10, 1956, Heartbreak Hotel was one of the first songs that Elvis recorded. In his first recording session with RCA Victor in Nashville on Jan. They are holding a 45 rpm single of Elvis’ recording of Heartbreak Hotel. Upon hearing the demo, Presley exclaimed “Hot dog, Mae, play that again!”, and listened to it ten times, memorizing the song.Īt left is a photo of Mae Axton together with Elvis. When Axton became aware of the young singer Elvis Presley, she arranged for Colonel Tom Parker to present her song to Elvis. Mae Axton and Elvis looking at a single record of Heartbreak Hotel. Elvis signed a deal with RCA Victor, and then signed ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker as his manager. In November of that year, he was voted most promising young male artist at the Country Disc Jockey Convention. The public reaction was remarkable, and started Elvis on his meteoric rise.īy mid-1955, Elvis’ career had taken off. Phillips subsequently gave it to local DJ Dewey Phillips (no relation to Sam), who began playing it. Phillips and Elvis worked on their version of That’s All Right and recorded it. ‘If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.’ According to legend, Phillips had told various colleagues, However, Phillips recognized this as the sound he had been looking for. The boys were simply horsing around in the studio. The recording session was not producing much, until between takes Elvis began to sing an up-tempo version of Arthur Crudup’s blues song That’s All Right, and Moore and Black joined in. Phillips had brought in session musicians guitarist Scotty Moore and bass player Bill Black to accompany Elvis. In July, 1954 Elvis was recording in Sam Phillips’ Sun Records studio. Below is a photo of Elvis holding an acoustic guitar circa 1956.
Meanwhile, in Memphis the young singer Elvis Presley had begun his rise to stardom. Where I’ll be–where I get so lonely, baby Well, it’s down at the end of Lonely Street He relocates to Heartbreak Hotel, an establishment that is “down at the end of Lonely Street.” They describe a man who is totally despondent over losing his girl. The lyrics of Heartbreak Hotel are simple and stark. Reeves agreed to make a demo of the song, but opined that it was “the silliest thing I ever heard,” and Reeves declined an offer of songwriting credit on the tune. While Axton and Durden were working on the song, they were interrupted by performer Glen Reeves. Had only written a few lines of the song and asked her to help him finish it.Īccording to Axton, she came up with the idea of situating a hotel – Heartbreak Hotel – at “the end of Lonely Street.” Eventually, the hotel became the centerpiece of the tune, and the two completed writing the lyrics to the song. Tommy Durden’s story is that he wrote the song after reading about a man who committed suicide, leaving behind a note that said only “I walk a lonely street.” According to Durden, after writing the song he performed it a few times with his band before showing it to Mrs.
As with so many co-written songs that turn out to be blockbuster hits, the two writers have very different recollections of their contributions to the song. The song Heartbreak Hotel was written by Tommy Durden and Mae Boren Axton.
We will start with the original song by Elvis, and then we will review covers from Hoyt Axton, and also Leon Russell & Willie Nelson. This was not only Elvis Presley’s first #1 record, but it is one of the most important rockabilly tunes. Hello there! In this week’s blog we consider the song Heartbreak Hotel.
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