In 1945, bluegrass musician Bill Monroe released the waltz “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” a song that Elvis Presley would cover nearly 10 years later. In the recording studio, Elvis made a number of changes to the song. The song became an early hit for Elvis, but he was nervous to talk to Monroe about it. Monroe reportedly did not like Elvis’ version, and the younger artist felt he should apologize.
One of Elvis Presley’s early hits was a cover
When Elvis was in the studio to record the B-side of “That’s All Right (Mama),” he and his backing band hit a wall. They couldn’t figure out what song would be a good fit. Suddenly, though, bass player Bill Black began playing “Blue Moon of Kentucky.”
“Bill is the one who came up with ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky.’ Same deal. We’re taking a little break and he starts beating on the bass and singing ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky,’ mocking Bill Monroe, singing the high falsetto voice,” guitarist Scotty Moore said in the book The Blue Moon Boys: The Story of Elvis Presley’s Band by Ken Burke. “Elvis joins in with him, starts playing and singing along with him.”
The result was a much faster version of Monroe’s song. Producer Sam Phillips loved it.
“After they recorded this version, Phillips exulted them in the control room. `That’s fine. Hell, that’s different. That’s a pop song not an early ballad,’” writer Richard Smith told NPR. “And what Presley had done, obviously, is he had taken this plaintive waltz of Monroe’s and really jazzed it up into a 2/4 version.”
Elvis Presley apologized to Bill Monroe for his take on his song
The song was a hit for Elvis and his career began to take off. Monroe, however, reportedly was not happy at first. Elvis seemed to sense this, so when he gained a spot at the Grand Ole Opry, he sought out the other artist and apologized for making such major changes.
Guitarist Tom Ewing said Monroe reacted kindly.
“Bill recognized what Elvis Presley was doing with his song, and he was going with it,” Ewing recalled. “And it was very, very admirable, I think, of him to pick up on that, and to tell Elvis that he was for him 100 percent if it would give him a start in his career.”
Monroe later added that it didn’t hurt that Elvis’ song generated some “powerful checks” for him (via Rolling Stone).
Did Elvis write any of his own songs?
While Elvis was reportedly a naturally gifted musician, he never wrote music. He occasionally received songwriting credit, but he said he never actually did any writing.
“It’s all a big hoax,” he once said, per Billboard. “I get one-third of the [writing] credit just for recording [a song]. It makes me look smarter than I am!
His hits were either covers or penned by other people.
