Don't Be Cruel

the song by Elvis Presley

"Don't Be Cruel" is a song that was recorded by Elvis Presley and written by Otis Blackwell in 1956. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2004, it was listed #197 in Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

"Don't Be Cruel" was the first song that Presley's song publishers, Hill & Range, brought to him to record. But if Presley liked the song, the writers would be offered a guarantee of a million records and they would surrender a third of their royalties to Elvis'." Presley recorded the song on July 2, 1956, during an exhaustive recording session at RCA Victor Studios in New York City. The song featured Presley's band of Scotty Moore on lead guitar (with Presley usually providing rhythm guitar), Bill Black on double bass, D. J. Fontana on drums, Shorty Long on piano, and backing vocals from the Jordanaires. The producing credit was given to RCA's Stephen H. Sholes, although the studio recordings reveal that Presley produced the songs in this session by selecting the song, reworking the arrangement on piano, and insisting on 28 takes before he was satisfied with it.

According to author Mark Lewisohn in The Complete Beatles Chronicles (p. 362) the Beatles performed "Don't Be Cruel" live from about 1959 to 1961, though no recording is known to survive. The band did record a laid back version during the massive 1969 Get Back sessions, but it has never been officially released. However ex Beatles John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Pete Best and Lennon's former bandmembers the Quarrymen as well as Tony Sheridan all later recorded versions of it.

Many other artists including Connie Francis (1959, Rock 'n' Roll Million Sellers), Annette Peacock, Barbara Lynn (1963, Jamie #1244 45 RPM, #93 on the Hot 100), Bill Black's Combo, Billy Swan, Devo, The Residents, Cheap Trick, Daffy Duck, Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Neil Diamond, and Jackie Wilson have recorded the song. Presley was said to be so impressed with Wilson's version that he would later incorporate many of Wilson's mannerisms into future performances. A cover by American country music duo the Judds peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1987. Cheap Trick's version of this song, the second single released from the band's tenth studio album Lap of Luxury, reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in October 1988. Jonathan Rhys Meyers lip synched the original version of the song in a scene from Elvis, where it shows him performing at the Jacksonville Theater.