Revisit The Beatles Official Cover Of Elvis Presley

It’s an open secret of how the Beatles admired The King, Elvis Presley, when they were starting out as four lads from Liverpool. Now having a bit of gravity with their commercial standing, the Fab Four was armed with a plan as they walked into the BBC Paris Studio during the summer of 1963.

Paul McCartney gushed about the King, admitting that he was just as much of a fan as everybody was at the time. Elvis was downright the coolest figure to ever come around pop culture, the Beatles unknowing of their future yet.

John Lennon backed him up on this, saying how “Heartbreak Hotel” turned him into a true-blue spirit of rock and roll. Everybody had somewhere to start with, and this was Lennon’s definitive moment. (saltchamberinc.com)

The Beatles worked with producer Terry Henebery for the eighth installation of the radio show Pop Go The Beatles, where the band would record “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)”, one of the three Elvis song they did that day.

Ringo Starr had always expressed that he didn’t fancy drum solos but surprisingly vowed to make an exception for the Elvis rockabilly special that wasn’t released until 1994 as a part of Live at the BBC album.

Elvis popularized the original song written by Joe Thomas and Howard Biggs in 1953 when he used it on his self-titled album in 1956. As a tribute to the King, The Beatles used their version of the song on different shows during a tour in 1962 before finally making a studio cut of the track.

The song was also performed by the band at the Star-Club in Hamburg for New Year’s Eve in 1962, which marked their fifth and final residency at the venue.