13 July: Don't be Cruel

 On this date in 1956 Elvis Presley's Don't Be Cruel was released. 10 facts about it.

1. The song was written by Otis Blackwell, who also wrote Return To Sender and All Shook Up, among several other Elvis hits. It was recorded just 11 days before it was released. Elvis recorded Hound Dog and Any Way You Want Me in the same recording session.

2. It was released as a single with Hound Dog.

3. In the US, both sides reached number one, the only single ever to achieve that.

4. In the UK, Don't Be Cruel was the B side to Hound Dog. It was 1978 before Don’t Be Cruel became a hit in its own right, when it was re-released after Elvis died.

5. Performers on the single included Scotty Moore on lead guitar, Bill Black on double bass, D. J. Fontana on Drums, Shorty Long on Piano, with the Jordanaires providing backing vocals.

6. Bill Black went on to have a hit with an instrumental version in 1960.

7. There has also been an R&B version by Barbara Lynn and a country version by the Judds. In 1988 it was covered by the band Cheap Trick.

8. The Quarrymen, who would become The Beatles, are said to have performed the song regularly in their early days, although they never recorded it at that time.

9. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.

10. In 2004, it was ranked No. 197 in Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

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