Elvis Presley - That's All Right [HD]

Elvis Presley sings 'That's All Right' (his debut single) from the first album containing it, the 1959 RCA Victor album 'For LP Fans Only'. This song was recorded on July 5, 1954 at Sun Studios as a one-take single track, so like a "live" recording. The lyrics are below with notes about the song.

[Vinyl/14-Images/WAV]

That's All Right (Singer: Elvis Presley)

Well, that's all right, mama
That's all right for you
That's all right mama, just anyway you do
Well, that's all right, that's all right
That's all right now mama, anyway you do

Well, Mama she done told me
Papa done told me too
Son, that gal you're foolin' with
She ain't no good for you
But, that's all right, that's all right
That's all right now mama, anyway you do

I'm leaving town, baby
I'm leaving town for sure
Well, then you won't be bothered with
Me hanging 'round your door
Well, that's all right, that's all right
That's all right now mama, anyway you do

I need your lovin', that's all right
That's all right now mama, anyway you do

Songwriter: Arthur Crudup
© Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
[Lyrics From LyricFind]

Wikipedia states:

"That's All Right Mama" is a song written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup. It is best known as the debut single recorded and released by Elvis Presley. Presley's version was recorded on July 5, 1954, and released on July 19, 1954 with "Blue Moon of Kentucky" as the B-side. It was ranked number 113 on the 2010 Rolling Stone magazine list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Elvis Presley's version was recorded in July 1954. After Elvis started playing around in Sam Phillps studio and played the song faster than the original. Its catalogue number was Sun 209. The label reads "That's All Right" (omitting "Mama" from the original title), and names the performers as Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill. Arthur Crudup was credited as the composer on the label of Presley's single, but even after legal battles into the 1970s, was reportedly never paid royalties. An out-of-court settlement was supposed to pay Crudup an estimated $60,000 in back royalties, but never materialized. Crudup had used lines in his song that had been present in earlier blues recordings, including Blind Lemon Jefferson's 1926 song "That Black Snake Moan".

During an uneventful recording session at Sun Studios on the evening of July 5, 1954, Presley (acoustic rhythm guitar), Scotty Moore (lead guitar) and Bill Black (string bass) were taking a break between recordings when Presley started fooling around with an up-tempo version of Arthur Crudup's song "That's All Right, Mama". Black began joining in on his upright bass, and soon they were joined by Moore on guitar. Producer Sam Phillips, taken aback by this sudden upbeat atmosphere, asked the three of them to start again so he could record it.

Black's bass and guitars from Presley and Moore provided the instrumentation. The recording contains no drums or additional instruments. The song was produced in the style of a "live" recording (all parts performed at once and recorded on a single track).

Presley's version has different lyrics compared to the Arthur Crudup version. According to a 1986 Rolling Stone interview, Sam Phillips said that Elvis changed some of the lyrics of the songs that he recorded. The recording session was Presley's fifth visit to the Sun Studio. His first two visits, the summer of 1953 and January 1954, had been private recordings, followed by two more visits in the summer of 1954.Upon finishing the recording session, according to Scotty Moore, Bill Black remarked, "Damn. Get that on the radio and they'll run us out of town."