"Kissin' Cousins" is a song first recorded by

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 ...

as the title track for the soundtrack of the 1964 motion picture ''

Kissin' Cousins ''Kissin' Cousins'' (stylized onscreen as ''KISƧIN' COUSINS'') is a 1964 American musical Panavision Metrocolor comedy film directed by Gene Nelson and starring Elvis Presley. Written by Gerald Drayson Adams and Gene Nelson, the film featured P ...

''. The movie also featured a completely different song, titled "Kissin' Cousins (No. 2)", written by

Bill Giant Bill Giant (March 2, 1930 – November 26, 1987) was a songwriter whose work included over 40 songs for Elvis Presley. Biography Giant grew up in New York City and was known as Bill "Harvey" Zimmerman. He was part of the popular songwriting tea ...

Bernie Baum Bernie Baum (October 13, 1929 – August 28, 1993) was a songwriter who worked extensively with Elvis Presley. He grew up in New York City and later worked with Harvey Zimmerman (better known as Bill Giant) and Florence Kaye. The majority of t ...

and

Florence Kaye Florence Kaye (January 19, 1919 - May 12, 2006) was a member of a song-writing trio that also included Harvey Zimmerman (better known as Bill Giant) and Bernie Baum. She was born in New York City. She performed a radio show in Georgia and entertain ...

Writing and recording

The song was written by Fred Wise and

Randy Starr Randy Starr (born Warren Nadel, July 2, 1930) is an American dentist and singer-songwriter known for writing twelve songs for Elvis Presley. Early life Starr was educated at Columbia University where he took his undergraduate degree from Columb ...

. The song was published by Elvis Presley's company Gladys Music, Inc. Elvis Presley recorded his vocals for the song (over an earlier-recorded backing track) on October 10 (or possibly in the early morning of October 11), 1963.

Release history

The song was first released as a single on February 10, 1964, with "

It Hurts Me "It Hurts Me" is a 1964 Top 40 song recorded by Elvis Presley on RCA Victor. Credited to Joy Byers and Charles E. Daniels, "It Hurts Me" is a ballad that was recorded by Elvis Presley on January 12, 1964.Jorgensen, p.189 It was first released as ...

", a non-movie song, on the opposite side as RCA Victor 47–8307. "Kissin' Cousins" peaked at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ("It Hurts Me" also charted, peaking at number 29.) The song's first LP release was in March 1964 on the ''Kissing Cousins'' soundtrack LP (LPM-2894 in mono and LSP-2894 in stereo). On March 27, 1992, the single "Kissin' Cousins / It Hurts Me" was certified Gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for selling over 500,000 copies.

Critical reception

Reviewing the single "Kissin' Cousings / It Hurts Me" in its February 15, 1964 issue, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' called the two songs " o more contenders for chart honors from Elvis."

Charts

References

External links

Elvis Presley - Kissin' Cousins / It Hurts Me
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{authority control 1964 songs 1964 singles Elvis Presley songs RCA Records singles Songs with lyrics by Fred Wise (songwriter) Songs written by Randy Starr Songs written for films Songs about families Songs about kissing