"Baby Let's Play House" is a song written and originally recorded by Arthur Gunter in 1954 on the Excello Records label,
and covered by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

the following year on

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

. A line from the song ("I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man") was borrowed by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

for his

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

song " Run for Your Life", released on ''

Rubber Soul ''Rubber Soul'' is the sixth studio album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom on EMI's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single "We Can Work It Ou ...

'' in 1965.

Elvis Presley version

The Presley version differs greatly from the original: Presley started the song with the chorus, where Gunter began with the first verse, and he replaced Gunter's line "You may get religion" with the words "You may have a Pink Cadillac", referring to his custom-painted 1955

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

auto, that had also been serving as the band's transportation at the time. "Baby Let's Play House" was on the fourth issue of a Presley record by Sun, and became the first song recorded by Presley to appear on a national chart when it made number 5 on the Billboard Country Singles chart in July 1955. Presley's version also starts out with him introducing the lyric-stutter to the music pundits. These lyrics and melodies are not found in the original Gunter version.

Personnel

Elvis Presley - lead vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar *

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 ...

- electric lead guitar *

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, The Blue Moon Boys. Black later formed Bill ...

- double bass

Charts

Weekly charts

Notable cover versions

* Buddy Holly did a cover which appears on his posthumous album '' Holly in the Hills'' *On July 6, 1957,

covered "Baby Let's Play House" in the evening set at the Woolton church fete. Note: this was the day Lennon met

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

. *In 2008, a Spankox remix of the song made number 84 in the UK.

References

External links

* Arthur Gunter version * Elvis Presley version {{authority control 1954 songs 1955 singles Elvis Presley songs Buddy Holly songs The Newbeats songs RCA Victor singles Excello Records singles Rockabilly songs