Elvis- Love Me Tender

G.I. Blues is the eleventh album by Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2256, in October 1960. Recording sessions took place on April 27 and 28, and May 6, 1960, at RCA Studio C and Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California. The album topped the Billboard Top Pop Album chart and has been certified by the RIAA as a platinum album.

Music on this album comprised songs that had appeared in the film of the same name. The song “Wooden Heart” was released as a single in the United Kingdom, where it was #1 for six weeks. In the United States, Joe Dowell recorded a cover version of “Wooden Heart” that topped the Billboard Hot 100. RCA later released “Wooden Heart” by Presley as the b-side of a single twice, once in 1964 on the back of a reissue of “Blue Christmas,” and again on the flip of a belated issue in 1965 of “Puppet On A String” from the Girl Happy movie. Four songs from this album appear on the 1995 soundtrack compilation: “G.I. Blues,” “Wooden Heart,” “Shoppin’ Around,” and “Doin’ the Best I Can.”

Due to copyright reasons, the European version of the soundtrack album and film substitutes the opening track “Tonight Is So Right for Love” with the song “Tonight’s All Right for Love,” adapted from a melody by 19th century waltz-king Johann Strauss. An American release of “Tonight’s All Right for Love” did not occur until it appeared on the compilation album Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 1 in 1974. The version of “Blue Suede Shoes” used on the soundtrack is a new recording of the song Presley first recorded in 1956, and is one of only a few songs that Presley would re-record in a studio setting during his career, others being “Love Letters” and “A Little Less Conversation.”

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G.I. Blues is a 1960 Elvis Presley musical motion picture played as a romantic comedy. It was filmed at Paramount’s Hollywood studios, with some pre-production scenery shot on location in Germany before Presley’s release from the army.

By 1960 it had been two years since Presley had made his last film, King Creole. Despite his previous three films being mostly slated by the critics, they warmed to King Creole and its star. Presley felt confident that he had a future in acting after this praise and he was looking forward to returning to Hollywood after his time in the army.

Eight months prior to Presley being discharged, producer Hal Wallis visited with him in Germany to go over the script for G.I. Blues and film some on-location scenes. Although some scenes were used in the final film, Presley did not film at any time during his time there. The U.S. Army supplied tanks and vehicles on manoeuvres to be used in the filming, and appointed public information officer John J. Mawn (1915-2007) as technical advisor for the film. Mawn had presided over Presley’s military press conferences.

Presley returned to the U.S. in March 1960 and began work on the film in late April. The film, which was not well received by critics, was released on November 23 1960, and finished the year as the fourteenth biggest box office grossing film of 1960 generating $4.3 million. Despite critics being dismissive of the overall plot, they did praise Presley’s acting ability and the film was nominated for two musical related awards in 1961; Best Soundtrack album Grammy, and WGA Best Written Musical. Presley’s return to the screen in Mexico City led to a riot in a theater showing G.I. Blues that prompted the Mexican government to ban Presley’s movies.

The success of G.I. Blues may have ironically been the catalyst for the formulaic films that Presley was to make for much of the 1960’s. His next two films, Flaming Star and Wild in the Country, were more straight acting vehicles, with less songs and a more serious approach to the plot lines. However, despite Presley relishing a meatier role and enjoying the chance to act dramatically, both films were less successful at the box office than G.I. Blues had been, resulting in a return to the musical-comedy genre with Blue Hawaii as his next film role. Blue Hawaii proved to be even more profitable than G.I. Blues and set in stone the future of Presley’s Hollywood career.

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