"You'll Be Gone" is a song recorded 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 ...

and published by Elvis Presley Music and released in 1965 on the '' Girl Happy'' soundtrack album and as a 45 single. The song was recorded in 1962 and was one of very few which Presley was involved in writing; his co-writers were his bodyguard

Red West Robert Gene "Red" West (March 8, 1936 – July 18, 2017) was an American actor, film stuntman and songwriter. He was known for being a close confidant and bodyguard for rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. Upon his firing, West co-wrote the cont ...

and Charlie Hodge. The other song that Elvis Presley composed was " That's Someone You Never Forget" in 1961 with Red West, which was on the '' Pot Luck'' LP released in 1962. The song was recorded on Sunday, March 18, 1962, at

RCA Studio B RCA Studio B was a music recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, established in 1957 by Steve Sholes and Chet Atkins for RCA Victor. Originally known simply as the RCA Victor Studio, in 1965 the studio was designated as Studio B after RCA Vic ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Composition history

Red West recounted that "You'll Be Gone" was written after a suggestion or idea made by Elvis to write new lyrics for

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

's 1935 classic song " Begin the Beguine", from the musical '' Jubilee'': "Elvis recorded 'It's Now Or Never' and he wanted to take another old standard that was a great song and change the lyrics. ... He said 'I like the song "Begin the Beguine". I like the melody but I'd like to put new lyrics on it.'" The

beguine The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christianity, Christian laity, lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th–16th centuries. Their members lived in monasticism, semi-monastic ...

had been a dance popular in

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

and

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

in the 1930s. When Cole Porter denied permission to alter the lyrics, Elvis, West, and Charlie Hodge worked on creating new lyrics and new music for a song that would be entitled "You'll Be Gone". The song was replete with Latin rhythms and classical guitar passages. In the liner notes to the CD ''Elvis by the Presleys'' (2005) Ernst Jorgensen wrote: "When Priscilla came to visit Elvis in the U.S. in the spring of 1962, Elvis proudly played her the new recordings he had just made in Nashville. One of these was 'You'll Be Gone,' a song that he had written himself with his good friends Red West and Charlie Hodge. To his deep frustration, Priscilla remarked that she liked his rock 'n' roll recordings better. Elvis had a fit, Priscilla was devastated, and Elvis never tried to write a song again." Elvis Presley's wife Priscilla noted in the liner notes to the CD ''Elvis by the Presleys'' (2005): "The reason we've included it is because it's the last time Elvis ever wrote a song."

Chart history

"You'll Be Gone" was released as an RCA Victor 45 picture sleeve single on February 9, 1965, as the B side of " Do the Clam", as RCA Victor 47–8500.

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, Vo ...

provided the background vocals. "You'll Be Gone" charted at no. 121 on ''Billboard''. In Canada, "You'll Be Gone" reached no. 16 on the singles chart as a double A side with "Do the Clam" in February, 1965 in a six-week chart run. The A side "Do the Clam" reached no. 21 on ''Billboard Hot 100'' singles chart and remained on the chart for 8 weeks. The song was also released as a 7-inch 45 single by RCA (Teldec), 47–9686, in Germany in 1965 backed with "Blue River". The single was also released in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan, Greece, Egypt, South Africa, Peru, the Philippines, Turkey, and Israel. In France, the single was released as a picture sleeve 45 as RCA Victor 49801 in 1971.

Appearances on albums

The song appeared on the following albums: *as a bonus track on the 1965 '' Girl Happy'' soundtrack album *the RCA 1999 CD reissue of the 1962 ''Pot Luck'' album as a bonus track *the 1992 '' From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential 60s Masters'' album *the 2003 FTD reissue of the ''Girl Happy'' soundtrack album *the 2007 ''Pot Luck with Elvis'', 2 CD FTD Special Edition collection *the 2010 FTD/BMG ''Nashville Outtakes: 1961-1964'' collection, Take 1 *the 2005 ''Elvis by the Presleys'' soundtrack album as alternate take 2. *''The Complete Elvis Presley Masters'', Legacy/RCA, 2010 *''Original Album Classics'', RCA/Sony Music, 2012 *''The Perfect Elvis Presley Collection'', Sony Music, 2012 *''The Movie Soundtracks: 20 Original Albums'', RCA, 2014

Personnel

- vocals *

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 ...

- guitar * Harold Bradley - guitar * Grady Martin - guitar, vibes *

Bob Moore Bob Moore may refer to: * Bob Moore (musician) (1932–2021), American session musician * Bob Moore (executive) (1929–2024), co-founder of Bob's Red Mill * Bob Moore (American football) (born 1949), American football tight end * Bob Moore (Au ...

- bass * D.J. Fontana - drums * Buddy Harman - drums *

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

- piano *

Boots Randolph Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III (June 3, 1927 – July 3, 2007) was an American musician. His 1963 saxophone hit " Yakety Sax" became the signature tune of ''The Benny Hill Show''. Randolph was a prolific session musician and member of the Nas ...

- saxophone, vibes * Millie Kirkham - vocals *

- vocals

Cover versions

English singer

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

released a live version of the song as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to his 2017 single " Jacky's Only Happy When She's Up on the Stage". It was later included on the 2018 deluxe edition of the album '' Low in High School''.

References

Sources

* Jorgensen, Ernst. ''Elvis Presley, A Life In Music''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998;
Jorgensen, Ernst. ''Elvis by the Presleys''. Liner Notes. BMG Heritage, 2005.
* Presley, Priscilla. ''Elvis by the Presleys''. Liner Notes. BMG Heritage, 2005. * Hopkins, Jerry. ''Elvis: A Biography''. NY: Simon and Schuster, 1971. * Victor, Adam. ''The Elvis Encyclopedia''. Overlook Hardcover, 2008. {{Elvis Presley singles Elvis Presley songs Songs written by Elvis Presley 1962 songs 1965 singles Songs written by Red West Morrissey songs