"Can't Help Falling In Love" was featured in the 1961 Elvis movie Blue Hawaii. It was written by the songwriter George Weiss, who claimed that neither the movie producers nor Elvis' associates liked the song demo, but Elvis insisted on recording it for the movie. Weiss, who died in 2010 at age 89, was a military bandleader in World War II.
This was Elvis' most popular and famous "love song," but it was not sung to his love interest in Blue Hawaii - It was sung to the grandmother of his love interest on the occasion of her birthday. In the scene, Elvis presents her with a music box. When she opens it, the song plays and Elvis sings along.
The soundtrack to Blue Hawaii hit #1 on the US charts in the fall of 1961 and remained there for 20 weeks in a row, a record that wasn't broken until 1977 by Fleetwood Mac's landmark album Rumours.
The melody is based on a French song called "Plaisir D'Amour," which was penned in 1784 by a German with an Italian name, Jean-Paul Egide-Martini.
Elvis ended most of his concerts with this song.
Hal Blaine played the drums on this track. He became one of the most successful session drummers of all time, playing on hits by The Beach Boys, The Association, Sam Cooke, Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Diamond, and many others. He entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
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Suggestion credit:
Ken - Leicester, NC
A version by the Swedish pop group A-Teens appeared on the soundtrack of the animated feature
Lilo and Stitch, which like the original version was also set in Hawaii.
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Suggestion credit:
Rick - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In 1970, Andy Williams' version went to #3 in the UK. In 1976, it became a UK hit once again when The Stylistics version hit #4. The previous year, The Stylistics had a hit with I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love), which was also written by Weiss.
New York-born George Weiss was a prolific songwriter in the '40s, '50s '60s and '70s. Among the string of hits he penned in addition to this song were "
What a Wonderful World" recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1967, The Stylistics 1975 UK chart-topper "Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)," and "
The Lion Sleeps Tonight," a reworking of a South African Zulu song recorded by The Tokens in 1961. As well as writing songs for pop and jazz stars, Weiss also worked on a number of musicals, most famously the Sammy Davis Jr. starring
Mr Wonderful, which he wrote in 1956 with Jerry Bock and Larry Holofcener. Weiss died on August 23, 2010, of natural causes at his home in Oldwick, New Jersey.
At the behest of director Blake Edwards, Christine McVie covered "Can't Help Falling In Love" for his 1986 film A Fine Mess, starring Howie Mandel and Ted Danson. Her band, Fleetwood Mac, hadn't recorded together since 1982, but McVie convinced her bandmates Lindsey Buckingham, John McVie (also her ex-husband) and Mick Fleetwood to back her on the recording, with Buckingham producing. This got the band recording again, and with the addition of Stevie Nicks, they set to work on their next album, Tango In The Night, released in 1987. The album did very well but old hostilities resurfaced and Buckingham bailed on their subsequent tour. He didn't return to the group until 1997.
This was given a double-A-sided release in the UK with another song from
Blue Hawaii: "
Rock-A-Hula Baby."
Haley Reinhart, who placed third on American Idol in 2011, recorded a cover of this song for a commercial for Wrigley's Extra gum. The spot shows a couple (Sarah and Juan) who meet when they are still in school. As they grow older, she is constantly sharing her gum with him, and their love grows. The spot ends with Sarah discovering that Juan has saved some of the wrappers and drawn pictures on them. After she sees his wrapper art, she turns around and finds him proposing to her.
The ad agency, BBDO, had a range of artists record the song, looking for just the right feel. Reinhart's version was the winner, capturing the sentimental but contemporary sound that worked with the story. The song and commercial were released around the same time, and they both went viral, garnering millions of views on YouTube and Facebook.
Christina Grimmie performed the song on the May 19, 2014 finale of The Voice. Her version reached #74 on the Hot 100.
Along with a bit of Elvis' original, a version by country-pop singer Kacey Musgraves soundtracks a scene in the 2022 movie Elvis when the King falls in love with his future wife, Priscilla. It shows up again in a Las Vegas performance, this time sung by the film's star, Austin Butler.
Musgraves also released a music video for her version that features clips of Elvis and Priscilla's love story from the movie. A lifelong Elvis fan, the singer was thrilled to get an opportunity to record a tune for the soundtrack. As proof of her devotion, she tweeted a childhood video of her smiling self opening a present containing Elvis Presley perfume.
A live version by indie-pop singer Ingrid Michaelson reached #37 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart in 2011. In 2024, Michaelson was invited to perform the tune at the NMPA [National Music Publishers' Association] Annual Meeting, not knowing that Priscilla Presley was in attendance.
"I didn't know she was going to be there until a half hour before I sang," Michaelson
told Songfacts in a 2024 interview. "They said, 'You know Priscilla's out there?' I said, 'No, why would you tell me that?' Don't ever tell a performer anything like that, especially so soon before I was about to go out. But she was so lovely and I met her after, and she had nothing but wonderful things to say. It was intimidating but she was very lovely and receptive and warm."
