List of songs recorded by Elvis Presley on the Sun label

Presley in a Sun Records promotional photograph, 1954

Elvis Presley recorded at least 24 songs at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, between 1953 and 1955. The recordings reflect the wide variety of music that could be heard in Memphis at the time: blues, rhythm & blues, gospel, country & western, hillbilly, rockabilly and bluegrass. Because of the recordings' historical significance in the foundation of rock and roll music, they were inducted into the U.S. Congress's National Recording Registry in 2002.^[1]

Of the 24 known taped songs, 22 survive. Ten were released by Sun as Elvis's first five singles between 1954 and 1955. With the exception of the first four songs, which were demos recorded at Presley's expense, all of the songs were produced by Sam Phillips and featured Scotty Moore on guitar and Bill Black on bass.

A year after Presley joined RCA Victor, he had a spontaneous informal session with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis when visiting the Sun studio. This meeting was recorded on December 4, 1956, and dubbed the Million Dollar Quartet by the local newspaper the next day. These sessions are not generally included when reference is made to "Elvis's Sun Sessions", however.

History

Recordings

On July 18, 1953, Presley first went to the Memphis Recording Service at the Sun Record Company, now commonly known as Sun Studio.^[2] He paid $3.98 to record the first of two double-sided demo acetates, "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin". Presley reportedly gave the acetate to his mother as a much-belated extra birthday present,^[3] although many biographers suggest that Presley simply wanted to get noticed by Sun owner Sam Phillips. These suggestions are strengthened by the fact that the Presleys did not own a record player at the time.^[4]^[5] That one-off acetate has since been valued at $500,000 by Record Collector magazine. Returning to Sun Studios on January 4, 1954, he recorded a second acetate, "I'll Never Stand in Your Way" / "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You".^[6]

Phillips had already cut the first records by blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf and Junior Parker.^[7] He thought a combination of black blues and boogie-woogie music would be very popular among white people, if presented in the right way.^[8] In the spring, Presley auditioned for an amateur gospel quartet called The Songfellows, as one of the group was leaving and they were seeking a replacement.^[9] However, following Presley's audition, the original group member decided to stay.^[9] In May, Presley auditioned at the Hi-Hat in Memphis as a vocalist for a band. Eddie Bond, the owner of the Hi-Hat, turned him down.^[10]

When Phillips acquired a demo recording of "Without You" and was unable to identify the vocalist, his assistant, Marion Keisker, reminded him about the young truck driver. She called him on May 26, 1954. Presley was not able to do justice to the song (the original acetate of the song that Phillips presented to Elvis resides in the Memphis State University collection),^[11] but Phillips asked him to perform some of the many other songs he knew. After running through a few songs, Presley expressed an interest in finding a band to play with, and Phillips invited local Western swing musicians Winfield "Scotty" Moore (electric guitar) and Bill Black (slap bass) to audition Presley. They did so on Sunday, July 4, 1954, at Moore's house. Neither musician was overly impressed, but they agreed a studio session would be useful to explore his potential.^[12]

On July 5, 1954, the trio met at Sun studios to rehearse and record a handful of songs. According to Moore, the first song they recorded was "I Love You Because", but, after a few other country-oriented songs that weren't all that impressive, they decided to take a break.^[13] During the break, Presley began "acting the fool" with Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)", a blues song.^[14] When the other two musicians joined in, Phillips got them to restart and began taping. This was the bright, upbeat sound he had been looking for.^[15] Black remarked, "Damn. Get that on the radio and they'll run us out of town."^[16] The group recorded four songs during that session, including bluegrass musician Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky", which he had written and recorded as a slow waltz. Sources credit Bill Black with initiating the song, with Presley and Moore joining in. They ended up with a fast version of the song in 4/4 time. After an early take, Phillips can be heard on tape saying: "Fine, man. Hell, that's different—that's a pop song now, nearly 'bout."^[17]

To gauge professional and public reaction, Phillips took several acetates of the session to DJ Dewey Phillips (no relation) of Memphis radio station WHBQ's Red, Hot and Blue show. "That's All Right" subsequently received its first play on July 8, 1954.^[18] A week later, Sun had received some 6,000 advanced orders for "That's All Right" / "Blue Moon of Kentucky," which was released on July 19, 1954. From August 18 through December 8, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was consistently higher on the charts, and then both sides began to chart across the South.^[19]

After several performances with other bands, Presley arranged for Moore and Black to be his regular back-up group, giving them each 25% of the takings.^[20] Moore and Black were originally members of their own band, The Starlight Wranglers, but after the success of "That's All Right", jealousy within the group forced them to split.^[21]

Over the next 15 months, the trio would release five singles, tour extensively across the South, and appear regularly on the Louisiana Hayride; it was the biggest rival to the Grand Ole Opry at the time. They had originally auditioned for the Opry in October 1954, but they failed to impress the people in charge, or the audience, and were not invited back. Several biographers cite Jim Denny, talent agent at the Opry, as the man who told Presley that he should "go back to driving a truck".^[22]

The trio would record at Sun together until November 1955, when Phillips sold Presley's contract to RCA Victor for $40,000; it was, at the time, the highest sum ever paid for a recording contract. Sun had permission to keep pressing the singles until January 1, 1956, and RCA Victor released Presley's first five Sun singles nationally. In January 1956, Presley recorded "Heartbreak Hotel", his first RCA Victor single. He would return to Sun studios regularly over the next few months, visiting with Phillips and meeting many of the label's new artists.

Although Presley never officially recorded for Sun again, he was caught on tape during an impromptu jamming session on December 4, 1956. Presley had arrived during a Carl Perkins recording session, which also featured a young Jerry Lee Lewis on piano, and a new artist named Johnny Cash watching on. During a break in recording, Presley sat at the piano and began to sing along with Perkins, Lewis and Cash. Phillips kept his tape recorder running, and, seeing an opportunity to promote another of his new acts, he arranged for a reporter to cover the event. The recordings would eventually be known as "The Million Dollar Quartet".

During Presley's tenure at Sun Records, he recorded two demo recordings in Lubbock, Texas: "Fool, Fool, Fool" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll", which were released for the first time by RCA in the 1990s. These are not considered Sun recordings.

Songs recorded

Listed are the 24 titles from 1953 to 1955, ordered by their recording date. A take is any later version; the best take would be used to create a master to be issued.

"My Happiness"

"My Happiness" was recorded as a self-financed demo.

The original is by Borney Bergantine (the melody existed in 1933), and Betty Peterson Blasco; published in 1948.

Recorded: 18 July 1953

"That's When Your Heartaches Begin"

"That's When Your Heartaches Begin" was recorded as a self-financed demo.

The original is from 1937 by William Raskin, Fred Fisher and George Brown, and recorded by The Ink Spots in 1941.

Recorded: 18 July 1953

"I'll Never Stand in Your Way"

"I'll Never Stand in Your Way," by Hy Heath, is another self-financed recording.

Recorded: January 4, 1954

"It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You"

"It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You" is the fourth and final self-financed demo Elvis recorded. The song is by Fred Rose.

Recorded: January 4, 1954

"I Love You Because"

"I Love You Because" is a song by Leon Payne, original probably 1949, Capitol; Eddie Fisher (1950, RCA Victor)

Recorded: July 5, 1954 (session 1)

"That's All Right"

"That's All Right (Mama)" was written and recorded by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (1947, RCA Victor). Crudup's original title is "That's All Right (Mama)"; on the Sun label, and many later releases, '(Mama)' is omitted: "That's All Right".

Recorded: July 6, 1954 (session 1)

Elvis's recording of "That's All Right (Mama)" is mentioned as one of the beginnings of rock and roll, though the first rock and roll records predate it.

"Harbor Lights"

Hugh Williams – Jimmy Kennedy. Original: possibly Harry Owens and His Royal Hawaiians.

Recorded: Possibly July 5, 1954 (session 1)

The 4-CD boxed set Today, Tomorrow and Forever contains an alternate version (take three).

"Blue Moon of Kentucky"

"Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a bluegrass song by Bill Monroe, originally recorded by "Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys" (1947, Columbia).

Recorded: July 7, 1954 (session 1)

The 1992 album The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50s Masters contains a fragment (1:03) of an alternate take in a slower, more country style. This take was originally released on bootleg in 1974, having been located at Sun Records many years after Presley left for RCA.

"Blue Moon"

R. Rodgers – L. Hart.
Original: Ted Fio Rito & His Orchestra (Brunswick LA231=C 11/19/1934)
Also: Connie Boswell (Brunswick 16642, 1/15/1935) (many other recordings of this standard also preceded Elvis's)

Recorded: August 19, 1954 (session 2)