It Hurts Me
Encyclopedia
"It Hurts Me" is a 1964 Top 40 song recorded by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 on RCA Victor. Credited to Joy Byers and Charles E. Daniels
Charlie Daniels
Charles Edward "Charlie" Daniels is an American musician known for his contributions to country and southern rock music. He is known primarily for his number one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and multiple other songs he has performed and written. Daniels has been active as a singer...

, "It Hurts Me" is a ballad that was a new song when recorded by Elvis Presley on January 12, 1964. Record producer and songwriter Bob Johnston
Bob Johnston
Donald William Robert 'Bob' Johnston is a noted American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson and many Nashville recording artists, as well as Simon and Garfunkel.-Early days:Johnston was born into a professional musical family...

 revealed that he had actually written the songs attributed to his wife Joy Byers, including "It Hurts Me".

Background

This non-movie song became the B-side of an Elvis Presley movie single, "Kissin' Cousins
Kissin' Cousins
Kissin' Cousins is a 1964 musical film comedy starring Elvis Presley in two roles, one as an American soldier, the other a hillbilly. The screenplay was nominated in the category of best written American musical by the Writers Guild of America...

". The A-side reached number 12 in the U.S. singles charts, while "It Hurts Me" reached number 29 but never became well-known or attained "the classic stature promised by the song and the performance."

The session that produced this recording marked the beginning of a twenty-eight month period during which Presley recorded no other non-movie songs.

Elvis recorded a new version on June 20, 1968 and used this song during the montage medley sequence of his 1968 NBC Comeback Special.

There is a notable Spanish version in the Latin genre by Marco Tulio Sanchez, known as the voice of rock and roll in Colombia.

Origin of the Song

It was just before Christmas, 1962, as future Country Music icon Charlie Daniels was driving from El Paso, Texas, to the East Coast, that he began forming the idea that would become this song. Not very long afterwards his long-time friend Bob Johnston
Bob Johnston
Donald William Robert 'Bob' Johnston is a noted American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson and many Nashville recording artists, as well as Simon and Garfunkel.-Early days:Johnston was born into a professional musical family...

 invited him to Nashville to co-write some songs, and they finished this one together. Daniels remembered: "We just went on, and we finished it up, and Bob did a demo on it, and the company that he was writing for at the time---Hill and Range was the parent company---handled Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, which was Elvis Presley's two companies."

Daniels explained: "Elvis came to town. He picked it up and held it for almost a year in what was called his portfolio. You know, they'd pick songs out for Elvis and when he'd go in to record, he'd review them, and if he liked it, he'd do it. So anyway, he recorded it, and it was by far," said Daniels, "the biggest thing that had ever happened to me in my life." Although he never had the opportunity to shake Elvis Presley's hand, Daniels did meet his daughter, Lisa Marie, at an event in Memphis. "I just got to tell her, I said, 'You know your dad picked one of my songs. I was a big fan,'" said Daniels.

With her sunglasses on, she resembles her famous father so much that it's "spooky," said Daniels with a laugh. "She looks like a miniature Elvis with, of course, feminine features." Bob Johnston, who wrote this with Daniels, was writing under the name "Joy Byers" and "Joe Byers" at the time. Daniels was credited as "Charles E. Daniels."

Sources

  • Jorgensen, Ernst (1998). Elvis Presley: A life in music. The complete recording sessions. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312185723.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK