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Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old)

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Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old)
Studio album by
Elvis Presley
ReleasedJanuary 7, 1971[1]
RecordedJune 4–8 and September 22, 1970
StudioRCA Studio B (Nashville)
Genre
Length38:49
LabelRCA Victor
ProducerFelton Jarvis
Elvis Presley chronology
That's the Way It Is
(1970) 		Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old)
(1971) 		You'll Never Walk Alone
(1971)
Singles from Elvis Country
  1. "I Really Don't Want to Know"
    Released: December 8, 1970
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideB−[3]
MusicHound[4]
Rough Guides[5]

Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) is the 13th studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Records (LSP 4460) in January 1971. Recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville, it reached number 12 on the Billboard 200.[6] It peaked at number six in the United Kingdom, selling over one million copies worldwide.[7] It was certified Gold on December 1, 1977, by the Recording Industry Association of America.[8]

The lead single of the album, "I Really Don't Want to Know" backed with "There Goes My Everything", was released on December 8, 1970 and peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, number two on the Adult Contemporary chart, and number 23 on the country singles chart.[9]

Content

The bulk of the album came from five days of recording sessions in June 1970 which yielded 35 usable tracks. Presley performed every track "live", recording his vocal part in the same take as the band, as was standard practice for him. Eight tracks from the session were released two months earlier in November 1970 on the That's the Way It Is album. During the sessions, Presley and producer Felton Jarvis realized they had several country songs in hand and decided to record several more to create a full album of country material. Needing two more satisfactory tracks, Elvis returned to the same studio in September where he recorded "Snowbird" and a manic, one-take version of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On."

Nearly every style of country music is represented: bluegrass, honky tonk, Western swing, rockabilly, countrypolitan, and even the then-nascent "outlaw" movement. Snippets of the song "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" act as a bridge between each track.

After this album, Presley would return to his usual practice of recording a seemingly random batch of songs on each trip to the recording studio, letting his producer assemble them into albums.

Cover

The sleeve image is a colourised photograph of Elvis as an infant, with an inset of the original shot of the artist flanked by his parents Vernon and Gladys Presley,[10] anticipating by several decades the rap fashion of musicians using their baby pictures for album covers.[11][12]

Reissues

The June 14, 2004, compact disc reissue included six bonus tracks from the same sessions. Three of them had been previously released on the LP Love Letters from Elvis. The others were the B-side "Where Did They Go, Lord?" (a track that made its first LP appearance on the 1978 compilation "He Walks Beside Me"), and the unabridged version of "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" later released on Elvis Now.

In 2008 Elvis Country was reissued on the Follow That Dream label in a special two-disc edition that contained the original album tracks along with numerous alternate takes. In late 2011, RCA Legacy (owned by Sony) announced a two-CD "Legacy Edition" set of the Elvis Country album. Enthusiasm was short-lived as fans quickly criticized the decision to pair the album with the leftover set that was 1970's Love Letters LP instead of compiling rarities from the acclaimed Elvis Country set.[citation needed] However, both albums originated from the same recording sessions. An unreleased Quadraphonic version is also known to exist.

Track listing

Original release

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."Snowbird"Gene MacLellanSeptember 22, 19702:17
2."Tomorrow Never Comes"Johnny Bond, Ernest TubbJune 7, 19704:07
3."Little Cabin on the Hill"Bill Monroe, Lester FlattJune 4, 19701:58
4."Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"Dave "Curlee" Williams, Sunny DavidSeptember 22, 19703:10
5."Funny How Time Slips Away"Willie NelsonJune 7, 19704:32
6."I Really Don't Want to Know"Howard Barnes, Don RobertsonJune 7, 19702:59
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."There Goes My Everything"Dallas FrazierJune 8, 19703:10
2."It's Your Baby, You Rock It"Shirl Milete, Nora FowlerJune 5, 19703:04
3."The Fool"Naomi Ford, Lee HazlewoodJune 4, 19702:34
4."Faded Love"Bob Wills, Johnnie Lee WillsJune 7, 19703:19
5."I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water"Joe BabcockJune 7, 19703:54
6."Make the World Go Away"Hank CochranJune 7, 19703:46

2000 reissue bonus tracks

Tracks 1-12 are from the original album
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
13."It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing)"Shorty Hall, Alice Joy Merritt, Neal MerrittJune 6, 19702:47
14."A Hundred Years From Now"Lester Flatt, Earl ScruggsJune 4, 19701:40
15."If I Were You"Gerald NelsonJune 8, 19703:01
16."Got My Mojo Working" / "Keep Your Hands Off of It"Preston Foster, Elvis PresleyJune 5, 19704:34
17."Where Did They Go, Lord"Dallas Frazier, A.L. "Doodle" OwensSeptember 22, 19702:27
18."I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago"TraditionalJune 4, 19703:13

2012 legacy edition reissue

Disc one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Snowbird"Gene MacLellan2:17
2."Tomorrow Never Comes"Johnny Bond and Ernest Tubb4:07
3."Little Cabin on the Hill"Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt1:58
4."Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"Dave "Curly" Williams and Sunny David3:10
5."Funny How Time Slips Away"Willie Nelson4:32
6."I Really Don't Want to Know"Howard Barnes and Don Robertson2:59
7."There Goes My Everything"Dallas Frazier3:10
8."It's Your Baby You Rock It"Shirl Milete and Nora Fowler3:04
9."The Fool"Naomi Ford and Lee Hazlewood2:34
10."Faded Love"Bob Wills and Johnnie Lee Wills3:19
11."I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water"Joe Babcock3:54
12."Make the World Go Away"Hank Cochran3:46
13."I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago"Traditional3:13
14."A Hundred Years From Now"Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs1:40
15."Where Did They Go, Lord"Dallas Frazier and A.L. "Doodle" Owens2:27
Disc two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Love Letters"Edward Heyman, Kang Dadang2:53
2."When I'm Over You"Shirl Milete2:28
3."If I Were You"Gerald Nelson3:01
4."Got My Mojo Working" / "Keep Your Hands Off of It"Preston Foster, Elvis Presley4:36
5."Heart of Rome"Alan Blaikley, Ken Howard, Geoff Stephens2:56
6."Only Believe"Paul Rader2:50
7."This is Our Dance"Les Reed, Geoff Stephens3:16
8."Cindy, Cindy"Dolores Fuller, Buddy Kaye, Ben Weisman2:32
9."I'll Never Know"Fred Karger, Sid Wayne, Ben Weisman2:25
10."It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing)"Shorty Hall, Alice Joy Merritt, Neal Merritt2:49
11."Life"Shirl Milete3:10
12."The Sound of Your Cry"Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Buddy Kaye3:17
13."Sylvia"Geoff Stephens and Les Reed3:17
14."Rags to Riches"Richard Adler and Jerry Ross1:54

Personnel

Sourced from Keith Flynn.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

Overdubbed
  • Farrell Morris – percussion and timpani on "Snowbird", "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Make the World Go Away", "I Really Don't Want To Know", "Faded Love" and "Tomorrow Never Comes"
  • Harold Bradley – electric sitar on "Snowbird"
  • Weldon Myrick – pedal steel guitar on "Little Cabin on the Hill"
  • Bobby Thompson – banjo (on "Little Cabin on the Hill")
  • Buddy Spicher – fiddle (on "Little Cabin on the Hill")
  • The Imperials Quartet – backing vocals
  • The Jordanaires – backing vocals (on "Funny How Time Slips Away", "There Goes My Everything" and "Make The World Go Away")
  • Joe Babcock – backing vocals
  • Millie Kirkham – backing vocals
  • Mary Holladay – backing vocals
  • Ginger Holladay – backing vocals
  • June Page – backing vocals
  • Sonja Montgomery – backing vocals
  • Dolores Edgin – backing vocals
  • Mary Greene – backing vocals
  • Temple Riser – backing vocals
  • Cam Mullins – string arrangements
  • Don Tweedy – string arrangements
  • Bergen White – horn arrangements
Production staff

References

  1. ^ "Elvis Presley Discography". www.keithflynn.com.
  2. ^ Elvis Country at AllMusic
  3. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: P". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  4. ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. pp. 892. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  5. ^ Simpson, Paul (2004). The Rough Guide to Elvis. London: Rough Guides. pp. 145–46. ISBN 1-84353-417-7.
  6. ^ "Elvis Presley Pop Albums - Billboard's Top Pop Albums". Elvis Presley: The Official Site of the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. 2013. Archived from the original on November 8, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  7. ^ "Elvis Express Radio - The UK Album Charts". 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  8. ^ "Searchable database". RIAA. Recording Industry Association of America. 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013. Note: Enter search for "Elvis Country"
  9. ^ "Elvis Country Awards". AllMusic. Rovi Corp. 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  10. ^ Guralnick, Peter (March 4, 1971). "Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old)".
  11. ^ "A History Of Artists Who Use Their Own Baby Pics As Album Covers (LIST)". August 22, 2013.
  12. ^ "What's Up With All Those Baby Photos on Rap Album Covers?".
  13. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
  14. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
  15. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
  16. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
  17. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
  18. ^ "Elvis Presley Recording Sessions".
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