THE HIT HAMMER: Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)

Elvis Presley - "Suspicious Minds"

Hit Number 1: November 1, 1969

Stay at Number 1: 1 Week

The King wasn't done yet. Perhaps the biggest star of the pre-Beatles era, Elvis Presley cranked out 18 #1 hits, with a good amount of those coming before the Hot 100 was created. Presley's career was full of twist and turns, along with some interruptions. He started out as a rock and roll hooligan, and released many fun bangers that we still sing along with today. He also, of course, starred in movies, and had a leading role in the movie Jailhouse Rock, which yielded a #1 hit on the pre-Hot 100. (That song, which is also called "Jailhouse Rock", is a 9) Presley continued his impressive run as a rock and roller until he entered the U.S. Army, which caused a brief interruption in his career. That didn't stop him for long however, as he returned to the U.S. in 1960 and took a stranglehold on the U.S. charts once again.

The Beatles are not the reason we haven't heard from Elvis in so long. He's not among the many artists whose careers derailed after the excitement of the British Invasion. He had one final #1 hit in 1962 with "Good Luck Charm" before he vanished from the charts. That was because instead of music, he got wrapped up in movies and films, and hardly released any new music because of that. So while the Brits came in and dominated the charts, and the stoners came with their psychedelic weirdness, Elvis was off dealing with movies. He eventually grew tired of the mediocre movies he was in, and longed to get back to the music business again. That was when his big resurrection occurred with the '68 Comeback Special. He was finally back in the music business again, and hits followed.

The song that best represents Elvis' return is "Suspicious Minds", but that wasn't his own song. "Suspicious Minds" was written and recorded by Mark James, a little-known artist who worked with other artists like B.J. Thomas and Brenda Lee. (Thomas will appear in this blog soon. Lee already has) Unfortunately for James, his version was an epic flop, not even making it on any charts. His song is based on reality, as even though he was married, he still had feelings for his childhood sweetheart, who was also married. James' wife grew to be suspicious of his feelings, which prompted him to write "Suspicious Minds". He described the situation like they were "caught in this trap that they could not walk out of". Now knowing that, it's pretty disappointing that James wasn't the one to make a hit out of the song, but the tale of "Suspicious Minds" doesn't have too sad an ending.

After the '68 Comeback Special, James was told that his studio was to be booked by Presley to record his album From Elvis In Memphis. He kept getting asked if he had any songs that would be right for Presley. James thought that his "Suspicious Minds" could work for Elvis, and he kept trying for others to get him to hear the song. Presley eventually did hear it, and decided that despite the song's chart flop, he could turn it into a hit. And so he did.

I have no idea what James' original version sounds like, so I can't compare his version to Elvis'. But it's hard for me to imagine that his version was better than Elvis'. Elvis was capable of many things, he could pose as a devilish rock and roll mobster, a fun-loving and gentle teen idol, a savvy crooner, or a glitzy Vegas performer. "Suspicious Minds" was the bridge from Elvis' comeback to his Vegas days, but no matter how you choose to look at it, it's hard to deny that "Suspicious Minds" is a masterpiece. Elvis pours so much emotion into the song, that it's breathtaking. Everything fits together about as well as it possibly could, with the grand horn section and the female choir creating a beautiful combination. There's a string section too, and while they're pretty subtle, the song still wouldn't quite be the same without them. The moment in the song when everything shuts down so Elvis can belt out "Oh let our love survive!" is chill-inducing. The one thing I'm not sure about is the fade out that suddenly fades back in towards the end, but seeing as how this song is a classic Elvis-masterpiece, I'm gonna give it a free pass on that.

It's also a little bit haunting to listen to "Suspicious Minds", knowing the kind of life Elvis would live from there on out. We all know he got big in Vegas, but he unfortunately got hooked on drugs and all kinds of different medications. He started eating bad, and gained a lot of weight because of that. What was once an attractive bad-boy rocker in the 1950's would become an overweight Vegas performer. Eventually his bad habits caught up with him, and his health declined rapidly. He died at his home in 1977, just eight years after his triumphant return to the top of the charts with "Suspicious Minds". Now there's two ways you can look at this: You can either see "Suspicious Minds" as a sad ending to a tremendous musical career, or you can see it as one last hurrah from someone who is engrained in music history for the rest of time. I see it as the latter. Elvis might have died 43 years ago, but his music and "Suspicious Minds" will outlive me, and all of you who are reading this. He's the King, after all.

GRADE: 10/10