WILD IN THE COUNTRY
– Elvis Presley’s Last Dramatic Role –
(Part 5)
In My Way
The more often Elvis assured the public that he did not intend to sing in his films and wanted to become a serious actor, the sooner it turned out that it was his singing that everyone around him cared about the most. Which, by the way, the singer had already learned while working on his first Hollywood production in 1956.
Almost everyone benefited from the songs he recorded. From the record company, through composers, record sellers, to cinema owners (because Presley’s fans, who often treated films featuring Elvis as ‘live’ concerts – contrary to what is said today, were much more willing to flock to cinemas knowing that they would see their idol performing a dozen or so premiere songs than trying to play even the most dramatic role).
For this reason, over time, scripts for subsequent films began to be written in such a way as to cram in as many songs sung by the main character (see, Elvis) as possible. And if by some miracle the script did not include any songs… then, almost at the last minute, a few compositions were hastily added to it. As was the case with “Love Me Tender” in 1956. And as happened during the filming of “Wild In The Country” four years later.
Originally, the script for the seventh film starring Presley did not mention any songs. The story presented in it seemed so serious, and at times even dramatic, that it was difficult to find a suitable place for Elvis’ vocal performances. And yet…
A few days before leaving for the film set, Phillip Dunne was asked if Elvis could sing in the upcoming production. “Yes and no ,” the clearly surprised director replied. “Let him sing, but not in any particular way that would cause someone to label our film as a musical.”
Given such strict conditions, five new songs were quickly, though admittedly quite skillfully, woven into the film’s plot, which Elvis then recorded during a short session at Radio Recorders studio in Hollywood.
The recordings took place in early November 1960, exactly one week after a very successful and extremely productive session in Nashville during which, in less than one night, Elvis managed to complete the material for his first gospel music LP – “His Hand In Mine”.
Encouraged and motivated by his recent success, Elvis arrived at the studio at 7000 Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles on Monday evening * , November 7, 1960 (just one day after arriving in Los Angeles), to begin work on another, this time unplanned, soundtrack with a group of musicians including members of his first band—guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer D.J. Fontana—as well as several seasoned session musicians he had met and worked with before—guitarist Hilmer J. ‘Tiny’ Timbrell, bassist Michael ‘Meyer’ Rubin, keyboardist Dudley Brooks, and accordionist Jimmie Haskell.
In addition to the aforementioned instrumentalists, members of The Jordanaires quartet – Gordon Stoker, Neal Matthews, Hoyt Hawkins and Roy Walker – were also present in the building, as well as sound engineer Thorne Nogar and 20th Century Fox producer Steve Urban Thielman.
The lion’s share of the material prepared for Wild In The Country was simple, atmospheric ballads, most of which were arranged in a similar way to Love Me Tender a few years earlier – just for guitar and vocals. This allowed them to be included in the film without any elaborate or elaborate musical sequences being added to the script. Although there were exceptions to this rule.
Such as the joint composition by Claude August ‘Bennie’ Benjamin and Sol Marcus ** , “Lonely Man”, which was recorded in two different versions in the first minutes of the session (the same one, parts of which Elvis had already sung while recording songs for the film “Flaming Star”). The first with the accompaniment of the whole band and the second, the so-called solo version, with only a modest acoustic guitar accompaniment.
The need to record the above song in this way (i.e. in two versions so diametrically different from each other) resulted directly from a promise that Presley’s manager made to representatives of 20th Century Fox. Parker declared that he would help promote the film both on radio stations and in other media by placing some of the recorded material on several upcoming singles.
“Lonely Man” was supposed to be released as early as February of the following year ***
Work on the song – both on its first and second versions – went very smoothly. And even Elvis, who had been fully involved in its creation from the very beginning, at some point picked up the guitar and joined accordionist Jimmie Haskell with it. “I’ll add the guitar later, because you see, there are a few licks on it that I could do that Scotty can’t play,” he joked after one of the prematurely ended rehearsals. One of thirteen that were played that night with the full band. “Damn, this is just beautiful,” said Thorne Nogar after the last notes of the third take had faded out. And his opinion can be safely applied not only to this one but also to every subsequent recorded rehearsal. Including the last one – the thirteenth, which was eventually described as the master version.
The next four takes of “Lonely Man” were recorded with the then-produced film in mind, replacing the extensive vocal and instrumental background (the quartet The Jordanaires also participated in the recording) with only the simple sounds of an acoustic guitar.
Elvis, or rather Glenn Tyler, who played him, was supposed to perform the ballad in his uncle’s garage. However, the word “was” is key here, because the aforementioned sequence was removed from the finished, already-shot material shortly before the film’s premiere. Its short fragment survived only in the original American cinema trailer for “Wild In The Country” from 1961.
The film did include another ballad recorded that night, “In My Way,” with music and lyrics by Ben Weisman and Fred Wise. “I approached writing for Elvis in a completely different way than I did for any other artist,” Weisman recalled years later. “The songs I wrote for him had to be a combination of blues, country, rock and pop (which eventually became known as rockabilly). It was like stepping into his shoes. With each new Elvis film, more and more of my songs were being recorded. And that became more and more exciting for me, because I was the only composer he had recorded so many of.”
The author also remembered that ” After each song was finished, I would record a demo record, hiring the vocalist who could best replicate Elvis’ sound. I also used the same type of rhythm section that Elvis used, and I used similar vocal backgrounds. The end result was a tailor-made production. Just for him .”
“In My Way” was completed after just eight short takes (of which only three—the first, second, and last—were played in their entirety. The rest were shorter or longer false starts) and was used a few weeks later in the scene in which Hope Lange’s Noreen talks to Glen Tyler (Elvis) on the steps leading up to her father’s old house.
- The session is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
- Benjamin and Marcus created several huge hits together, including “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire”, “When The Lights Go On Again All Over The World” and “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, which has been covered many times by various artists, including The Animals, Elvis Costello and Joe Cocker.
- The song “Lonely Man” was recorded on the back of the single “Surrender”, more about that later in the article
Information provided by Mariusz Ogieglo, EP Promised Land (Poland) http://www.elvispromisedland.pl/
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