The session on March 10 at RCA's recording studio in Los Angeles bore a strangely unacknowledged weight. Elvis had failed to deliver a single cut in 1974, and while technically he may have fullfilled his contractual commintments with a haphazard live album and the Colonel's curious scotched-together construction, "Having Fun with Elvis On Stage," there was little question of RCA's anxiety about their longtime star. His records were neither selling nor even being taken seriously. The Los Angeles Times' Robert Hilburn had responded to the release of his latest L.P, Promised Land, by suggesting that maybe it was time for Elvis to retire (the album was "as band and directionless as all those soundtrack albums Presley cranked out in the 1960's," Hilburn declared), and not one of his recent albums or singles had sold close to half a million copies. Still, no more thought or preparation appeared to have gone into this session than any ot the last few, and Freddy failed to deliver a single usable cut from the new catalogue.
Elvis brought Sheila and Lisa to the first day's session and with little rehearsal embarked upon the Pointer Sisters' apyly titled "Fairy Tale" (suggested to him by Linda Thompson) in too high a key. The next sng, "Green, Green Grass Of Home, " was the same mournful country number that Red urged him to record in the mid sixties, and he sang it with real feeling.
"Green, Green Grass Of Home" was recorded March 10, 1975: RCA's Studio C, Hollywood for the album "Today." "Green, Green Grass Of Home." had first caught Elvis's attention when he heard Tom Jones's version on George Klein's WHBQ radio show while driving home from California for Christmas in 1966. Elvis had flipped over the record then and stopped repeatedly to have Joe Esposito call from Arkansas to get George to play it again and again. At the time Red West was surprised to hear Elvis raving about the song, having played Jerry Lee Lewis's version for Elvis months before that to no reaction. Elvis's voice was more suited to this second number than the first, and he had it down from the start.
The Complete Recording Sessions
by Ernst Jorgensen
Careless Love
by Peter Guralnick |
