Elvis: That's Alright Mama 60 Years On

At number 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, better known as Sun Studio,

technicians and musicians are setting up

for a unique musical tribute.

60 years ago today, on the 5th of July, 1954,

a teenage Elvis Presley recorded his first single, That's All Right.

It may have only lasted two minutes,

but the song made Elvis one of the most famous names on the planet.

Without That's All Right, there'd be no Heartbreak Hotel,

no Hound Dog, no Graceland, no Comeback,

no legend.

# Blue moon... #

We've invited a variety of artists from different musical backgrounds

to Sun Studio, to record classic Elvis tracks.

The songs are also going to be broadcast live into BBC Radio 2.

There'll be performances from the likes of Candi Staton,

The Pierces

and Laura Bell Bundy.

And we'll be telling Elvis' story,

talking to the people who knew him best.

I said, "Wow! Man, that guy can sing.

"He can play that guitar, too." I was totally impressed.

# Well, bless my soul... #

As a musician and actor based in Nashville,

I'm hugely influenced by American music and culture.

I love Elvis' distinctive sound and style.

Bob Dylan once said that hearing Elvis for the first time

was like busting out of jail.

Hundreds of thousands of people were part of that jailbreak.

He walked that thin line of where the girls loved him, because he was

he was a pretty face and all that stuff, but the guys wanted to be him.

And he was really hot.

And all of it looked so good!

Before him, there was just nothing like that.

Every rebellious part that you have in you was on that stage.

When the first album came out,

I can't imagine how incendiary that sleeve would have look

to a whole generation.

That little impromptu jam session

turned into the record that changed the world.

# ..any way you do... #

FANS SCREAM

The way Elvis happened so quickly, so almost overnight...

# Dreaming of your tender... #

In August 1953, a young Memphis truck driver spent 4 recording

a song he told the producer was a present for his mother.

It was a lie.

He had bigger ambitions.

'When I was driving a truck, every time a big shiny car drove by,

'it started me, sort of, daydreaming.

'I always felt that someday, somehow,

'something would happen to change everything for me.'

The owner of the recording studio, Sam Phillips, liked what he'd heard.

He had a type of forlorn, lonesome sound about his voice.

A very lonesome-natured, introspective individual.

Sam's business partner, Marion Keisker,

liked the young man's voice even more.

The hair began to prickle on the back of my neck,

which is a very strange sensation.

A very exciting sensation.

A few months later, Sam Phillips invited the truck driver back

and, on the 5th of July, 1954, Elvis Presley stood on this very spot

and made a record that would change the history of popular music.

Each of our performers has chosen an Elvis song

to pay tribute to his genius.

First, one of the hottest country singers around - Laura Bell Bundy.

She's chosen the classic country ballad, Blue Moon Of Kentucky,

that became the B-side for That's All Right.

Well, I chose Blue Moon Of Kentucky for obvious reasons.

I'm from Kentucky, but I also love this version

of Blue Moon Of Kentucky,

I love Elvis' version.

# Blue moon of Kentucky... #

The song was first a hit for Bill Monroe in 1946 and sung as a waltz.

# Blue moon Blue moon... #

When Elvis covered it in July '54, Sam Phillips encouraged him

to speed it up, until he declared, "That's a pop song, now."

It's a classic bluegrass song, essentially.

But he, kind of, made it a rockabilly version of a bluegrass song,

which I love.

# Blue moon

# Blue moon

# Blue moon, keep shinin' bright

# Blue moon, keep on shinin' bright

# You're gonna bring my baby back home tonight

# Blue moon, keep shinin' bright

# I said blue moon of Kentucky keep on shinin'

# Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue

# I said, blue moon of Kentucky keep on shinin'

# Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue

# Well, it was on one moonlight night

# Stars shinin' bright

# Whispered on high

# Love has said goodbye

# I said blue moon of Kentucky keep on shinin'

# Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue

# Let it shine!

# Well, it was on one moonlight night

# Stars shinin' bright

# Whispered on high

# Love has said goodbye

# Oh, I said, blue moon of Kentucky keep on shinin'

# Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue

# Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shinin'

# Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue

# Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue

# Shine on the one that's gone and left me

# Blue

# I said blue moon of Kentucky keep on shinin'

# Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue

# Left me blue

# Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shinin'

# Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue

# Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue

# Oh, shine on the one that's gone and left me blue. #

Come on!

The day before Elvis recorded That's All Right,

he rehearsed at the house of a guitarist

Sam Phillips had recommended, called Scotty Moore.

After hearing the 4 audition the previous year,

supposedly for Elvis' mother,

Sam had asked Marion Keisker to make a note of the boy's name.

She misspelled it, and added a note of her own.

# How I long to be... #

But the magic wasn't there that night -

the rehearsal didn't go well.

Scotty said afterwards to Sam Phillips,

"With work, the kid might amount to something."

So, where did this quirky-looking singing truck driver come from?

And where did he get his love of music?

# In my father's house... #

Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8th 1935,

in a house his father Vernon built himself.

Elvis' twin brother Jesse died stillborn.

While Vernon worked as a labourer, his wife Gladys looked after Elvis.

Vernon once said...

"I'll never deny that..."

Sam Bell was a neighbour of the young Elvis.

Together they used to sneak into the local segregated cinema.

It was upstairs and downstairs.

The blacks weren't allowed downstairs,

but it was partition upstairs, it was split half and half.

But you could go upstairs to the white side,

and you'd climb over the partition.

And you'd be on the black side.

So we'd sit up at the aisle, sit-down aisle,

and watch the movie.

Now, we'd buy the popcorn.

We thought cos we'd buy some popcorn, it was all right.

If we buy the popcorn.

10 cent a bag!

Even aged ten, Elvis had a fascination with music,

and entertained his friends by using a broom as a guitar.

He'd play the big end of the broom back here

and make a sound with his mouth.

And sometimes, we'd just stop, during our playtime,

and we'd, kind of, gather round and we sang church songs, you know.

Old church songs.

We thought we could, we really couldn't, you know.

Elvis may have wanted a real guitar,

but he also wanted something with a bit more edge.

Just before his 11th birthday,

Elvis headed to Tupelo main street in search of a .22 calibre rifle.

His mom brought him down to our store to visit and see Forrest Bobo.

Mr Bobo had worked for my grandfather for 20 years.

And when they saw Forrest, Elvis, of course, asked to see a rifle.

Mr Bobo showed him the rifle and Gladys was not too pleased,

so Forrest looked around and thought,

"Well, maybe a young boy would like a guitar."

They looked at the guitar and pulled it out of this counter right here -

this was our music counter, at the time.

Forrest got a little box for him to sit on

and he strummed on the guitar and seemed to like that.

And after a while, they convinced Elvis

that a guitar would be a better choice for a birthday present

than the rifle.

So that's, kind of, the way history was made in Tupelo Hardware -

the beginning of rock'n'roll.

# The steps that lead to any church... #

The Presleys were a religious family,

regular members of the Assembly of God in Tupelo

and, later, in Memphis.

Elvis, in particular, loved gospel.

We've invited one of America's quartets,

Brian Free & Assurance, to perform for us at Sun.

He was raised in a Christian home,

so the first music he was introduced to was church music.

-Quartet music.

-Yeah.

Elvis loved the gospel quartets, he loved the vocalists,

he loved their charisma, their style and their accomplishments -

you know, their vocal accomplishments.

We may now think of gospel as black music,

but, in fact, it crossed divides.

In Elvis' church, too, the quartets were superstars,

and just a few weeks before he recorded That's All Right,

Elvis was invited to join a gospel quartet.

He was sorely tempted.

What we know about rock'n'roll now, you'd think,

well, of course Elvis would go for rock'n'roll.

Why sing for a gospel group?

But at that time, I mean, it was gospel music

and the Blackwood Brothers that were really dominant -

they're making a lot of money.

They have their own tour bus - first group to have their own tour bus.

They sell out huge auditoriums all around the south.

And then you've got this black "race music",

as they called it at the time -

and he's a white guy trying to sing this stuff.

I mean, that wasn't the sure option at that time.

# And the night... #

Brian's quartet are going to sing Peace In The Valley,

a gospel song that was a favourite of Elvis

and was performed by the so-called Million Dollar Quartet

of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash

in a jam session in this very studio in December 1956.

I believe that his heart just really showed through so much in his gospel.

He just loved what he did in his rock'n'roll,

but the gospel was HIM.

It brought him back home, brought him back to his roots.

Him back to the stuff he initially loved.

# Well, I'm tired

# And so weary

# But I must go along

# Till the Lord comes and calls

# Calls me away, oh, yes

# Well, the morn is so bright

# And the Lamb is the light

# And the night, night is as black

# As the sea, oh, yes

# There will be peace in the valley

# For me, someday

# Oh, there will be peace in the valley for me

# Oh, Lord, I pray

# There'll be no sadness, no sorrow

# No trouble, trouble I see

# There will be peace in the valley

# For me.

# Well, the bear will be gentle

# And the wolves will be tame

# And the lion shall lay down

# By the lamb,

# Oh, yes

# Where the beasts from the wild

# Shall be led by a child

# Then, I'll be changed

# Changed from this creature that I am, oh, yes

# There will be peace in the valley

# For me, someday

# Oh, there will be peace in the valley

# For me

# Oh, Lord, I pray

# And there'll be no sadness, no sorrow

# No trouble, trouble I see

# There will be peace in the valley for me

# For me. #

In November, 1948, the Presleys moved 100 miles,

from Tupelo, Mississippi, to Memphis, Tennessee,

to Lauderdale Courts - a housing complex run by the city council.

They had been living in a single room,

so the Courts must have seemed spacious by comparison.

There was a basement where Elvis would rehearse songs

and he'd sit on the steps with his guitar

and play for the neighbourhood girls.

The housing authority received complaints and,

unbelievably now, he was asked to...

When I first met Elvis, we were at high school,

and he was living at Lauderdale Courts.

We were in a music class together and the music teacher said,

"Next week, instead of studying music,

"we're going to do Christmas carols."

And Elvis raised his hand - her name was Miss Mormon -

and he said, "Miss Mormon, could I bring my guitar and sing?"

And there were a few little laughs in the class,

because it wasn't cool in 1948

for a 12-year-old to bring his guitar to school and sing.

So, she said, "Sure, Elvis." So, he came and sang two songs.

He sang - I'll never forget,

he was on the left-hand side of the room,

I was over on the right-hand side of the room,

and he sang Cold, Cold Icy Fingers,

which was a big hit by Teresa Brewer back in the day, a pop song.

And then he sang Old Shep, which he later recorded.

And I said, "Wow! Man, that guy can sing.

"He can play that guitar, too." I was totally impressed.

But that was my first impression of Elvis.

In downtown Memphis, the teenage Elvis started to be exposed

to the blues music spilling out of the many bars and clubs

on Beale Street.

It wasn't against any rules to go to Beale Street for white people,

but still a lot of people didn't go, White people didn't go.

But occasionally we would go down there

and you'd see these guys on the street singing

and then you could hear them through the wall

and upstairs, singing out the window at clubs and stuff.

He was a music fan

and he didn't see any boundaries between black or white music -

which was the main boundary

at a time when you still had the R&B chart and the country chart,

and those songs weren't allowed to be in the pop chart.

'..fixed to bring you the hottest thing in the country...'

He listened to the R&B stations that were here.

Elvis was a big black music fan.

# I got a woman... #

One of Elvis' favourite black artists was Ray Charles.

Elvis covered his song I Got A Woman on his first album.

#..when I'm in need... #

It's that track that acclaimed Nashville artists

Amy Stroup and Trent Dabbs, better known as Sugar & The Hi Lows,

have chosen to perform today.

We both thought

that that song has enough...swag - that's the term,

I don't know why I said that, but I'm just going with "swag".

Um...

That kind of represents what we do.

We thought we could interpret it pretty well.

It just has a fun feel to it.

So that's, kind of, what we do in our own music.

You know, everyone knew that Ray Charles sang that song

and he, kind of, raised the bar and said, "I'm going to sing it, too."

It's such a high-energy song,

and I think it captures his charisma of, you know,

he was bringing something new to the world, and wasn't scared to do it.

And you, kind of, have to step in some bigger shoes

to cover such a well known song, so...

Does that mean that we're stepping in those shoes?

# Well

# I got a woman

# Way across town that's good to me

# Oh, oh, oh, yeah

# I said I got a woman, way across town

# That's good to me

# Oh, yeah

# She give me money

# When I'm in need

# Whoa, she's a kind A kind, a kind friend, indeed

# I said, I got a woman Way across town

# That's good to me

# Oh, oh, oh, yeah

# She sends her lovin' early in the morning

# Just for me

# Oh, oh, oh, yeah

# She sends her lovin' early in the morning

# Just for me

# Oh, yeah

# She sends her lovin' just for me

# Oh, she loves me so tenderly

# Said, I got a woman Way across town

# That's good to me

# Oh, oh, oh, yeah

# Woo!

# She's there to love me

# Both day and night

# Never grumbles nor fusses

# Just treats me right

# Never wanders in the streets

# Leavin' me alone

# She knows that a woman's place

# Is right there in that home

# I got a woman, way across town

# She's good to me

# Oh, oh, oh, yeah

# I said, I got a woman Way across town

# That's good to me

# Oh, yeah

# Well, she's my baby

# And I'm her man

# Oh, she loves me

# I'm a lovin' man

# I said, I got a woman Way across town

# That's good to me

# Oh, oh, oh, yeah

# Don't you know she's all right? Yeah!

# Don't you know she's all right?

# Don't you know she's all right?

# Don't you know she's all right?

# I got a woman

# Over town

# That's good to me

# Yeah! #

At 7pm, on the evening of the 5th of July,

guitarist Scotty Moore, double bass player Bill Black and Elvis

showed up here at Sun.

The rehearsal the night before hadn't gone too well,

so Sam Phillips told Scotty

to not bother bringing the rest of the band,

because there was "no use in making a big deal about it," he said.

# Well, you've heard 16 tons and blue suede shoes... #

Sam Phillips had made his reputation recording rhythm and blues singers

and country artists, both Black and White.

"I wasn't out to change the world," Sam said once...

Sam had grown up in Alabama, the son of a poor tenant farmer,

and often had to help by picking cotton in the fields.

His musical instincts were evident, even then.

He had made comments to me several times that,

when he was picking cotton

the black pickers had a much different rhythm

just about their picking than the white guys did -

not necessarily any better or any worse,

but a completely different rhythm thing,

and I think he was all about feel - I mean,

he was totally about the feel,

and if you listen to some of his records, there's mistakes,

there's distortion in some of them, especially those blues records.

# Well, I was raised... #

But overall, it's just all about feel.

Sam Phillips was very important.

He was an important guy.

He put this - he had a great ear for music.

He could select the right song,

and he could get the right mixes on it,

and he knew what was good and bad, but the main thing he knew

was what was commercial and was not commercial.

He had no interest in doing anything that anybody else had ever done

in any part of his life, not just in music, but in anything at all,

and he was the most unique individual I've ever met.

God gave me something - maybe not the greatest brain in the world,

but he sure gave me a good ear and a feel of people, things,

and, through music,

one of the most brilliant careers any man could have.

Sam Phillips' studio went on to host some of music's most famous names.

Next up in our session is one of their musical descendants -

the legendary Southern singer Candi Staton.

One of her big hits was In The Ghetto,

a song that was also a hit for Elvis, in 1969.

# On a cold and grey Chicago morning

# A poor little baby child is born in the ghetto... #

In The Ghetto was a really important record for Elvis,

because it was his first message song.

I think he'd gone out of his way to say that he didn't want to say

what he thought of the Vietnam War or civil rights.

He wanted to just let his music speak for itself.

That was hugely significant for him.

It was his biggest hit for several years in America.

I was in the studio with my ex-husband -

Clarence Carter, it was actually his session -

and he'd just come off of a big record called Patches.

And Mac Davis, the writer of In The Ghetto, was there -

and Rick Hall, who was a producer.

And I'm sitting up there scanning through magazines, you know,

doing girl things, and Mac said, "Rick..."

And Rick looked around, he says, "You know what?

"A woman has never recorded In The Ghetto."

He said, "You know what?

"I believe a woman could really bring this song home."

Rick says, "Hmm. I never thought about that."

He says, "Why don't you let Candi try it?"

Now, you gotta understand, it was Clarence's session,

and so I'm like, "Oh, God!"

# Cos if there's one thing that she don't need... #

So, Clarence okayed me to do it, and he played behind me.

And so, that year, it became a big hit for me

and it was also nominated for a Grammy award that year.

# As the snow flies

# On a cold and grey Chicago morn

# A poor little baby child is born

# In the ghetto

# And his mama cries

# Cos if there's one thing that she don't need

# It's another hungry mouth to feed

# In the ghetto

# People, don't you understand

# The child needs a helping hand

# Or he'll grow to be an angry young man someday

# Take a look at you and me

# Are we too blind to see?

# Do we simply turn our heads and look the other way?

# Well the world turns

# And a hungry little boy with a runny nose

# Plays in the street as the cold wind blows

# In the ghetto

# And his hunger burns

# So he starts to roam the streets at night

# He learns how to steal he learns how to fight

# In the ghetto

# Then one night in desperation the young man breaks away

# Buys a gun, steals a car tries to run, but he don't get far

# And his mama cries

# As a crowd gathers round an angry young man

# Face down on the street with a gun in his hand

# In the ghetto

# And as her child dies

# On a cold and grey Chicago morn

# Another little baby child is born

# In the...

# In the ghetto

# And his mama cries

# In the ghetto. #

Sun Studio has now been recording artists for over 60 years.

Musicians are still drawn to the magic of the place.

And, almost uniquely,

here, artists can be recorded on an old analogue mixing desk,

lovingly restored by Sun's modern-day Sam Phillips,

27-year-old Matt Ross-Spang.

Basically, the studio's stayed the same since it opened in 1950.

All the tiles, acoustically, it's the same.

I just added some gear and the control net

was more representative of what Sam used in the '50s.

It's actually, basically, his entire 1956 set-up.

Live to analogue tape, cutting vinyl - all that good stuff.

That has been the guy that has wanted to go back to recording mono,

wanting to bring bands in there,

to make them play, like, "You have to play, guys.

"We got one chance, one track.

"Let's go, let's play."

Jerry Philips is a hero of mine

and he told me I had a lot of Sam in me,

and that's coming from a guy that's got a lot of Sam in him,

so to get that compliment from him meant a lot to me.

Nashville-based Sarah Zimmermann

and Justin Davis, collectively known as Striking Matches,

are making a name for themselves as leading singer-songwriters.

Their choice of song for our Elvis tribute is his 1962 hit,

Can't Help Falling In Love.

We chose four or five and started to learn them all,

started to dig in

about what it would mean for us to play...

-Which was a lot of fun.

-Yeah, it was super fun.

But I think as soon as we played that one, we knew instantly,

like, this is the right one.

# Wise men say

# Only fools rush in

# But I can't help

# Falling in love with you

# Shall I stay

# Would it be a sin

# If I can't help

# Falling in love with you

# Like a river flows

# Surely to the sea

# Darling, so it goes

# Some things are meant to be

# Take my hand

# Take my whole life, too

# For I can't help

# Falling in love with you

# Like a river flows

# Surely to the sea

# Darling, so it goes

# Some things are meant to be

# Take my hand

# Take my whole life, too

# For I can't help

# Falling in love with you

# No, I can't help

# Falling in love with you. #

In September, 1954,

a blues singer named Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup

was sitting having a drink in a bar in Mississippi

when someone put a dime in the jukebox.

Elvis' That's All Right filled the room.

Arthur ran to a phone, this was his song,

and he wanted to know two things,

one, who was this guy singing his song?

And two, when was he going to get paid?

# Well, now That's all right now, Mama

# That's all right for you... #

Despite Arthur's best efforts

he initially only got a royalty cheque for a dollar or two.

By the '60s, he was forced to become a farmer to survive.

Only in the 1970s did Arthur finally get paid what the song was worth.

Elvis had never planned to record That's All Right

during that historic session on the 5th of July, 1954.

Astonishingly, the recording happened by accident.

That was what you call

one of the most beautiful accidents in the world.

Scotty, Bill and Elvis tried two songs,

Harbour Lights and I Love You Because.

But there'd been no creative spark.

Close to midnight, they were all tired

and they all had work the next morning.

There was no air conditioning in Sun back in those days,

so it must have been pretty stifling.

Sam Phillips told the trio to go and take a break

and, in that break, Elvis started messing around with a song.

Through this door,

Sam Phillips heard the sound of something quite amazing.

Elvis was singing Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's That's All Right.

Scotty Moore told me he didn't know the song.

And Bill Black, the bass player, didn't know it.

But they were good enough musicians they could fake it.

They call it "fake it" in the music business.

So, they faked it and they were just jamming, having a good time.

Sam's opened the door and said, "What you guys doing out there?"

They said, "Well, Sam, we're just goofing around, just jamming."

Sam said, "Goofing around sounds pretty good.

"I'm going to put that down." They said, "What?!"

"We don't know the words, Sam." He said,

"Oh, Elvis knows the words, just follow him."

There were some false starts.

Then, Elvis joining Scotty on guitar, sang too loud.

# Well, that's all right, Mama... #

Sam motioned to them to stop.

But finally they got it right.

# Well, that's all right, now, Mama... #

With Elvis trying to remember what he could of Arthur Crudup's lyrics,

at one point, forgetting them altogether.

# De-de-de, I need your loving... #

The trio knew they'd made something different.

Bill Black shouted, "Well, that's fine.

"But, good God, they'll run us out of town!"

Prior to That's All Right (Mama) being recorded, nobody had made

a record that crossed country and blues

in quite the same way - certainly not a white performer.

That's really why it was revolutionary.

Sam Phillips was looking for a white singer who had a black sound.

He'd said that out loud

and Elvis was exactly what he was looking for.

That little impromptu jam session turned into the record

that changed the world.

The task of singing her version of That's All Right,

on the spot where it was recorded exactly 60 years ago,

has fallen to British singer-songwriter Lucie Silvas.

It's blowing my mind to even be in that room.

To walk in and certainly the fact that I'm about to sing a song

in there that was one of the original recordings that Elvis did

is actually something I can't get my head around.

When he sang, he was such an individual.

And he sang from his heart. It wasn't contrived,

it was very authentic,

so if I can just be myself and be authentic and sing it in

the way that I feel at that moment then I'll be happy enough with that.

# Well, that's all right, Mama

# That's all right for you

# That's all right, Mama

# Anyway you do

# Well, that's all right

# That's all right

# That's all right now, Mama

# Anyway you do

# Mama she done told me, Papa done told me too

# "Son, that gal your hangin' with, she ain't no good for you"

# But, that's all right

# That's all right

# That's all right now, Mama

# Anyway you do

# Well, I'm leaving town, baby

# I'm leaving town for sure

# Well, then you won't be bothered by me hanging 'round your door

# Well, that's all right

# That's all right

# That's all right now, Mama

# Anyway you do

# Ah, dee-dee-dee

# Ah, da-da-da

# Hey

# That's all right

# That's all right

# Well, that's all right now, Mama

# Anyway will do

# That's all right

# Well, that's all right

# Well, that's all right

# That's all right

# Well, that's all right

# That's all right

# That's all right, Mama

# That's all right

# Oh, yeah. #

Soon after cutting That's All Right

Sam Phillips played it to his family at home.

His son Jerry, although only six at the time, remembers it well.

I knew something was up.

That he had felt like all he had done was coming into being,

what he was chasing.

Any time he ever had any kind of thing he was excited about,

he would get a certain look about him that, for me, was a compliment.

MAN ON RADIO: It's getting summertime, you know...

A couple of days later, Sam gave a copy of That's All Right to Memphis'

coolest radio DJ Dewey Phillips, who had a late night show on WHBQ,

called Red Hot and Blue.

..and tell 'em Phillips sent you from Red Hot and Blue!

The station operated from the lobby of the Hotel Chisca downtown.

DEWEY: Here's a record that's getting hot.

# Well, that's all right, Mama... #

Dewey instantly fell in love with That's All Right

and played it non-stop.

Elvis hid in a movie theatre, so he didn't have to hear it.

"I thought people would laugh at me," he said later.

George Klein was working for Dewey at WHBQ.

He said, "Come here, I want you to hear something."

I went into the control room and he put a record on,

but he put his hand over the label where I couldn't see it.

He said, "Who is that?" And he played it.

I said, "I don't know who that is."

He said, "You should know, man, you went to high school with him."

I said, "You mean Elvis? He got a record out?"

He said, "Yeah. Sam Phillips brought it up last night.

"I think the kid's got a hit, man. I think he's got something here."

# Mama, she done told me... #

Things began to move fast.

Within days, Sun Records received orders for 6,000 copies.

Scotty, Bill and Elvis began to perform gigs.

At first, when girls screamed when he moved his hips,

he thought they were laughing at him.

Elvis soon realised the opposite was true.

Next to sing their tribute to Elvis

are Los Angeles-based duo The Pierces,

sisters Allison and Catherine.

We are going to sing Blue Moon today

and we chose that just cos it's such a beautiful song and there's

so many renditions of it,

but we really love Elvis' version.

-And it's good for harmony.

-It's great for harmony.

It's just heart-wrenching in the beginning and then happy in the end.

And it can't get much better than that.

# Blue moon

# I saw you standing alone

# Without a dream in my heart

# Without a love of my own

# Blue moon

# You knew just what I was there for

# You heard me saying a pray for

# Someone I really could care for

# And suddenly appeared before me

# The only one my arms will ever hold

# I heard somebody whisper "adore me"

# And when I looked up the moon was gone

# Blue moon

# Now I'm no longer alone

# Without a dream in my heart

# Without a love of my own

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

# Blue moon

# Now I'm no longer alone

# Without a dream in my heart

# Without a love of my own

# Without a love of my own

# Without a love of my own. #

# Well, there's a leak in this old building... #

By April, 1957, Elvis had made enough money from his recordings

to go up in the world.

His parents found a mansion on the outskirts of Memphis.

Graceland.

It looked like something out of the Civil War,

but was actually only 18 years old when Elvis purchased it.

# You know, the landlord rang my front doorbell... #

Within days of buying Graceland, Elvis started refurbishing it,

competing with Sam Phillips, who had also just bought a big new house.

# And asked him to tell me what's on his mind

# He said

# Money, honey... #

Over the years, Graceland's decor changed repeatedly.

Now, the house is frozen in time,

how it was when Elvis died, in August, 1977.

Over here in the corner is this - his jukebox.

And this can hold 100 different singles,

which, back in the day, was a lot of singles.

And also, it transmitted the sound all around the house.

Elvis had 14 different TVs in the house.

But three right here,

he wanted to watch three different American football games

at the same time. Nothing wrong with that.

Here we are in the world-famous Jungle Room.

Originally, Elvis and his family just referred to it as the "den".

But then, it got a little bit of character,

when, one night, Elvis purchased all this fantastically-crazy, eclectic

furniture in the middle of the night from a furniture store in Memphis.

Apparently, it reminded him of his time in Hawaii

and the movies he used to make out there.

# You think you're gonna win

# You think she's giving in... #

With the carpet on the ceiling,

Elvis realised the room had a fantastic acoustic

and actually used it to record a majority of his last album here.

# She's a complicated lady, so colour my baby moody blue... #

There's a clue in the Jungle Room to Elvis' state of mind

in his final years.

He used a series of cameras to check who was in the house

before he came downstairs.

Fame didn't bring Elvis peace of mind.

# We're caught in a trap

# I can't walk out... #

The overweight Vegas Elvis, for whom Graceland became a place to hide,

has skewed our view of him.

What he achieved in a short space of time is remarkable.

And some of his early songs, in particular, are ground-breaking.

It's my turn to perform at Sun Studio and live into Radio 2.

MAN ON RADIO: How are you feeling about today?

Oh, I'm absolutely ecstatic.

I mean, we're here in Sun Studio, Memphis, Tennessee, my first time...

And I've chosen one of those lesser-known early songs.

As Long As I Have You, from my favourite Elvis film,

1958's King Creole.

# Let the stars fade and fall

# And I won't care at all

# As long as I have you

# Every kiss brings a thrill

# And I know that it will

# As long as I have you

# Let's think of the future

# Forget the past

# You're not my first love

# But you're my last

# Take the love that I bring

# Then I'll have everything

# As long as I have you

# Well, let's think of the future

# Forget the past

# You're not my first love

# But you're my last

# Take the love that I bring

# Then I'll have everything

# As long as I have you

# As long

# As long as I have you. #

I'd like to welcome you to Elvis Presley Graceland.

My name is Mary.

I want to give you a little brief history about the mansion

before you begin your tour.

# You can shake an apple off an apple tree

# Shake, shake, sugar

# But you'll never shake me.

# Uh-uh-uh... #

More than 19 million tourists have visited Graceland

since it first opened its door to the public in 1982.

For some, it was their grandparents who were blown away

when they first heard Elvis on the radio.

What started on July 5th, 1954 had a profound effect on the world.

Especially in Britain, where, at the time,

the music scene was rather tame.

# Mexico... #

Before Elvis, we were still living in a post-war pop world.

Not much had changed since the late '40s.

There were a lot of ballads in the charts.

In America, you had people like Eddie Fisher.

In Britain, people liked Dickie Valentine.

It was all very gentle and the subject matter would be...

things like Twenty Tiny Fingers, by Rosemary Clooney,

about having families and babies.

I mean, there's a certain innocence to it and, looking back,

at the time, it would have driven you nuts, if you were young.

I think it was safe for the mums and dads,

but we didn't like it, young people didn't like it.

They were fun records, but they were just fun records,

there was nothing, none of that in there.

It was ripe for someone to come along and do something exciting

and turn everything upside down, which is exactly what Elvis did.

The first Elvis record that anybody would have heard in Britain

was Heartbreak Hotel.

# Well, since my baby left me

# I found a new place to dwell... #

The BBC wouldn't play it.

The head of light music on BBC Radio said that Elvis

and Bill Haley were freaks.

So, there was not much chance he was going to play their music.

All we had in Britain was photos.

Every other guy in the street, if he had the right kind of hairstyle,

he could grow sideburns, he could pull his collar up

and look a bit menacing. Everyone wanted to be Elvis.

We all did. I did.

I used to watch the way he moved, how he sung, the way he looked,

what he dressed in.

Those cheekbones were to die for.

The nose was to die for.

The mouth, with those great kissable lips.

Very warm, intelligent and kind eyes.

Great hair. Is that enough?

# Well, it's one for the money

# Two for the show

# Three to get ready

# Now go, cat, go... #

When the first album came out, I can't think how incendiary

that sleeve would have looked.

Even 20-odd years later The Clash used the same

kind of sleeve for London Calling

and it looked revolutionary then.

It's just the most exciting-looking record sleeve I've ever seen.

Before him, there was just nothing like that.

He was free.

Every rebellious part that you have in you was on that stage.

# You were always on my mind... #

From his childhood in Tupelo through to his teenage years in Memphis,

Elvis was on a musical mission.

When he first walked into Sun Studio, Marion Keisker,

sitting here, asked Elvis who he sounded like.

"I don't sound like nobody," he said.

And you've got to love that confidence.

It's as if he knew he had something different, something unique.

Marion and the rest of the world soon realised

he was absolutely right.

We're going to end our tribute to Elvis

and That's All Right with a song Sam Phillips felt was the greatest

he ever recorded with Elvis.

A song he co-wrote - Mystery Train.

# Train I ride

# 16 coaches long

# Train I ride, yeah

# 16 coaches long

# Well, that long black train got my baby and gone, gone, gone

# Train I ride

# Comin' 'round the bend

# Oh, yeah

# Train, train

# Comin' 'round the bend

# Well, it took my baby, but it never will again

# No, no

# Train, train

# Comin' down the line

# Train, train

# Comin' down the line

# Well, it's bringin' my baby, cos she's mine, all mine

# She's mine, all mine

-# Train, train

-Train, train

# Comin' 'round the bend

-# Train, train

-Train, train

# Comin' 'round the bend

# 'Round the bend, yeah

# Well, it took my baby, but it never take her again

# No, no, no

# Train, train

# Comin' 'round the bend

# Never again

# Oh, never again

# No, no

# Never again

# Never again

# Train, train

-# Train, train

-# Train, train

-# Train, train

-Train, train

-# Train, train

-Train, train

-# Train, train

-Train, train

-# Train, train

-Train, train

-# Train, train

-Train, train

# Train, train. #