Elvis by Request: Flaming Star and 3 Other Great Songs

Elvis by Request: Flaming Star and 3 Other Great Songs is an EP by American singer Elvis Presley, containing two songs from the motion picture Flaming Star[1] ("Flaming Star" and "Summer Kisses Winter Tears", the latter cut from the final print)[2] and two of his earlier hits on the reverse side.

Elvis By Request
EP by
Elvis Presley
ReleasedApril 21, 1961
RecordedApril 3 – October 7, 1960
GenrePop
Length11:02
LabelRCA Victor
ProducerUrban Thielmann
Elvis Presley chronology
His Hand in Mine
(1960)		 Elvis By Request
(1961)		 Something for Everybody
(1961)

Recording and releases

Recording sessions took place on August 8 and October 7, 1960, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. Initially, four songs were composed for the movie, but "Britches" and "Summer Kisses Winter Tears" were dropped.[3] The soundtrack music in the film consists of only two songs, "Flaming Star" and "A Cane and a High Starched Collar." An early version of "Flaming Star," using the film's working title "Black Star," was recorded by Presley and later released in the 1990s. The significantly darker lyrics of the "Black Star" version were seen by some commentators as part of the reference of David Bowie's Blackstar.[4] Both Presley and Bowie share the same birthday (January 8).

Two months after the film's premiere, RCA released the extended play single Elvis By Request – Flaming Star, catalogue LPC 128, which peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100.[3] It contained the title track and one of the rejected songs, "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears," along with two of Presley's chart-topping 1960 singles, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" and "It's Now or Never." "Summer Kisses" would appear on the anniversary compilation album Elvis for Everyone five years later, and "A Cane and a High Starched Collar" would be released on Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 2. Finally, "Britches" saw release on Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 3 in 1979.

The song "Flaming Star" would be the title track of Elvis Sings Flaming Star, available at first only through select retail stores featuring products by the Singer sewing machine company as a promotional tie-in with Presley's 1968 Christmas television special, which Singer had sponsored. This album would begin the series of Presley budget releases on the RCA Camden subsidiary label.

Elvis by Request is the only Presley EP to play at 33⅓ rpm. All of his other EPs were 45 rpm.[5]

In 1964, Taiwanese singer Xie Lei (謝雷) recorded "Duoshao rouqing duoshao lei" (多少柔情多少淚), the Mandarin-language version of "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears".[6] Subsequent singers cover the Mandarin version.

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."Flaming Star" (from the film Flaming Star)Sherman Edwards and Sid WayneOctober 7, 19602:25
2."Summer Kisses Winter Tears" (unused song from the film Flaming Star)Ben Weisman, Fred Wise, Jack LloydAugust 8, 19602:17
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."Are You Lonesome Tonight?"Lou Handman and Roy TurkApril 4, 19603:05
2."It's Now or Never"Eduardo di Capua, Aaron Schroeder, Wally GoldApril 3, 19603:15

Personnel

References
  1. Guralnick, Peter; Jorgensen, Ernst (1999). Elvis Day by Day. Ballantine Books. ISBN 9780345420893. Spurred by radio broadcast of a bootleg recording of the songs from the movie, RCA creates an aptly named "request" EP Both Elvis and the Colonel feel the soundtrack material is unsuitable for record release but swallow a healthy dose of reality agreeing to put out the two best songs
  2. Eder, Mike (1 September 2013). Elvis Music FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the King's Recorded Works. Backbeat Books / Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-61713-580-4. Retrieved 31 December 2016. ... tracks recorded off the screen, Elvis was persuaded to allow "Flaming Star" and a ballad cut from the final print, "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears," to be released ...
  3. Guralnick, Ernst Jorgensen ; foreword by Peter (2001). Elvis Presley: A Life in Music--The Complete Recording Sessions (1st ed.). New York: Griffin. pp. 137, 414. ISBN 978-0312263157.
  4. "Does a 1960s Elvis song hold the key to Bowie's Blackstar, and 5 other theories behind his mysterious farewell". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  5. Lichter, Paul (July 1978). The Boy Who Dared to Rock: The Definitive Elvis. New York, NY: Doubleday. p. 229. ISBN 978-0385126366.
  6. "宝岛歌王谢雷 唱过生死终不悔". Epoch Times (in Chinese). May 15, 2009.
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