"I Gotta Know" is a song recorded by

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

in September 1959 and

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

on 4 April 1960. The composer was Paul Evans; lyrics are by Matt Williams. Originally released by Presley as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of " Are You Lonesome Tonight?", it nevertheless reached number 20 on the US charts. It was engineered by

Nashville sound The Nashville Sound originated during the mid-1950s as a subgenre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the rough honky tonk music, which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, with "smooth strings and choruses", "sophist ...

pioneer Bill Porter. The single with "I Gotta Know" on the B-side went on to be one of the biggest-selling singles of 1960, peaking at number one on the ''Billboard'' pop chart from November 28 for six weeks and peaking at number three on the R&B charts. "I Gotta Know" is a love song in G major, described as a "mild rocker". It is in the

Doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

rhythm and blues style, progressing from G to C to D7. ''Billboard'' published a list of the "RCA Victor chartmakers of 1960" in the 19 December 1960 edition, which included the hit with other successful recordings made at the famous RCA Victor Studios in Nashville that year.

References

External links

Lyrics of this song

* * Elvis Presley songs Cliff Richard songs 1959 songs Doo-wop songs Songs written by Paul Evans (musician) {{1950s-song-stub