A Mess Of Blues by Elvis Presley

Album: Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4 (1960)

Charted: 2 32

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Songfacts®:

In the opening of "A Mess Of Blues," Elvis receives a letter from his girlfriend saying she "can't come home." It appears to be a euphemism for ending their relationship because the remainder of the song is Elvis professing that his mind is full of a "mess of blues" so bad that he can't function and is thinking about hopping a train to skip town.
Elvis recorded the song in 1960 for RCA Records. He released it as the B-side to "It's Now Or Never" but, even from its inferior placement, it hit #32 on the US chart. He released it as an A-side in the UK with "The Girl Of My Best Friend" as B-side and hit #2 on the UK chart.
The Jordanaires, a Missouri vocal group that worked with Elvis many times, did backing vocals on this one. On the UK version, the song is attributed to Elvis and The Jordanaires (the US version only listed Elvis).
Hit writers Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman wrote the song. They penned several chart-toppers for various acts in the 1950s and '60s, including Elvis' "Surrender," "Little Sister," "(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame," and "Suspicion." This was the first of their Elvis hits.

In all, Pomus and Shuman wrote over 20 Elvis songs, but they never actually met him. In a 2005 piece for a magazine titled Uncut Legends (today running under the name The Ultimate Music Guide), journalist Barney Hoskyns reported that, shortly before his death in 1991, Shuman wrote, "Doc and I never got to meet Elvis. Now I realize I would have at least liked to have shaken his hand and told him who I was. He gave strangers Cadillacs and I never even got a Christmas card!" Pomus died the same year.
RCA Victor included the song on Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4 in 1968.
In 1983, British rock band Status Quo hit #15 on the UK chart with a cover of "A Mess Of Blues." They included it on their 16th studio album, Back to Back. A printing error led to hundreds of copies being distributed with the front and back covers flipped around.
Led Zeppelin performed a six-song medley incorporating "A Mess Of Blues" in 1971. A partial recording of the performance was released on the BBC Sessions album in 1997.

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