"Jailhouse Rock" is a rock and roll song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley for the film of the same name. It was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. RCA Victor released the song on a 45 rpm single on September 24, 1957, as the first single from the film's soundtrack EP. It reached the top of the charts in the U.S. and the top 10 in several other countries. The song has been recognized by the Grammy Hall of Fame, the American Film Institute, and others.
According to Rolling Stone, Leiber and Stoller's "theme song for Presley's third movie was decidedly silly, the kind of tongue-in-cheek goof they had come up with for The Coasters. Presley, however, sang it as straight rock & roll, overlooking the jokes in the lyrics (like the suggestion of gay romance when inmate Number 47 tells Number 3, 'You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see') and then introducing Scotty Moore's guitar solo with a cry so intense that the take almost collapses."[2] Gender studies scholars cite the song for "its famous reference to homoerotics behind bars,"[3] while music critic Garry Mulholland writes, "'Jailhouse Rock' was always a queer lyric, in both senses."[4] Douglas Brode writes of the filmed production number that it's "amazing that the sequence passed by the censors".[5]
Releases and chart performance
The single, with its B-side "Treat Me Nice" (another song from the film's soundtrack) was a US number one hit for seven weeks in the fall of 1957, and a UK number one hit for three weeks early in 1959.[6] In addition, "Jailhouse Rock" spent one week at the top of the US country charts,[7] and reached the number one position on the R&B chart.[8]
Also in 1958, "Jailhouse Rock" was the lead song in an EP (extended play single), together with other songs from the film, namely "Young and Beautiful", "I Want to Be Free", "Don't Leave Me Now" and "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" (but with "Treat Me Nice" omitted). It topped the Billboard EP charts, ultimately selling two million copies and earning a double-platinum RIAA certification.[citation needed]
Personnel
Credits sourced from AFM union contracts and label records.[9]
^"Elvis Presley Recording Sessions". keithflynn.com. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
^"The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rollingstone.com. December 11, 2003. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2007.
^Kreps, Daniel (November 29, 2016). "Nirvana, Bowie, R.E.M. Songs Among Grammy Hall of Fame's 2017 Inductees". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
^ abKent, David (2005). Australian Chart Book: 1940–1969: the Hit Songs and Records from Thirty Years of Specially Compiled Charts. Australian Chart Book Limited. ISBN 9780646444390. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
^"Elvis Presley – Jailhouse Rock" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
^"Elvis Presley: Jailhouse Rock" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved March 3, 2013.