Suspicious minds
Suspicious Minds is a song made famous by Elvis Presley in 1969 , which became a million seller .
| Suspicious minds | |
|---|---|
| Mark James | |
| publication | 1968 |
| length | 2:47 |
| Genre (s) | Soul , country rock |
| Author (s) | Mark James |
| text | Mark James |
| music | Mark James |
| Cover versions | |
| 1969 | Elvis Presley |
| 1969 | Dee Dee Warwick |
| 1969 | BJ Thomas |
| 1970 | Waylon Jennings with Jessi Colter |
| 1982 | Candi Staton |
| 1986 | Fine Young Cannibals |
| 2002 | Gareth Gates |
History of origin
Mark James wrote the songs Eyes of a New York Woman and Hooked on a Feeling for BJ Thomas . At the time, James was with chips Momans music publishing Moman Press Music Co. in Memphis as an author under contract. James wrote the country rock song Suspicious Minds under his real name Francis Rodney Zambon and recorded it between May and June 1968 with the music producer Moman ( Scepter Records 12221) in his recording studio American Sound Recording Studios in Memphis; he sold only twelve of these after publication in June 1968.
The text is based on the own experiences of the writer, who was married but could not forget his childhood love during the marriage. It is about the mutual distrust that destroys love. The statement "We can't go on together with suspicious minds" is intended to state that living together with mutual suspicion is not possible. Both partners have to jump over their shadows and empathize with the other's position; in the text this situation is perceived as a trap ("We're caught in a trap").
When Presley first booked the American Sound Recording Studios instead of the Sun Studios in Memphis , the owner Chips Moman was looking for new song material. Presley should develop a new style in the special atmosphere of the studios. His manager Colonel Tom Parker tried with Suspicious Minds, as with almost all foreign compositions covered by Presley, to get a cut-in with composer James in order to place Presley's music publisher. Since Presley insisted on recording the song and James refused to give in, the request was dropped.
Presley completely adopted the arrangement of the original. The cast under producer Felton Jarvis consisted of Reggie Young (with an old hollow body Gibson Super 400 guitar), John Hughey (steel guitar), Mike Leech and Tommy Cogbill (bass), Bobby Wood (piano), Bobby Emmons (organ) , Gene Chrisman (drums), The Memphis Horns (wind section) and a repetitive choir. Recordings began on January 23, 1969 with Presley and the choir. On February 28th and March 18th, twelve violins were added; the mix took place on August 7th and 8th. August 1969 with the wind section at the United Recording Studios branch in Las Vegas, where the master's was also recorded. The song started at the end of a night session at 4:00 a.m. and was finished at 8:00 a.m. after 8 takes .
The song with the high tempo and a driving bass line did not have a fixed outro for that recording status . It was therefore Moman's idea to fade out the song after 3:52 minutes of playing time by means of fade-out and to fade in another loop by means of fade-in , which then led to a total length of 4:31 minutes. This fade-in and fade-out phase took 15 seconds. This should leave the radio stations with the option of canceling their airplay after the first fade-out; most of them finished the record. Initially, however, many radio stations faded out in ignorance after the first fade-out. Suspicious Minds was first presented by Presley on July 26, 1969 at the Las Vegas International Hotel in a 6-minute arrangement to an enthusiastic audience.
Publication and Success
Suspicious Minds is a release from the album From Elvis in Memphis (US release: May 1969, UK: August 1969). After being released as a single on August 26, 1969, Suspicious Minds / You'll Think of Me ( RCA Records 47-9764) became the first number one hit since Good Luck Charm (March 1962), but was also the last US Top hit for Presley - at least during his lifetime. On November 1, 1969, he stayed at number one on the US hit parade for a week , in Great Britain he reached number two. It developed into a million seller with over 2 million records sold. Suspicious Minds received the gold record on September 28, 1969 . The single hit the charts in numerous other countries: Canada (2 weeks), Belgium (4 weeks), Australia (3 weeks) and New Zealand (2 weeks).
Presley had three hits in Great Britain: in November 1969, in April 2001 with a live version from the International Hotel from August 1970 (15th place) and September 2007 (11th place). Suspicious Minds was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 . The Rolling Stone lists Presley's version ranked 91 of the 500 greatest songs of all time , calling them Presley's masterpiece .
Cover versions
There are at least 94 cover versions . Mention should be made of BJ Thomas (January 1970), Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter (August 1970), Dee Dee Warwick (April 1971), Merry Clayton (October 1972), Thelma Houston (March 1980), Candi Staton (March 1982), Fine Young Cannibals (January 1986; 8th place) or Gareth Gates (LP What my Heart Wants to Say; September 2002), the single of which rose to first place in the British charts. El Vez , known as "Mexican Elvis" , released a poetry on his album Graciasland in 1994 under the title Immigration Time .
Individual evidence
- ^ Ace Collins, Untold Gold: The Stories Behind Elvis's # 1 Hits , 2005, p. 216
- ↑ Sharon Davis, Every Chart Topper Tells a Story: The Seventies , 2012, p. 1955
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 290
- ↑ Rolling Stone on Suspicious Minds