In May or June 1954 Sam Phillips received
a demo from Peer Records of the song 'Without
You', sung by an unknown singer. He failed to
locate the singer.
In issue 287 of Mojo magazine (October 2017) the unknown singer of 'Without You' was identified as being Jimmy Bell (aka Jimmy Sweeney).
The day before Sam brought in the
demo of 'Without You', Marion Keisker's friend,
who was there with her when Elvis walked in to record
'My Happiness' in July 1953 had asked Marion
what happened to "the singer with the sideburns
who gives you goose bumps", as she thought
there was "something special" about him,
and Marion replied that nothing had happened! It
was then Marion suggested Elvis again ("the
guy with the sideburns") to Sam, so he brought
him in.
This rehearsal was probably not recorded.
Several songs were attempted without success, but
no other titles are known. It's not impossible that
they tried 'Casual Love' (?), since this much
talked about song obviously wasn't the flipside
of the second acetate.
The song 'Casual Love Affair' (as well as being listed as 'Casual Love')
was actually first mentioned
as early as 1956 in magazines. It
was then later stated that the song wasn't called
'Casual Love' at all, but rather 'Careless
Love'.
Using this analogy, it may be possible
that the second acetate ('I'll Never Stand In
Your Way' / 'It Wouldn't Be The Same ( Without You)')
had been originally incorrectly listed in the first
place as being 'I'll Never Stand In Your Way' /
'Casual Love' (or 'Careless Love') by someone hearing
the lyrics "I wasted my love on a careless
romance" (which is sung twice during the song)
while listening to 'It Wouldn't Be The Same (Without
You)', and then mis-remembering the title.
Other possibilities regarding the
titles of the unknown songs include 'Rag Mop'
and 'Tiger Man', among others, as Elvis himself
referred to his "Second Record" as being
'Tiger Man' in several live shows in August
1970.
Thanks to Kevan Budd for information regarding Marion's friend. |