Song 552: This week the playlist comes around to Don't Be Cruel by Elvis Presley, written by Otis Blackwell, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Last week I again shared the story about how The Beatles rocked my world in February of 1964, as they did for so many other folks, although in my case it occurred a week later than it did for most fans. The Fab Four stayed at the top of my rocker list through my junior high and high school stretch, and in my senior year a biography of the group came along which I relished, but which also had some surprising revelations for me. It astonished me to read how all four initially got their rock inspiration from Mr. Presley. At the time, the only spinner of his that I knew was Hound Dog (Song 433), which happened to be the A side of the single that had this gem on its B side. I knew nothing about EP's contributions to the RnR scene until the early 1970s, when a 1950s revival came across the rocking radio air waves and my Rolling Stone subscription filled in the blanks. In response, I soon acquired a Presley greatest hits LP, and I treasured that 33. It got plenty of spins on my turntable, and I clearly understood by the time of his 1977 demise what the music world lost at that sad moment. These days, as the pandemic question marks continue to hang in the air, some of us might feel like asking why should we be apart? We still don't have the answer, but perhaps at some point not too far down the road, we'll see that the future looks bright ahead.
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