Songs That You Wish Elvis Presley Had Sung

Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds - Don't Pull Your Love

Raspberries - Let's Pretend/Go All All Way

Sly - Family Affair

Scaffold - Thank U Very Much (retitled Thanguverrrymuuch")

 

Yeah, but how many people would have thought that Johnny Cash could sing any Nine Inch Nails song and make it suit his persona? But somehow Cash did it. Maybe Cash should have covered "Unforgiven."

 

Yeah, that would have been more suited for Cash.

I would like to heard Elvis sing Mistreated by Deep Purple.

 

Wow. I was just listening to the Walker Brothers' version of that song the other night. I could definitely see Elvis giving this one the full Vegas treatment. Elvis loved those big ballads like "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me," and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" would have fit right in with that song. Actually, Scott Walker's early solo career was like a slighly artsier move in the same direction that Elvis moved into in the eary 70s. I've seen footage of Walker singing some of those Jacques Brel ballads, and his stylized stage moves are really not so far from Elvis in Vegas. And Walker clearly is a fan, as evidenced by his meditation on the Elvis/Jesse myth on The Drift.

 

Although it wouldn't have been ground-shaking, Elvis doing a cover of "My Sweet Lord" on the He Touched Me album would have been a highlight, IMO.

Speaking of ballads, him doing The Stones "Till The Next Goodbye" would have been cool.

Even better, and a bit poignant, would have been a cover of The Stones "Time Waits For No One."

Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" might have suited him well too...

 

I can really hear an Elvis-in-Memphis period rendition of the Byrds' "Set You Free This Time." In my head it sounds amazing, especially the build-up in the chorus. The verses might be a bit wordy for the King's style though.

 

I would have liked to hear his versions of some of the Harry Nilsson catalog especially "Everybody's Talkin' ".

 

Great thread! It just goes to show that Elvis could probably have made almost any song his own. These are just a few off the top of my head; ones that it would have been great to hear him tackle:

Main Street- Bob Seger
Show and Tell- Al Wilson
Life Has Its Little Ups and Downs, Most Beautiful Girl in the World- Charlie Rich
If We Make it Through December- Merle Haggard
Forever- Beach Boys

 

Was it Greil Marcus who wrote the big long essay about how Elvis should have covered Dylan's "I Threw it All Away"? He was right, that was the perfect Elvis song, musically and lyrically. Very much in tune with his 70's fondness for failed relationship songs, and also can be taken on a more general level (Elvis threw away a lot).

Lennon wrote "Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out" for Sinatra, but Elvis would have done an excellent job on it also.

There's an old Curtis Mayfield song called "Suffer" (I think it's on the Sweet Exorcist album) that would have been great for Elvis.

 

I think a lot of songs that Elvis sang in the 70s can be interpreted as commentaries on his squandering of his talent. I hear "Always on My Mind" that way. I hear the lines "Maybe I didn't love you / Quite as often as I could have / Maybe I didn't treat you / Quite as good as I should have" as addressed to his own musical potential as much as to Priscilla or any other woman. If you listen to the song that way, it makes it even more heartbreaking, I think.

As far as Dylan songs, I wish Elvis had tackled either "Simple Twist of Fate" or "Shelter from the Storm." That's definitely a higher level of failed relationship song than "Separate Ways," although I find the best of Elvis's 70s heartbreak songs, such as "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues" or "I'm Leavin'," to rival the saddest moments on Blood on the Tracks.

 

Hey Jude? No.

Something? Very arguable - I think I heard his version before I ever even knew what Abbey Road was - it's a shame he never got around to doing that one in-studio.

 

Morrison definitely was influenced by Elvis. I always thought "Love Me Two Times" sounded very Elvisy, so I imagine Elvis would have done a decent job with that song, though it's not really lyrically his type of song.

 

Yep, I've read (and heard from those who knew him) that Morrison was a big Elvis fan and IMO it shows. That said, I could easily have seen Elvis performing The Doors' Touch Me, Crawling King Snake and You Make Me Real.

 

Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac.

 

I was just thinking that The Walker Brothers have that soulfull, dramatic style. Who better to be able to take a song to even higher epic proportions than the King.

 

more ONJ

 

California Girls and Help Me Rhonda. Damn he would have sung both of those with that great Elvis style!

 

Absolutely! (good call there Shawn)

Also:

Golden Years (Elvis reportedly had expressed interest in doing this one)

I'll Be On My Way (Lennon/McCartney)

Southern Cross

 

Clapton's Wonderful Tonight
Prince's Peach

 

There's an Elvis story in the new John Phillips John: The Wolf King of L.A. reissue. The booklet says that the King used to call John "Mississippi" after the album's single, and that Elvis intended to cut the song, but never did. I wish he had.

 

Wow John, I had never heard that Elvis was interested in Golden Years! I'm kinda surprised he had even heard the track, let alone liked it!

 

I liked the idea of Elvis doing "People Get Ready." In a similar vein, I wish he had covered Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come."

Here are some more:
Detroit City (Tom Jones)
If You Could Read My Mind (Gordon Lightfoot)
Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell)

 

I think he would sound great doing "Born to Run" !

"Ten Years Gone" by Zep I know is a stretch but I think it is one of their more subtle songs-He would really be able to put the emotion in it and build it to a epic finish.

"New Pollution" by Beck-He would realy be able to ham this one up-in a good way.

 

The Rose,
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,
One, (Three Dog Night)
Achy Breakey Heart
I Want To Know What Love is

 

He actually did record this, and it was the b-side to American Trilogy (1972).