"Pieces of My Life" is a song written by

Troy Seals Troy Harold Seals (born November 16, 1938, in Bighill, Madison County, Kentucky, United States) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is a member of the prominent Seals family of musicians that includes Jim Seals (of Seals and C ...

. It was originally recorded by

Charlie Rich Charles Allan Rich (December 14, 1932July 25, 1995) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. His eclectic style of music was often difficult to classify, encompassing the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country music, country, sou ...

and appeared on his 1974 album '' The Silver Fox''. In 1975, Elvis Presley covered the song for his album ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

''. Released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

(with " Bringing It Back" on the opposite side) on September 20, 1975, the song reached number 33 on the ''

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 ...

'' country chart.

Elvis Presley version

Recording

Presley recorded the song on March 12, 1975, at RCA's Studio C in Hollywood for his album ''

''.
https://elvisthemusic.com/music/today-legacy-edition/ It features James Burton, John Wilkinson and Charlie Hodge on guitar, Duke Bardwell on bass, Ronnie Tutt on drums, Glen D. Hardin and Tony Brown on piano, David Briggs and Greg Gordon on clavinet. The recording was later overdubbed by Johnny Christopher and Chip Young on guitar, Norbert Putnam and Mike Leech on bass, Richard F. Morris on percussion, Charles L. Rose on saxophone, Harvey L. Thompson on trombone, Harrison Calloway on trumpet, Ronald Eades on junior baritone saxophone and The Holladays on additional vocals. During the session,

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

visited and disrupted the recording. Wilson remembered, According to

Memphis Mafia The Memphis Mafia was the nickname given by the media to a group of Elvis Presley's friends, associates, employees and cousins whose main functions were to accompany, protect, and serve Presley from the beginning of his career in 1954 until his de ...

member

Jerry Schilling Jerry Schilling (born February 6, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American talent manager, best known for his association with Elvis Presley and as a member of Presley's Memphis Mafia from the latter part of the 1960s. His other clients ha ...

, Wilson played some of the band's recent recordings for Presley. "After a few tracks, Brian says, 'Well? Do you think they're any good?' Elvis looks up and replies, 'Nah,' before leaving. I don't think he had any idea that the guy was Brian Wilson." Wilson then tried to

karate chop In martial arts, a knifehand strike is a strike using the part of the hand opposite the thumb (from the little finger to the wrist), familiar to many people as a karate chop (in Japanese, ''shutō-uchi''). This refers to strikes performed with t ...

the singer.

Release

On September 20, 1975, "with absolutely nothing new to release, and no prospects of another recording session in sight", RCA Victor released "Pieces of My Life" and another song from the same album, " Bringing It Back", as a single. As the Elvis Presley official website states it, "the strategy was not lost on a public that had already bought well-worn material once in numbers that were unlikely to be repeated". "Brigning It Back" reached number 65 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and "Pieces of My Life" number 33 on the ''Billboard'' country chart.

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

*
Bringing It Back / Pieces of My Life
on the Elvis Presley official website {{Elvis Presley singles 1974 songs 1975 singles Charlie Rich songs Elvis Presley songs Songs written by Troy Seals