RCA LPM 1515
Producer: None listed
Track listing: Mean Woman Blues / Teddy Bear / Love You / Got a Lot o’ Livin’ to Do! / Lonesome Cowboy / Hot Dog / Party / Blueberry Hill / True Love / Don’t Leave Me Now / Have I Told You Lately / I Need You So
July 29, 1957
10 Weeks
The top of the Best Selling Pop Albums chart was a familiar place for Elvis Presley, as he spent 15 weeks of 1956 in the Number One position with Elvis Presley and Elvis. So no one was too surprised when Loving You, his third album, also hit the summit of the album chart, for Elvis had truly arrived.
Elvis was reportedly unhappy with the way the recording sessions for his first film, Love Me Tender, were handled. When it was time to record songs for his next film, he took command. “We started Loving You at a soundstage at Paramount Studios and it was huge,” says guitarist Scotty Moore. “We just couldn’t get a feel for it. It was just too big, so Elvis turned to the [film] producer [Hall Wallis] and told him we couldn’t do it there, so we went back to Radio Recorders. From then on, just about everything we did in Hollywood was done at that studio.”
Radio Recorders was the site of Elvis’ most fruitful recording session to date. During January and February of 1957, Elvis and company holed up at the studio to work on several projects. On January 12 and 13, he recorded some gospel tunes, which would initially comprise the Peace in the Valley EP and would later be included on Elvis’ Christmas Album. During those sessions, Elvis also laid down “Got a Lot o’ Livin’ to Do!” and “Mean Woman Blues” for the Loving You album.
Elvis recording several songs for the Loving You movie soundtrack on January 15-18, 21-22, and February 14, but only the takes of “Party,” “Hot Dog,” and “Lonesome Cowboy,” the original title track of the picture, we used on the album. The album’s first side featured music from the film; side two offered some surprises, including Elvis’ rendition of the Cole Porter standard “True Love,” a song made famous by Bring Crosby and Grace Kelly, and “Blueberry Hill,” a hit for R&B belter Fats Domino.
The film’s plot and music were customized for Elvis, allowing him to flaunt his teen-idol looks and his musical chops for his growing legion of fans. In fact, at least three of the performance scenes “Teddy Bear,” “Mean Woman Blues,” and “Lot a Lot o’ Livin’to Do!” can stand alone apart from the film. Film producer Wallis attended the January sessions. He was so impressed with “Teddy Bear” that he insisted it be included in the movie. But another Elvis favorite from the same sessions didn’t make the cut: a smoking take of Smiley Lewis’ 1956 R&B hit “One Night of Sin,” which was deemed too suggestive for the film and the album. A month later, Elvis recut the song, retitled “One Night,” with less racy lyrics. But it didn’t see the light of day until October 1958, when it was finally released as a single.
The single “(Let Me be Your) Teddy Bear” with “Loving You” on the flip side, was released in June. On July 8, it topped the Hot 100, becoming Elvis’ fifth Number One single. The next day, the film opened. Seven weeks later, Loving You became Elvis’ third consecutive Number One album.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of July 29, 1957
1. Loving You, Elvis Presley
2. Around the World in 80 Days, Soundtrack
3. My Fair Lady, Original Cast
4. Love is the Thing, Nat King Cole
5. Film Encores, Mantovani