Studio Sessions for RCA June 25, 1961" RCA's Studio B, Nashville
Elvis had wanted to record another song Red West had written, this one based on a line suggested by Elvis himself. "That's Someone You'll Never Forget" would make a good title, Elvis told his friend, and during these years it's hard not to wonder whether it was his own mother he had in mind. Red crafted a pretty melody around the line, expanding the lyric while leaving it open to the broadest interpretation; at one point during the session Elvis asked, "How do you like the arrangement, Red?" and Red couldn't have been more thrilled. The recording was built around an acoustic guitar, supported by Bob Moore's understated bass and Buddy Harman's brushes on the cymbals; with slip-note touches from Floyd Cramer and a bit of coloring from the Jordanaires, the record had a simple, intimate sound. Determined to do justice to the song, Elvis worked hard on his own phrasing and added Hank Garland's softly played electric guitar to the second take; the fifth try could have been the master, but they patiently tried twice more before Elvis was satisfied. "That's Someone You Never Forget" was hardly a commercial project, but its sincerity gave it a timeless quality that some of Elvis's recent work had lacked. "That's Someone You Never Forget" was a song about longing, and Elvis poured himself into it in a way that had nothing to do with craftsmanship, nothing to do with professionalism, and nothing to do with the territorial wars that Colonel and RCA continued to fight.
Released as single: Long Legged Girl(with the Short Dress On)/That's Someone You Never Forget. On The Charts: Billboard Hot 100 (1 week-peaked at #92.) Released on LP: Pot Luck June 1962.
The Complete Recording Sessions by Ernst Jorgensen, Careless Love by Peter Guralnick
& The Elvis Encyclopedia by David E. Stanley |
