Elvis Presley recorded his first single on July 5, 1954: “That is All Proper.” We provide an appreciation of not solely Elvis’s efficiency but additionally the person who wrote that music, Arthur “Huge Boy” Crudup.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Seventy years in the past at the moment, a little-known singer from Tupelo, Miss., recorded what would turn into his first hit single.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THAT’S ALL RIGHT”)
ELVIS PRESLEY: (Singing) Nicely, that is all proper, mama. That is all best for you. That is all proper, mama, simply anyway you do. However that is all proper.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
(Singing) That is all proper.
That music Elvis Presley recorded was known as “That is All Proper.” And as legend has it, Elvis didn’t understand he had a success in his fingers.
FADEL: Because the story goes, a teenage Elvis had a tough day within the studio. He and his bandmates Scotty Moore and Invoice Black had been about to pack up and go to mattress.
INSKEEP: Till Elvis started singing an previous blues music. Here is how guitarist Scotty Moore informed it to NPR in 2004.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
SCOTTY MOORE: We performed in all probability a few hours, and Invoice and I had been on the point of go residence ‘trigger each of us all needed to work the subsequent day. And Elvis simply began enjoying his guitar and simply beating it, virtually, and singing “That is All Proper.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THAT’S ALL RIGHT”)
PRESLEY: (Singing) That is all proper. That is all proper now, mama, anyway you do.
FADEL: The tune had been written virtually a decade earlier by Delta blues singer Arthur “Huge Boy” Crudup.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THAT’S ALL RIGHT”)
ARTHUR CRUDUP: (Singing) Child, one and one is 2. Two and two is 4. I really like that lady, however I acquired to let her go. However that is all proper.
INSKEEP: The Elvis model caught the eye of Solar Data founder Sam Phillips. And when he launched Elvis’ single, it was an on the spot smash.
FADEL: However the music’s creator by no means achieved the identical fame or wealth as Elvis. Crudup acquired minimal royalties as a result of he did not maintain the rights to his work. His supervisor did. That was normal observe on the time, significantly for Black performers.
INSKEEP: DownBeat journal estimates Crudup ought to have earned the equal of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in royalties. As a substitute, for many of his grownup life, he drove buses and labored on farms to earn a paycheck till he died in Virginia in 1974. His property did later obtain some royalties, though solely a portion.
FADEL: At the moment he is honored on the Mississippi Blues Path and within the Blues Corridor of Fame. And whereas Elvis went on to be known as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Crudup is understood by many as considered one of its fathers.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THAT’S ALL RIGHT”)
CRUDUP: (Singing) Nicely, now, that is all proper, now, mama. That is all best for you. That is all proper, now, mama, anyway you do. However that is all proper, that is all proper.
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