"I Feel So Bad" is a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

song written and originally recorded by

Chuck Willis Harold "Chuck" Willis (January 31, 1926 – April 10, 1958) was an American blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll singer and songwriter. His biggest hits, " C. C. Rider" (1957) and "What Am I Living For" (1958), both reached No.1 on the ''Bil ...

, and released in 1954 (

OKeh Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

7029). It rose to No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' Rhythm & Blues Chart in early 1954, and appears on the album ''Chuck Willis Wails the Blues''.

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

recorded the song on March 12, 1961, in RCA Studio B, 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 ...

, and released it as a single on

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

that year.

Background

Elvis Presley's version reached No. 5 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1961 and No. 15 on ''Billboards Top 20 R&B Singles chart the same year. The song, which was released on a double A-side single in the UK (c/w "

Wild in the Country ''Wild in the Country'' is a 1961 American musical–drama film directed by Philip Dunne and starring Elvis Presley, Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld, and Millie Perkins. Based on the 1958 novel ''The Lost Country'' by J. R. Salamanca, the screenplay ...

"), reached No.4 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 ...

, also in 1961. As of August 2017, the single "Wild in the Country" / "I Feel So Bad" is Presley's 38th best selling single in the UK.

Other recordings

Blues singer

Little Milton James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include " Baby, I Love ...

recorded a

soul blues Soul blues is a style of blues music developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s that combines elements of soul music and urban contemporary music. Origin African American singers and musicians who grew up listening to the electric blues by ar ...

version, titled simply "Feel So Bad," in 1967. It rose to No. 7 R&B and No. 91 pop. The band

Cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...

recorded it on their 1971

Atco Atco or ATCO may refer to: Businesses * ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies ** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company * Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing ...

release, '' One Way... or Another''. This song has since been covered by Foghat on their second album titled ''Foghat (Rock and Roll)'', Delbert McClinton (''Plain From The Heart'', 1981), Rory Gallagher (''BBC Sessions 1972''), and Big Dave & The Ultrasonics (''Love & Money'', 1993).

References

1953 songs 1954 singles Okeh Records singles Chuck Willis songs Songs written by Chuck Willis 1961 singles RCA Victor singles Elvis Presley songs {{1950s-song-stub