HAMILTON, JOE FRANK & REYNOLDS

“Don’t Pull Your Love”

1971

You can’t buy the best Elvis record of the 70s because the King didn’t actually make it.

Blame Col. Tom Parker. After Elvis got out of the Army, Parker made a business decision: his boy was only going to record a song if Col. Tom controlled the music publishing.

Of course, Col. Tom still made his money but Elvis’ records were a disaster for the rest of the 60s. Things got so bad that RCA Records staff producer Felton Jarvis gave up and let Chips Moman produce a session at American Studios in Memphis.

Chips went behind Parker’s back and played Elvis “Suspicious Minds.” They recorded the song before the Colonel knew what was happening. Elvis loved the track, but Parker demanded his usual cut of the song’s publishing. Chips said no. The Colonel announced that the record wasn’t coming out. Chips still said no. RCA heard the track and knew it was a hit. The record came out and was one of the biggest hits of 1969.

Of course, Col. Tom Parker was livid. He made damn sure Elvis didn’t record any more songs unless he got a taste. The result was easy to predict: Elvis had only one more real hit during his lifetime and “Burning Love” didn’t come out until three years later.

Which leads us to our moment of great loss.

The first time you hear “Don’t Pull Your Love,” there’s absolutely no question Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter wrote it for Elvis Presley. Since both of them were successful songwriters (”One Tin Soldier”), there was no way they were giving their publishing to the Colonel.

Elvis’ version of “Don’t Pull Your Love” would have changed the course of history. It would have at least changed his career and probably saved his life.

Instead, we have to make do with the best Fake Elvis record of all time. Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds were LA studio guys whose only other hit didn’t even feature Reynolds.

Whenever I play this song in my head, I hear the Elvis version. This record is the perfect demo: the arrangement sounds like the best American Studios Elvis so all you have to do is fill in his lead vocal.

And I hope Col. Tom is spending eternity watching the movies he kept Elvis from making, flying overseas to the shows he never booked and, mostly, listening to an endless loop of “Don’t Pull Your Love,” Elvis’ biggest hit record ever.

(Thanks to Jon Kincaid for having the same theory and reminding me I should write about it).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 1:09 am and is filed under Memphis, Rock, 70s, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.