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Elvis Presley: All Shook Up

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Today, 62 years ago, Elvis Presley scored his first UK No.1 with “All Shook Up”, (his tenth UK single release). It stayed at No.1 for seven weeks.

Composed by Otis Blackwell, it features Presley’s on percussion by slapping the back of his guitar.

Ranked #352 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, according to Elvis during an interview on 28 October 1957, the idea of the song came after he had quite a dream and woke up all shook up. He then phoned a pal and told hm about it. “By morning, he had a new song, ‘All Shook Up’.”

According to biographer Mark Lewisohn in The Complete Beatles Chronicle, The Beatles regularly performed the song, from 1957 through 1960 with Paul McCartney on lead vocal.

Suzi Quatro recorded “All Shook Up” for her debut solo album, Suzi Quatro, in 1973. The Jeff Beck Group, featuring Rod Stewart on vocals, released a version on their 1969 album Beck-Ola. While in 1991, Billy Joel recorded the song for the movie Honeymoon in Vegas.

The video here is from a television special starring Elvis Presley, aired by NBC on 3 December 1968: Singer Presents…Elvis—commonly referred to as ’68 Comeback Special.

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Rudolf Dethu

Rudolf Dethu

Music journalist, writer, radio DJ, socio-political activist, creative industry leader, and a qualified librarian, Rudolf Dethu is heavily under the influence of the punk rock philosophy. Often tagged as this country’s version of Malcolm McLaren—or as Rolling Stone Indonesia put it ‘the grand master of music propaganda’—a name based on his successes when managing Bali’s two favourite bands, Superman Is Dead and Navicula, both who have become two of the nation’s biggest rock bands.
Rudolf Dethu

Rudolf Dethu

Music journalist, writer, radio DJ, socio-political activist, creative industry leader, and a qualified librarian, Rudolf Dethu is heavily under the influence of the punk rock philosophy. Often tagged as this country’s version of Malcolm McLaren—or as Rolling Stone Indonesia put it ‘the grand master of music propaganda’—a name based on his successes when managing Bali’s two favourite bands, Superman Is Dead and Navicula, both who have become two of the nation’s biggest rock bands.

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