Songs That You Wish Elvis Presley Had Sung

There's an ongoing thread asking the question why Elvis isn't discussed more around here. Well, here's a King-related topic I've been thinking about lately: Imagine an alternate reality where, flush from the success of the '68 Comeback special, Elvis fires Col. Parker and decides to seek out new material from the best rock, pop, and country songwriters of the day, instead of whatever garbage Hill and Range songs or whatever RCA's and the Colonel's other favorite publishers of the era were. What songs of the late 60s and early 70s do you wish the King had tackled?

Here's a few of my fantasies:

Gram Parsons: $1,000 Wedding Gram loved Elvis so much that he hired Elvis's Vegas band to back him up on his solo albums. In my alternate reality, the King repaid the favor by covering this epic ballad. Something tells me Elvis would have really related to the lyric of this one. Could have been a concert showstopper to rival "You Gave Me a Mountain."

Robbie Robertson: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Probably my ultimate "what if" fantasy. Elvis came close to this territory with his version of "American Trilogy," but Robertson's song would have given him an even more appropriate song for him to sink his teeth into.

Judee Sill: Jesus Was a Crossmaker The Hollies rocked their cover version of this song, but I think Elvis would have done an even better job. He was drawn to this sort of 70s secular gospel material, as witnessed by his cover of "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Elvis had more in common with Sill's brand of 70s hippie Christianity than you might think; as Peter Guralnick's biography reflects, Elvis had been on the same sort of California New Age spiritual trip since the mid-60s.

I've got some other ideas, but I'll just throw these three out there and see what people think.

 

Its the late 60's, Colonel is gone, so the King forgets that stupid rule about owning part of a song and just makes an album of covers that blow the originals out of the water. :

* Lady Madonna (Beatles)
* Sitting on Dock of the Bay (Otis)
* All Along the Watchower (Dylan)
* You never can tell (Chuck Berry)
* Caroline No (Beach Boys)
* People Get Ready (Curtis)
* Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol harum)
* Heard it through the grapevine (Marvin gaye)
* Fortunate son (creedence)
* You cant always get what you want (stones)

 

The Stooges' "Loose", "Surfin' Bird" by the Trashmen, or "Big Ten Inch Record".

 

'I Like Dreamin' or 'Love's Grown Deep' by Kenny Nolan.

 

Duet.....Elvis and Roy Orbison doing On The Wings of A Nightengale.

 

The Bee Gees - "To Love Somebody"

 

Couldn't you just see Elvis singing Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" back around 68 with the black leather outfit on....

 

Walker Brothers- The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore
Hendrix- Bold As Love
Love- The Daily Planet
The Doors- The End

 

"The Pusher"

 

Where The Streets Have No Name" And "Change The Locks".

A long shot but...Purple Rain? Think American Trilogy meets Prince.

Not to Thread Hi jack but anyone have any ideas for a good producer on these songs? Dave Edmonds comes to mind.

 

Enter Sandman

Seriously, though....."Turn Turn Turn" would've been a good one.


Evan

 

The Weight
Midnight Rider
Hot Dog
Eye of the Tiger

 

Well, one of my other fantasies is that Elvis cleaned up and lived long enough to have the same kind of Rick Rubin "back to the roots" comeback that Johny Cash enjoyed. If Cash could pull off a Nine Inch Nails song, I bet the King could have made a Metallica song his own.

 

When you get right down to it, Elvis would have rocked just about any song by Robbie Robertson and the Band. "Acadian Driftwood" would have been another great song for him, as would have "It Makes No Difference."

 

He did a great job with the Bee Gees "Words" in the 1968-1970 era.

 

Great list. I especially like "Lady Madonna," although I think he may actually have sung this one at some point. He did a pretty good medley of "Get Back" and his own "Little Sister" in the 70s, and the off-the-cuff rehearsal take of "Hey Jude" from the '69 Memphis shows how completely he could make any song his own. I know this will spark some debate, but I think Elvis's versions of "Hey Jude" and "Something" are the definitive versions of those songs. Of course, Elvis's band, great as they were, don't play the song as well as Harrison, McCartney, and Starr did, but Elvis cut to the heart of "Something"'s lyric, as he so often did.

 

He did get part of the way through this one...check out the 70's boxed set. I wish he made it all the way through. I think he just didn't know the words.

 

Little Richard's LUCILLE! Orbison's Only The Lonely, Fire (forgot by who)

 

Rainy Night In Georgia

 

Seriously, I would like to have heard him sing Nothing Else Matters.

 

You're right, many songs by The Band would have been great. Personally, I think he would have had a blast with Up On Cripple Creek.

Also:
Rock 'n Roll - Led Zep
Riders On The Storm - The Doors
Love Her Madly - The Doors (again, another one he could have some fun with)
My Love - Wings (I'd love to hear James Burton's take on Denny Laine's great guitar solo)
Let It Be - The Beatles
Houston - Dean Martin
Maybe I'm Amazed - Paul McCartney

Hmmm I've gotta think some more on this one...

 

IIRC, he sings an all-to-brief snippet of this song in Elvis On Tour (in the back of a limo after a concert).

 

My personal dream Elvis Metallica cover would be "Unforgiven."

 

I thought of that one too, but the lyrics wouldn't match his persona, IMO.

 

I don't know if Elvis could have or should have tackled the Zeppelin or Doors catalog, although I could maybe see him pulling off "Riders on the Storm." He was always great at spoken-word recitations in the middle of songs, as on "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," "Are You Lonesome Tonight," and "Mama Like the Roses," and I could see him interpreting parts of this song that way.