Category: Music

3 a.m. Albums: Elvis Presley’s “The Jungle Room Sessions”

Our series “3 a.m. Albums” examines albums that are perfect for those nights when you cannot sleep due to sadness, loneliness, or despair. Today we consider Elvis Presley’s “The Jungle Room Sessions” (and “Way Down in the Jungle Room”) a collection of songs from Presley’s final recording sessions.

Elvis Last Recording Just for the circumstances surrounding Elvis Presley’s recording of The Jungle Room Sessions (2000), the album constitutes the perfect “3 a.m. album.” The songs on The Jungle Room Sessions come from Presley’s final two studio recording sessions on February 2-7 and on October 29-30, 1976 in the late night and early morning hours. Presley was emotionally and physically drained, no longer wanting to go outside his home at Graceland even as he worked hard to fulfill his obligations for concerts booked by Colonel Tom Parker.

Because of Presley’s reluctance to leave Graceland, RCA brought a studio to him, setting up recording equipment in Presley’s famed “Jungle Room,” the den at the back of Graceland behind the kitchen. Although the room was not built for recording, Nashville engineer Brian Christian helped figure out how to adapt the room in ways such as draping the walls with heavy blankets to dampen the acoustics. Considering the obstacles, the music that came out of these sessions sounds fantastic.

The music from these sessions may be found on two similar releases from Sony’s Follow That Dream (FTD) specialty Elvis label.  The Jungle Room Sessions from 2000 features outtakes from the sessions.  FTD later released Way Down in the Jungle Room in 2013 as a two-CD set that includes both the masters and various outtakes. I own and love both of these releases, which are somewhat duplicative, with some differences.  Either one makes for great three a.m. listening.

The masters from these Jungle Room sessions produced the final two official albums of Elvis’s career: From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee (1976) and Moody Blue (1977). The Jungle Room Sessions and Way Down in the Jungle Room compile unreleased songs from these recording sessions that according to Ernst Jorgensen’s Elvis Presley: A Life in Music, generally started after 9:00 p.m. and went all through the night.  A more recent

And it is these gems and alternate takes — sometimes stripped down, sometimes featuring false starts and comments by Presley — where Presley through his beautiful voice sacrifices his own anguish to help heal yours. As his weakened body gives his lifeblood to each song, you find a close companion in the night. Allmusic describes the Jungle Room Sessions album as “one of the most revealing and emotionally draining releases ever issued by Elvis. Hear it and weep.”

The Jungle Room Sessions generally follows the order in which the songs were recorded, beginning with “Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall.” This recording includes some opening conversation by Elvis and two short takes before getting to the complete fifth take of the song. The missteps and chatter draw you into the sessions, so you feel you are sitting with Elvis and the band in the middle of the night in Graceland, or maybe they are with you wherever you are.

Other songs include a nice take on “The Last Farewell,” “Moody Blue,” “Danny Boy,” and “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.” Another highlight is “She Thinks I Still Care,” a George Jones classic that was written by written by Dickey Lee and Steve Duffy.

The collection of songs also includes alternate takes on “Hurt,” a song where in Presley’s cries of anguish Greil Marcus found an “apocalyptic attack.” Similarly, Dave Marsh wrote, “If [Presley] felt the way he sounded, the wonder isn’t that he only had a year left to live but that he managed to survive that long.” This alternate take matches that description.

Finally, the Jungle Room Sessions album ends with the rocking “Fire Down Below.” But you no longer hear Presley on this track, except for a brief clip of Presley singing “America” after the track ends. The instrumental recording for “Fire Down Below” was made for Presley to later add his vocals. But he died before he got the chance to do that.

“Fire Down Below” is a fitting way to end the album, with the listener missing Presley, wondering what he might have done with the music, a track that sounds more like a sunrise than a 3 a.m. song.

Check out other albums in our series “3 a.m. Albums.”  The Jungle Room Sessions and Way Down in the Jungle Room appeara on Graceland’s special collector label Follow That Dream and are available through Graceland’s official store.  What is your favorite 3 a.m. album? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Ned Miller: The Shy Man Behind “From a Jack to a King”

    From a Jack to a King

    In the first week of May 2016, it was announced that singer-songwriter Ned Miller had passed away at the age of 90 in Medford, Oregon. Miller had written such songs as “Dark Moon,” “Do What You Do Well,” and “Invisible Tears.” But his best-known song was “From a Jack to a King,” which in 1963 went to number six on the Billboard pop chart (and number two on the country chart). The song also was covered by artists like Bobby Darin and Elvis Presley.

    Miller’s version of “From a Jack to a King” was initially released in 1957 and it initially did not do well. But a record company rereleased it in 1962, and for some reason the song about a man’s happiness at finding the right woman caught on the second time.

    But Miller — who was born in Utah as Henry Ned Miller on April 12, 1925 — never enjoyed the limelight. He did little touring to support “From a Jack to a King,” and he often suffered stage fright. He would sometimes ask friends to perform under his name, and he eventually stopped performing altogether because of his shyness. He stopped recording in 1970, relieved to be out of the music business.

    Another popular song that Miller wrote was “Dark Moon,” which has been recorded by Gale Storm, Chris Isaak, and Bing Crosby. Isaac’s version of “Dark Moon” was released in 1993 as a single. The song later appeared on the album Best of Chris Isaak (2006).

    Because of Miller’s preference for avoiding the spotlight, it seems fitting that his death was announced to the public nearly two months after he passed away on March 18, 2016. But we are lucky that for a period this shy man shared a little of himself with us.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Arthur Alexander: “Every Day I Have to Cry”

    Every Day I Have to Cry

    Ever since I started this blog, I have been planning to write a post about one of my favorite singers, Arthur Alexander. I have been putting it off because I feared I could not do justice to his story. But since Arthur Alexander Jr.’s birthday is this week, the least I could do was to post my favorite Arthur Alexander song, “Every Day I Have to Cry.” And then maybe we will return to more of his music at another time.

    Alexander — who was born on May 10, 1940 in Sheffield, Alabama –should be much more famous than he is. His songs have been covered by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, George Jones, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, Dusty Springfield, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many others. The country soul singer began recording music in the early 1960s.  Some of his songs became well-known, like “You Better Move On” and “Anna (Go to Him),” the latter recorded by The Beatles.

    Several singers covered “Every Day I Have to Cry” before Alexander got around to recording it. Steve Alaimo first recorded it in 1962, and the Bee Gees recorded it in 1965. Ike and Tina Turner covered it in 1966. Alexander finally recorded “Every Day I Have to Cry” in 1974.

    Unfortunately, Alexander’s career never took off like it should have. After his 1972 album Rainbow Road found little success, he left the music business.  By the 1980s, he was working as a bus driver for the Center for Human Services in Cleveland, Ohio.

    But as interest in his catalog begin to grow, he returned to his music in the early 1990s. In 1993, he released his first album in 21 years, Lonely Just Like Me. He kept his bus driving job as the album was released, but as the record began to gain attention, he prepared for a tour.

    At the time of the album’s release, Alexander welcomed the renewed interest in his career “I’m finding out the seeds I planted all that time ago were good seeds. That’s really something – I was gone for such a long time.”

    Alexander finally was on the verge of the success he deserved. But then, soon after the album’s release, he had a fatal heart attack and died on June 9, 1993.

    Alexander’s birthday is a great day to track down and listen to more of his music, as are the other 364 days of the year. There are plenty of good seeds to find. One of my favorite albums is the special edition of his 1990s comeback album, Lonely Just Like Me, but it is hard to go wrong with any of his music. For more on Alexander’s career, check out this post by Richard Younger or this article on RCR. Or you may read his 1993 obituary in the New York Times.

    What is your favorite Arthur Alexander song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    General John Sedgwick and His Last Words

    Hit an Elephant
    Major Gen. John Sedgwick

    On May 9, 1864, General John Sedgwick became the highest ranking United States soldier to be killed in the U.S. Civil War when a sharpshooter killed him at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. But despite Sedgwick’s leadership and his bravery, he is most known for his last words.

    “They Couldn’t Hit An Elephant”

    As his own men took cover while Confederate sharpshooters from 1000 yards away fired at the Union soldiers, Sedgwick stood tall.  Trying to inspire his men, he asked, “Why are you dodging like this? They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” A few moments later, he was shot in the eye and killed.

    Sedgwick had been involved in the Civil War from its very beginning, starting out as a colonel. He and his men saw action in places such as the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Chancellorsville, and at the Battle of the Wilderness.

    Sedgwick’s death came a little less than a year before the Confederacy surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1965.  Also, he died exactly one year before the official end of the war by proclamation on May 9, 1865.

    Despite dying while questioning his soldiers, Sedgwick apparently was well-liked by his men, who called him “Uncle John.” Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. George G. Meade were greatly saddened at his death, as was his old friend on the other side of the war, Robert E. Lee.

    “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”

    There are a number of songs about guns and/or being shot, either literally or figuratively. For example, there is Aerosmith’s “Janie’s Got a Gun,” Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name” (“shot through the heart. . .”), Eric Clapton’s “I Shot the Sheriff,” the Beatles’ “Happiness is a Warm Gun,” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Saturday Night Special.”

    Other songs include The Clash’s “Tommy Gun,” Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Machine Gun,” Beastie Boys’s “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun,” and Cypress Hill’s “How I Could Just Kill a Man.” And there is David Lee Roth’s song that invokes the type of animal in Sedgwick’s last words, “Elephant Gun.”

    One of the few songs, though, that takes the point of view of the person being shot is Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” Dylan wrote the song for the 1973 movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

    In Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, director Sam Peckinpah used the song about the last words of a wounded sheriff to accompany the death of Sheriff Colin Baker (played by Slim Pickens). Dylan’s song begins around the 2-minute mark in the following clip from the film.

    Unlike the sheriff in “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” General Sedgwick had little time to contemplate the end of his life after he was shot in the head. Yet, his last words have had a lasting power.

    Storytellers used Sedgwick’s last words for a number of purposes.  Depending on how you look at his death, his last words illustrate courage, bravura, or stupidity.

    You have to give some kudos to the guy, though, and many have. There is a monument to Sedgwick at West Point. And among other tributes, there are cities named in Sedgwick’s memory in Arkansas, Colorado, and Kansas.  Colorado and Kansas also named counties after Sedgwick. Streets are named after him in New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

    Meanwhile, nobody remembers the name of the man who killed him. Several Confederate soldiers claimed responsibility, though many believe Benjamin Medicus Powell fired the fatal shot using a long-range Whitworth sharpshooter rifle (with telescope) from England.

    What are your favorite last words? Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo via public domain.

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    That 1950s Instrumental Hit Known as “Sleep Walk”

    Santo & Johnny If you watch a movie about the 1950s or early 1960s, it is likely that at some point you will hear a familiar instrumental song that you recognize but might not know its name. If you have wondered about the story behind the familiar song with the steel guitar, the name of the song is “Sleep Walk,” written and recorded by brothers Santo & Johnny Farina in 1959.

    “Sleep Walk” was recorded at the end of the 1950s, so the song was probably still playing on the radio as the 1960s began. And in retrospect, it seems like it was a last gasp of capturing the perceived innocence of the 1950s before the start of the turbulent changes of the 1960s, as well as following the tradition of 1950s instrumental guitar songs. Perhaps those reasons are why “Sleep Walk” is so often used in movies to evoke the 1950s, such as when the song pops up at the end of La Bamba (1987) after Ritchie Valens’s family learns of his death in February 1959.

    In this video, Santo and Johnny perform the song on the August 1, 1959 episode of the Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show. Dick Clark tells how the brothers wrote the song at 2:00 a.m. after one brother woke up the other because he had the idea for the song in his head (although another article  reports merely that the brothers stayed up late to write the song). The story about the late hour explains the name of the song.

    For more information about Santo & Johnny and “Sleep Walk,” Johnny Farina is interviewed by Tom Meros in this video below. Johnny gives some background on how his father encouraged the brothers to learn the steel guitar.

    Although everyone knows the Santo & Johnny version, others have covered the song, including My Morning Jacket and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Blake Mills and Carlos Santana play that version you hear in La Bamba.

    In this video, Garrison Keillor introduces Chet Atkins and Leo Kottke playing a sweet version of “Sleepwalk.” Check it out.

    We love the song as an instrumental piece.  But that has not stopped some folks from trying to add words.

    Modest Mouse turned the instrumental into “Sleeepwalkin'” on their 1999 album Building Nothing Out of Something when they added some lyrics.  Check it out.

    About.com explains that a jazz standard “Softly As In a Morning Sunrise” inspired “Sleep Walk.” But Farina disputes the existence of any relationship between the two tunes.

    Farina explained, “It’s not even close to it, really, if you listen to the two. But it’s become part of the mystique of the song.” Listen to Michael Brecker’s take on “Softly As In a Morning Sunrise” and judge for yourself.

    Farina, however, does note that “Sleep Walk” has inspired others. For example, the tune inspired John Lennon to write “Free as a Bird.”

    Lennon’s song was later made into a Beatles song by the other Beatles after Lennon’s death. You can definitely hear a little “Sleep Walk” in “Free as a Bird.”

    In addition to La Bamba, “Sleep Walk” has appeared in other movies like Coupe de Ville (1990), Mermaids (1990), Jack (1996), The Butcher Boy (1997), Hearts in Atlantis (2001), and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003). The tune also pops up in television shows like Mad Men, Heroes, Ken Burns’s Baseball series, and Quantum Leap.

    Santo and Johnny, fortunately, are still with us. According to Wikipedia, Santo is semi-retired and Johnny still tours and records. I am not quite sure what it is about “Sleep Walk” that makes us automatically think of the certain time period of 1950s America. But Santo & Johnny certainly captured a certain time as well as a certain sleepy feeling.

    What is your favorite use of “Sleep Walk”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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