"All Shook Up" is a song recorded by

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 ...

, published by Elvis Presley Music, and composed by

Otis Blackwell Otis Blackwell (February 16, 1931 – May 6, 2002) was an American songwriter whose work influenced rock and roll. His compositions include " Fever" (recorded by Little Willie John), " Great Balls of Fire" and " Breathless" (recorded by Jerr ...

. The single topped the U.S. ''Billboard'' Top 100 on April 13, 1957, staying there for eight weeks. It also topped the ''

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'' R&B

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for four weeks, becoming Presley's second single to do so, and peaked at No. 1 on the country chart as well. It is certified 2× platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

. It was ranked #352 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

s list of the

500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine '' Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 i ...

History

Blackwell wrote the song at the offices of

Shalimar Music Shalimar or Shalamar refers to three historic royal gardens (or Baghs) of the Mughal Empire in South Asia: * Shalimar Bagh, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India; built in 1619 * Shalimar Gardens, Lahore, Pakistan; a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in ...

in 1956 after Al Stanton, one of Shalimar's owners, shaking a bottle of

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at the time, suggested he write a song based on the phrase "all shook up." According to

Peter Guralnick Peter Guralnick (born December 15, 1943, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American music critic, author, and screenwriter. He specializes in the history of early rock and roll and has written on Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, and Sam Cooke. Caree ...

, the song has a different origin. In his book ''Last Train to Memphis'', he wrote that Elvis thought "All Shook Up" was a good phrase for a refrain. For this he received a co-writing credit. Elvis himself, during an interview on October 28, 1957, said: "I've never even had an idea for a song. Just once, maybe. I went to bed one night, had quite a dream, and woke up all shook up. I phoned a pal and told him about it. By morning, he had a new song, 'All Shook Up'." Future '' Last House on the Left'' actor David Hess, using the stage name David Hill, was the first to record the song on

Aladdin Records Aladdin Records was a record company and label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by brothers Eddie and Leo Mesner. It was originally called Philo Records before changing its name in 1946. Aladdin was known for jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock mus ...

, titled "I'm All Shook Up". In a 2009 interview, Hess revealed the origins of the song, and claimed to come up with the title of the song: "As far as ‘All Shook Up’, the title came from a real set of circumstances and when I decided not to write it, Otis Blackwell did and I had the first recording for Aladdin Records. It was my title, but Otis wrote the song and Presley took a writing credit in order to get him to record it. That's the way things happened in those days." Vicki Young recorded a different song with the same title, "(I'm) All Shook Up", on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of not ...

with Big Dave and His Orchestra, written by Bill Bellman and

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

in 1956. On January 12, 1957, Presley recorded the song at

Radio Recorders Radio Recorders, Inc. was an American recording studio located in Los Angeles, California. During the 1940s and 1950s, Radio Recorders was one of the largest independent recording studios in the world. Notable musicians recorded at Radio Recorder ...

in Hollywood. The duet vocal on the record is by

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, Vocal ...

first tenor Gordon Stoker. Take 10 was selected for release, and in March the song entered ''Billboard''s Top 100 chart at #25. Within three weeks it had knocked Perry Como's "Round and Round" off the top spot, and stayed there for eight consecutive weeks. The song also became Presley's first No. 1 hit 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 ...

, remaining there for seven weeks. Sales of the single exceeded two million, and the song was named ''Billboards Year End number one song for 1957.

Personnel

The Blue Moon Boys *

– lead vocals, percussion *

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 ...

– 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. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo. Ear ...

– string bass * D. J. Fontana – drums

* Gordon Stoker – harmony and backing vocals * Hoyt Hawkins – backing vocals, piano * Neal Matthews, Hugh Jarrett – backing vocals

Charts

Certifications

Beatles versions

According to biographer

Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.

in ''The Complete Beatles Chronicle'',

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

(first as

The Quarrymen The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") are a British skiffle/ rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several schoolfriends, the Q ...

) regularly performed the song, from 1957 through 1960 (possibly later) with

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

on lead vocal. There is no known recorded version from that time. However, Len Garry of The Quarrymen (in his book ''John, Paul & Me'') states that it was one of the songs the group played on July 6, 1957, the day

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

met Paul McCartney and that the song was recorded then (but was erased later). Author Doug Sulpy (in ''Drugs, Divorce and a Slipping Image'') adds that on January 13, 1969, during the massive " Get Back" sessions, they did record a "spirited" version of it with McCartney and

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

sharing vocals. Lennon did not join in the recording, as he was sitting watching while having tea. That version of the song remains officially unreleased (due to it being in

mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanes ...

and McCartney and Harrison not remembering all the lyrics by that late date). In 1999, McCartney cut a hard-rocking version on the album '' Run Devil Run'', while his surviving Quarrymen bandmates recorded it in 2004 on '' Songs We Remember''.

Billy Joel version

In 1991,

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...

recorded the song for the movie ''

Honeymoon in Vegas ''Honeymoon in Vegas'' is a 1992 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Andrew Bergman and starring James Caan, Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker. Plot Private Detective ("Private eye") Jack Singer (Nicolas Cage) swore to hi ...

'', which also featured other Elvis Presley songs by various artists. It was released as a single and peaked at No. 92 in the US and No. 27 in the UK.

Chart positions

Other recordings and notable performances

Suzi Quatro Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, reaching No. 1 in th ...

recorded the song for her debut solo album ''

'' in 1973. (The title of this album in Australia is ''Can the Can''). Her recording of the song was released as a single in 1974 and peaked at number 85 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Presley invited Quatro to

Graceland Graceland is a mansion on a estate in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, which was once owned by rock and roll icon Elvis Presley. His daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited Graceland after his death in 1977. Graceland is located at 3764 Elv ...

, commenting that her version was the best since the original. Quatro declined the offer.

Derivatives and parodies

Jim Jacobs Jim Jacobs (born October 7, 1942) is an American actor, composer, lyricist, and writer for the theatre, long associated with the Chicago theater scene. Jacobs is best known for creating the book, storyline, characters, lyrics for the 1971 musi ...

and

Warren Casey Warren Casey (April 20, 1935 – November 8, 1988) was an American theater composer, lyricist, writer, and actor. He was the writer and composer, with Jim Jacobs, of the stage musical '' Grease''. Career Warren Casey was born on April 20, 1935, ...

included a strongly derivative piece, "All Choked Up", as part of the original version of the musical '' Grease''. The song was included in the Broadway version; in 1978, when the musical was adapted as a feature film of the same name, "All Choked Up" was not included, and a new song, "

You're the One That I Want "You're the One That I Want" is a song performed by American actor and singer John Travolta and Anglo-Australian singer, songwriter and actress Olivia Newton-John for the 1978 film version of the musical '' Grease''. It was written and produc ...

" (which bore no musical resemblance to "All Shook Up"), was used instead and went on to become a major hit. Filipino comedians

Joey de Leon Jose Maria Ramos de Leon Jr. (born October 14, 1946), professionally known as Joey de Leon, is a Filipino comedian, actor, television presenter and songwriter. He hosts the noontime variety show ''Eat Bulaga!'' He is a member of the comedy trio ...

and

Vic Sotto Marvic Valentin Castelo Sotto (; born April 28, 1954), professionally known as Vic Sotto, is a Filipino actor, singer and comedian known far and wide for his various television and film projects on the major Philippine television networks GMA ...

parodied Elvis Presley's “All Shook Up”. A full version of the theme song was released as a single by Tito, Vic & Joey in 1979 and featured in the trio's ''Sgt. Pepe'' (Tito, Vic & Joey, Vol. IV) album.

References

{{authority control Billy Joel songs Elvis Presley songs Suzi Quatro songs 1957 singles 1974 singles 1992 singles Billboard Top 100 number-one singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs written by Otis Blackwell Songs written by Elvis Presley RCA Victor singles Epic Records singles 1957 songs