"A Big Hunk o' Love" is a song 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 ...

and released as a single on June 23, 1959 by RCA Victor, which topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks. The song was revived by Presley in 1972 during his engagements at the Las Vegas Hilton in February 1972 and was used in his live shows until mid-1973. It was performed live for the last time on January 26, 1974. The song is included in the 1972 documentary ''Elvis On Tour'' and his 1973 show broadcast via satellite, ''Aloha from Hawaii''. During this time period, it was played by the Elvis' TCB Band, and featured Glen D. Hardin and James Burton. The song was written by Aaron Schroeder and Sidney Wyche, under the name Sid Jaxon and published by Elvis Presley's company Gladys Music, Inc. Aaron Schroeder (along with Wally Gold), also wrote " It's Now or Never" and "

Good Luck Charm In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

", both of which, like "A Big Hunk o' Love", were originally recorded by American

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

icon Elvis Presley. Syd Wyche is best known for writing the jazz standard "

Alright, Okay, You Win “Alright, Okay, You Win” is a List of jazz standards, jazz standard written by Sid Wyche (music) and Mayme Watts (lyrics). It was first recorded in 1955 by several artists including Ella Johnson, The Modernaires, Bill Farrell (singer), Bill Fa ...

", whereas Aaron Schroeder co-wrote many hits in the rock`n`roll area, from "Fools Hall of Fame" (

Pat Boone Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...

) to " Because They're Young" (

Duane Eddy Duane Eddy (born April 26, 1938) is an American rock and roll guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including " Rebel ...

). In an interview conducted by Jan-Erik Kjeseth, he also revealed that in fact he worked with his partner Wally Gold in order to improve a song submitted by another writer, and the result was " It's My Party", a big hit for Lesley Gore. Schroeder and Gold tossed a coin as to whose name should go on the record, and Gold "won". The song appeared on the 1959 compilation '' 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong'' and the 2002 career retrospective '' ELV1S: 30#1 Hits''.

Recording

"A Big Hunk o' Love", a hard, driving rocker, was recorded at Elvis' first and only session during his two years of Army service. The session took place on June 10, 1958, in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. It was the first session that did not include guitarist

Scotty Moore Winfield Scott Moore III (December 27, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968. Rock critic ...

and bassist

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo. Ear ...

, who had both worked with Elvis since his first recordings for

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

at the Memphis Recording Service, which later became known as

Sun Studios Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label ...

. The recording featured Elvis' drummer D.J. Fontana and

backing vocalist A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

the Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocal ...

, who would continue to work with Elvis until Elvis' appearance at the Hilton in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. The rest of the musicians were noted Nashville session men, such as guitarist

Hank Garland Walter Louis Garland (11 November 1930 – 27 December 2004), professionally Hank Garland, was an American guitarist and songwriter. He started as a country musician, played rock and roll as it became popular in the 1950s, and released a jazz al ...

on a Gibson Byrdland guitar, Floyd Cramer on piano, Bob Moore on double bass, and Buddy Harman and D.J. Fontana on drums. The song was recorded in four takes, the released version is actually spliced from takes three and four.

Personnel

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar *

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music ...

– rhythm guitar *

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

Bob Moore Bob Loyce Moore (November 30, 1932 – September 22, 2021) was an American session musician, orchestra leader, and double bassist who was a member of the Nashville A-Team during the 1950s and 1960s. He performed on over 17,000 documented recor ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

* D.J. Fontana,

Buddy Harman Murrey Mizell "Buddy" Harman, Jr. (December 23, 1928 – August 21, 2008) was an American country music session musician. Career Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Harman played drums on over 18,000 sessions for artists such as Elvis Presley, Jerry ...

– drums *

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "half step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatu ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

Steve Sholes Stephen Henry Sholes (February 12, 1911 – April 22, 1968) was a prominent American recording executive with RCA Victor. Career Sholes was born in Washington, D.C. and moved with his family to Merchantville, New Jersey, at the age of nin ...

– producer *Bob Ferris –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

Release and chart performance

RCA Victor had paired "A Big Hunk o' Love" for release as a single with " My Wish Came True" as the B-side in both the United States and England. When the single was released on June 23, it was the third release to come from Elvis' army session after "I Got Stung" on October 21, 1958, and " I Need Your Love Tonight" b/w "

(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" is a popular song written by Bill Trader and was published in 1952. Recorded as a single by Hank Snow it peaked at number four on the US country charts early in 1953. Since the original Snow version, "F ...

" on March 10, 1959. The A-side spent two weeks at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 while the B-side peaked at No. 12. The single was less successful on the '' Cashbox'' Top 100 with the A-side peaking at No. 2 and the B-side at No. 23. On the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

the A-side peaked at No. 4, while the B-side did not appear on the chart. The A-side also peaked at No. 10 on '' Billboard'' magazine's R&B Singles chart. Presley's next single was another Aaron Schroeder co-composition, " Stuck on You". "A Big Hunk o' Love" was the first of four of Schroeder's songs that became No. 1 hits for Presley. "A Big Hunk o' Love" b/w " My Wish Came True" was Presley's last commercially released Canadian 78 RPM. It was Elvis' first single to not receive a 78 RPM pressing in the United States.

Single track listings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Hunk O' Love, A 1959 singles Elvis Presley songs RCA Records singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Songs written by Aaron Schroeder 1959 songs RCA Victor singles Songs written by Sid Wyche

Recording

Personnel

Release and chart performance

Single track listings

See also

References