Elvis Presley‘s “Jailhouse Rock” became one of the most famous songs of the 1950s. Subsequently, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll released another No. 1 single that sounds just like it. Notably, the songwriters behind “Jailhouse Rock” had to get the approval of Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, before working with the singer.
Elvis Presley’s ‘Hard Headed Woman’ sounds a lot like ‘Jailhouse Rock’
According to The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, 1957’s “Jailhouse Rock” was No. 1 in the United States for seven weeks. The tune became one of the singer’s most famous, playing a major role in the film of the same name and the trailers for Baz Luhrmann’s film Elvis.
In 1958, Elvis released another uptempo rock number called “Hard Headed Woman.” The track was No. 1 for two weeks. “Hard Headed Woman” is almost forgotten today and it’s not hard to see why. It sounds so much like “Jailhouse Rock” that it feels superfluous in the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s discography. Add in some sexist lyrics and Bible references that could go over listeners’ heads, and you have a track destined for obscurity.
How ‘Jailhouse Rock’ was connected to his hits ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Bossa Nova Baby’
Like other Elvis classics such as “Hound Dog” and “Bossa Nova Baby,” “Jailhouse Rock” was co-written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. During a 2022 interview with Variety, Stoller asked how the song “Jailhouse Rock” came to be. “They asked us to write for a movie that became Loving You, when it was renamed after the song that we wrote,” he recalled. “And then, of course, there was [the film] Jailhouse Rock, which was where Elvis heard the demos and wanted to meet us.
“But first we had to pass muster with the Colonel, so we were invited to dinner by the music publishers Jean and Julian Aberbach, who also were tied in with the Colonel; they had started with Eddy Arnold, too, and met through that business relationship,” he added. “So we went to dinner with the Colonel, and we had to laugh at his jokes, and then I guess we passed muster, so it was all right.” For context, Arnold was a country singer.
What Mike Stoller thought about Elvis Presley as a person
Stoller recalled his interactions with the “Can’t Help Falling in Love” singer. “And then we hit it off with Elvis, very easily,” he said. “But we used to have to say to him, ‘This is Jerry, and I’m Mike. Don’t call us ‘sir.’ After all, we were all of two years older than he was!”
Stoller found Elvis very polite, and he liked that they had the same taste in blues music. Leiber and Stoller’s work with Elvis remains some of the most important rock music of its era.
“Jailhouse Rock” was a song so nice Elvis made it twice.
