Elvis: One Night

Here is a wonderful example of the young Elvis Presley working at the limits of his considerable talent. The multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, piano) here accompanies himself on Scotty Moore's Gibson L5 CESN guitar on a 1957 recording that he initially rejected because his quality-control level was so high. When he was unable to re-record his performance because he was drafted into the army, RCA Victor begged him to approve the song for release in 1958. He agreed, and the track hit number one all over the world. Arranged, produced and probably lyrically tweaked by Elvis himself, this was one of the sexiest and most passionate of all 1950s rock 'n' roll hits. Elvis. an obsessive r&b fan and huge supporter of black culture, always retained his love for this great Smiley Lewis original. The accompanying video is the recently discovered and ultra-rare colour film of Elvis knocking them dead in Hawaii in 1957.