The Soundtrack Of Our Lives

November 8, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Soundtrack Of Our Lives 

On Sundays, The Soundtrack of Our Lives looks back at some of the music that was popular, and the performers who were influential, around the time Richard Nixon became President in 1969.

SUSPICIOUS MINDS (MARK JAMES) performed by ELVIS PRESLEY

“Suspicious Minds,” which topped the nation’s pop charts forty years ago at the beginning of November 1969, was Elvis Presley’s first Number One hit in seven years — and the last one in his lifetime.  From its opening bars it is clearly a great song.  In 1999 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (“recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance”); and it is Number 91 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  It is also one of the Soundtracker’s particular favorites — for what that’s worth.

By 1969 Elvis was in serious need of a rebranding.  The heyday of his record hits and concert tours was now almost a decade in the past.  And his Hollywood cottage industry churning out money-making but increasingly vapid movies had begun to pall.

The Elvis formula carefully developed and rigidly applied by the Dutch-born Svengali “Colonel” Tom Parker was out of sync with the major developments in popular music and in society in general during the ferment of the 1960s.

At the end of 1968 Elvis pulled himself together and performed on a TV special sponsored by the Singer Sewing Machine Company.  Now known as the Singer Special or the Comeback Special, this hour presented a newly sleek and relevant Elvis.  It also created some serious performance pressures regarding its follow up.

Back and better than ever: Elvis wore black leather for his Christmastime TV special in December 1968.

Colonel Parker looked to Las Vegas as the next step.  He made a deal with the new International Hotel for a month-long engagement —two shows a night seven days a week— beginning in July.  The building was under construction even while the ink was drying on the contract.

If you build it they will come: In April 1968 Elvis signed up for a month of shows at the new International Showcase in the new International Hotel.  At 2000 seats, the International Showcase would be Las Vegas’ biggest venue.

Elvis’ only studio album in the last seven years had been 1967’s hymnal How Great Thou Art.  For his new album Elvis decided to break out of the Colonel’s comfortable Nashville routine by choosing Chips Moman’s American Sound Studios in Memphis.  Although American Studios were located in the worst part of Memphis, they featured all the latest developments in the technique and technology of sound recording.  “What a funky, funky place,” was Elvis’ first reaction.

Back home again: Elvis and Chips Moman at Moman’s American Sound Studios where “Suspicious Minds,” “In the Ghetto,” and “Kentucky Rain” were recorded in January 1969.

The “American Studios sessions” are now part of the Elvis legend; as Rolling Stone remarked, they “helped return the King to his throne.”  It was during those twelve days in January 1969, with a short break to fight a cold, that Elvis cut the thirty-six tracks that yielded two LPs that went platinum, and four singles, three of which went gold.

The sessions were as spectacular as the behind-the-scenes rangling over publication rights and turf in general was acrimonious.   Tempers raged; at one point Moman suggested just erasing the tapes and calling it quits.  Finally an RCA executive, recognizing that “Suspicious Minds” could be a monster hit, intervened.  The tapes were turned over, the LPs were pressed, and the album —From Elvis in Memphis— was released in August.  (Stephen Rudko’s authoritative account of all this Memphis Sturm und Drang —“Reinventing Elvis: The American Studio Sessions”— can be found here.)

We can go on together: The Sweet Inspirations (clockwise from top, Sylvia Shemwell, Cissy Houston, Myrna Smith, Estelle Brown) backed up Elvis on the recording of “Suspicious Minds” and during the July gig at the International Hotel in Las Vegas.  Inspiration Cissy Houston later recalled that after each show “we would jam with him for an hour, singing gospel.  He really loved it, had a feel for it, and was tickled to have four ‘church sisters’ backing him up.”   In addition to backing up Elvis and the likes of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Solomon Burke, the Sweet Inspirations released several hit albums of their own between 1968 and 1979.

The advantages of Moman’s artistry and American Studios’ equipment are evident on “Suspicious Minds”  — which was recorded on EST (Elvis Standard Time) between 4 and 7 am.  In Nashville, Elvis’ recordings were straightforward renderings of the studio product and sound.  In Memphis, Moman was able to lay down rough tracks, as well as sweeten things in post production.  The memorable horns and the now iconic fade at 3:33 that heightens the intensity of the finale, are examples of Elvis’ Momanization.  The terrific backup singers were the Sweet Inspirations, who also served as his opening act.

Elvis debuted the song during his Las Vegas gig in July.  Devotees of the song will find the tempo too fast, the mixing too thin, and Elvis’ disrespect (“shove it up your nose”) disappointing  But connoisseurs of the King will see him back on stride on top.

“Suspicious Minds” was written by Mark James, one of Chips Moman’s songwriters at American Studios.  In 1968 Moman, who saw the song’s potential, produced a record with the composer as performer.  Moman realized the the limitations of the James recording but recognized the song’s potential.  As soon as he heard that Elvis would be coming to Memphis he brushed off the arrangements and presented it as a hit in waiting.

Mark James’s other hits included “Hooked on a Feeling,” written for his Texas high school classmage B. J. Thomas.  And “Always on My Mind,” James’ 1973 B-side for Elvis’ “Separate Ways” became a Number One hit, and won the Grammy for Song of the Year, when Willie Nelson covered it in 1982.

Elvis’ success with “Suspicious Minds” inspired Dee Dee Warwick’s convincing R&B cover that broke the Hot 100 in 1971.

For the compleat Elvis fan: In the words of the catalog: “This stylish and funky Elvis fridge magnet features a classic image of Elvis from his ‘68 Comeback Special. Simply press the face of the magnet to hear Suspicious Minds.”

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