Assembled by legendary Atlantic Records A&R man Jesse Stone in 1954, the Cues made a series of 1954-1956 singles under their own name for Lamp, Jubilee, Capitol, and Prep that constitute "Why", Bear Family's exhaustive overview of the group's career. All in all, these are some wild, rockin' and hugely accomplished vocal group sides. Look at the titles! Now add the cream of the New York session musicians like Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor.
1-CD with 24-page booklet, 28 tracks. Playing time approx. 69 mns
The Cues didn't form the usual way. No standing under the street corner lamp, harmonizing and hoping for some record exec to stroll by. Atlantic Records A&R man Jesse Stone wanted an in-house vocal group to back his label's stars, so in 1954 he contacted tenor Ollie Jones, formerly of The Ravens and The Blenders, and baritone Winfield Scott (aka Robie Kirk). Two more singers were also recruited; the ad hoc quartet was billed as The Playboys behind Charlie White. No matter who they backed at Atlantic, they were disguised under different names and sometimes incorporated different members.
Marv Goldberg:
Jesse Stone, Atlantic pianist and arranger, conceived the idea of having a permanent, resident backup group for Atlantic's single artists. (Up until then it was a haphazard affair. For example, when they needed a "group" to do the chorus on Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll," it was comprised of Stone, with Atlantic executives Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Weller!)...
Stone brought the Cues to Atlantic to start backing up all those single artists. (Strangely, the Cues would never record for Atlantic under their own name.) Each artist had a "different" backup group: Ruth Brown (Rhythmakers), Lavern Baker (Gliders), Ivory Joe Hunter (Ivorytones), Joe Turner (Blues Kings), Charlie White (Playboys). Once, I would have said "Ha, ha, the laugh's on us; they were all the same group. Now, I can only say that several members of the Cues were involved with any given session.
Although Aladdin Records was based in L.A., the label maintained a New York logo called Lamp, and Stone ran it for the Mesner brothers. Jesse brought his group to Lamp, and in September of '54 they officially debuted as The Cues with Scoochie Scoochie (led by Jones) b/w Forty 'Leven Dozen Ways, fronted by fellow ex-Blender Abel De Costa, a first tenor. It came out in November and sank without trace, but the group was too busy at Atlantic to worry about it. They were The Gliders on LaVern Baker's '55 smash Tweedlee Dee, which was written by Scott.
Bass Edward Byrnes was now a permanent fixture in The Cues. The Cues had a '55 release on Jubilee coupling Only You (not The Platters' smash) and I Fell For Your Loving (both Jones vehicles), and they masqueraded as The Four Students for Hot Rotten Soda Pop and its flip So Near And Yet So Far on RCA's Groove subsidiary before settling in at Capitol as The Cues with Apalachicola, Florida-bred Jimmy Breedlove their other tenor.
The Cues cut their first date for their new label on August 11, 1955 at Capitol's New York studios on 47th Street. Scott brought Burn That Candle along; bouncy and infectious, it was expressively sung by Breedlove, and Sam 'The Man' Taylor turned in a scalding sax solo. Jones led the other side, the Stone-penned ballad Oh My Darlin', at a followup session 13 days later. Capitol issued Burn That Candle in September only to see Bill Haley and His Comets' Decca cover go to #9 pop while The Cues' original languished at #86.
While maintaining their busy background schedule at Atlantic behind Big Joe Turner, Ivory Joe Hunter, and Ruth Brown, The Cues tried to land a Capitol hit of their own with the perky Jones-led novelty Charlie Brown (not The Coasters' future hit) near year's end as well as the rocketing Destination 2100 And 65 (penned and fronted by Ollie),a Breedlove-fronted Crackerjack with no other Cues in evidence, and a Stone-penned Why that Breedlove led in '56 that made a #77 pop showing in early '57.
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The Cues were demoted to Capitol's Prep logo for their swan song Crazy, Crazy Party, led by Ollie. Stone was their producer all the way. Songwriting proved lucrative for both Jones ( Nat Cole's Send For Me and the Crests' Step By Step) and Scott (The Five Keys' Gee Whittakers and Elvis' One Broken Heart For Sale) after The Cues faded out. De Costa participated in countless sessions as a background singer, while Breedlove made a '58 solo LP on RCA Camden.
Read more at: https://www.bear-family.com/cues-the-why.html
Copyright © Bear Family Records
For more very good information about The Cues, please visit this site: http://www.uncamarvy.com/Cues/cues.html
Songs that Elvis sang and which Scott (co-) wrote:
Tweede Dee (for LaVern Baker);
(Such An) Easy Question (with Otis Blackwell);
Return To Sender (with Otis Blackwell);
We're Comin' In Loaded (with Otis Blackwell);
One Broken Heart For Sale (with Otis Blackwell);
Please, Don't Drag That String Around (with Otis Blackwell);
I'm A Roustabout (with Otis Blackwell - a song written in 1964, but discovered and released in 2002);
Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On), (with Leslie McFarland);
Stranger In The Crowd (words & music).
From an interview with Winfield Scott, source: BMG/EPE
Read more on: http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvisnews-qandawithwinfieldscott.shtmlHow did you start in the business?
I started in a vocal group called The Cues and we worked for Ahmet Ertegun on some sessions with LaVern Baker.
What was the first successful song you wrote?
I wrote Tweedle Dee for LaVern. I presented parts of it to Ertegun during a rehearsal, and he played it for LaVern. She liked it and I brought in the whole song the next day. (After finishing writing it that night.) It was a huge success, and much to my surprise it turned out that a very young 19-year-old Elvis liked the song and performed it live on his shows. Unfortunately he never made a studio version of it.
How did you end up writing for Elvis?
Songwriter Otis Blackwell was a good friend of mine and convinced me to start writing for pop artists as opposed to just R&B performers. Otis had written several songs for Elvis including classics like Don't Be Cruel and All Shook Up, and he had learned just how much more rewarding it was to write for a star like Elvis.
What were the songs you wrote for Elvis?
In early 1962 we struck gold and had three songs recorded in just a few weeks. Return To Sender and We're Comin' In Loaded for the film Girls! Girls! Girls! and Easy Question for the Pot Luck album. We wrote One Broken Heart For Sale which became the hit single for the next movie, and Please Don't Drag That String Around which ended up on the b-side of (You're The) Devil In Disguise. A few years later I wrote Long Legged Girl with Leslie McFarland and in 1970 Elvis recorded Stranger In The Crowd which I had written on my own.
What is the biggest success of them all?
As I understand it Return To Sender has sold about 14 million copies in the U.S. alone.
What's the story behind Roustabout?
When Elvis made a movie, many writers were asked to submit songs for his films. Elvis would choose the ones he liked and then record them. Otis and I wrote a song for the 1964 movie Roustabout and Elvis recorded it. Movie producer Hal Wallis listened to the song but he objected to the lyrics because they had Elvis saying he wanted to tell his boss to 'stick it in his ear'. Mr. Wallis demanded that a new song called Roustabout be commissioned from other writers so our version never made it into the movie.
So what happened to the song?
I had a copy of it on acetate and forgot all about it. This happened almost 40 years ago.
When did you realize that you had something unique?
Well, I didn't really think about it all these years. Then recently during an interview with a New Jersey newspaper reporter, I mentioned having a copy of a song I wrote that Elvis recorded for a movie but was never used. A few days later I got a call from BMG's Elvis Presley producer Ernst Mikael Jorgensen, who had done an interview with the same newspaper. Through his conversation with the reporter, he realized that the song I had made reference to had to be my version of Roustabout. He came to my home and listened to my record, and subsequently we made a deal. The original story he and I were interviewed for was never printed and the journalist left the paper.
How do you feel about the song getting released so many years later on the Elvis 2nd To None CD?
I'm surprised, happy and curious to see what kind of impact it will have.
How would you describe the song?
It's an up tempo, fun, rock 'n roll song.
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Troubleman wrote:I also liked his version of Clambake that was not used. The demo version is on the FTD CD-Book 'Writing for the king'.
Thanks! Didn't know about this version. I don't have that FTD CD-Book. Here is the demo:
WINFIELD SCOTT - CLAMBAKE ((VERY RARE DEMO)
Posted on YouTube by doowopAmnon on October 19, 2011
Writing for the King (Book and 2 CDs) [Import]
The version of "Clambake" probably requires some explaination. When Elvis was set to make a new movie, several songwriters competed to get songs included in the film. So, when Elvis was going to make a movie called Clambake, several songs called "Clambake" were written in the hope of being selected as the title song. The version of "Clambake" here, written by Winfield Scott, was not chosen (Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne's version was used). If you are a hardcore Elvis fan, you will enjoy this book/CD set.
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Another Clambake demo that was rejected was this version by Gerald Nelson:
GERALD NELSON - CLAMBAKE
Posted on YouTube by naftalina65 on December 29, 2012
Gerald launched the CD "Songs I wrote for Elvis.
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More about Nelson in this thread by drjohncarpenter:
Meet Gerald Nelson, Mysterious Elvis Songwriter
http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52973#p760832
Nice to know:
The version of Clambake by Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne repeatedly included the lyrics
"Mama's little baby loves clambake clambake, mama's little baby loves clambake too"
Which was a one-on-one copy of the (at that time) very well known lyrics of the children's song Shorting' Bread:
"Mammy's little baby loves short'nin', short'nin', mammy's little baby loves short'nin' bread"
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"Shortnin' Bread" is often thought of as a traditional plantation song. However the first version was written by white poet James Whitcomb Riley in 1900. His song was named "A Short'nin' Bread Song—Pieced Out". E.C. Perrow published the first folk version of this song in 1915, which he collected from East Tennessee in 1912. The folk version of the song—as with Riley's— does not have any distinct theme, but consists of various floating lyrics, some relating to "shortnin' bread", some not. The traditional chorus associated with the folk song goes:
Mammy's little baby loves short'nin', short'nin',
Mammy's little baby loves short'nin' bread
Shortening bread is a fried batter bread, the ingredients of which include corn meal, flour, hot water, eggs, baking powder, milk and shortening.
Because of this well known traditional part of the lyrics, the Clambake version by Weisman and Wayne might have won it over the other versions.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortnin%27_BreadBEACH BOYS
During the 1970s, their principal songwriter Brian Wilson was reportedly obsessed with the song Shortinin' Bread, recording more than a dozen versions of the tune. Alex Chilton recalled receiving middle-of-the-night phone calls from Wilson asking him to sing on a recording of "Shortenin' Bread"'; "He was telling me I have the perfect voice for it." Micky Dolenz wrote of in his autobiography that while tripping on LSD with Wilson, John Lennon, and Harry Nilsson, he remembers Wilson playing "Shortenin' Bread" on piano "over and over again". Elton John and Iggy Pop were mutually bemused by an extended, contumacious Wilson-led singalong of "Shortenin' Bread", leading Pop to flee the room proclaiming, "I gotta get out of here, man. This guy is nuts!"
Beach Boy Al Jardine speculates that Wilson's obsession with the song may have begun after he had co-written the song "Ding Dang" with Roger McGuinn in the early 1970s. McGuinn explained that Wilson had one day come to his house for amphetamines while escaping from his therapist. After McGuinn spent some time crafting "Ding Dang" with Wilson, he went to bed. The next day, he awoke to Wilson, still awake, and still playing "Ding Dang" on piano. Only one lyric was ever written: "I love a girl and I love her madly / I treat her so fine but she treats me so badly." During sessions for The Beach Boys Love You, engineer Earle Mankey noted that "everybody who showed up got subjected to 'Ding Dang'."
Innumerable permutations of Wilson's "Ding Dang" and "Shortenin' Bread" 1-to-4-up piano riff exist on studio tape, most of them unreleased with titles such as "Clangin'" (recorded with Harry Nilsson), "Brian's Jam", and "Rolling Up to Heaven". A version was completed for the unreleased album Adult/Child in late 1977. This recording was developed from a 1973 session conducted with Wilson's girl group side-project American Spring.
BONUS
From Amnondoowop's channel on YouTube:
Tweedle Dee - Winfield Scott.( HEY I WROTE THAT.)
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My favorite of the songs Winfield Scott wrote for Elvis is this one. I liked it from the moment I heard it and still can't get enough of it.
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What's yours?
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. My favourite "Windfield Scott" song is: 
. Bye for now 
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