Rags To Riches - New Years Eve 1976 Pittsburgh PA

In the main 1976 had been a very poor year for Elvis. His reluctance to enter a recording studio had made it necessary for RCA to move it's mobile recording unit 'Big Red' into the grounds of Graceland and Elvis' den, what was to become known as 'The Jungle Room', became a makeshift studio in order for Elvis to fulfil his contractual obligations.

The live shows of 1976 were amongst the poorest of Elvis' career with the setlist probably at it's most rigid since 1969 but still the venues sold out but even stuck in this malaise Elvis still sometimes managed to produce an excellent show within a below par tour or even a moment of genius within a mediocre show although in 76 this had become more the exception rather than the norm.

Elvis only appeared in Las Vegas once during 76 and this was the shortest full Vegas engagement of the 70's with just 15 shows over 11 nights and the standard of show was generally high. After closing in Vegas on 12 December Elvis had a fornight off before emabrking on a short five show tour which began in Wichita on 27 December and would finish in Pittsburgh during the early hours of New Years Day.

Perhaps bouyed by the fact that he had performed his final Las Vegas show as no extension had been signed, Elvis' next five concerts were unquestionably the best of Elvis' shows in 1976 and there is footage of most of the show in Birmingham, Alabama on 29 December concert, a show which was a bootleg favourite for many years and has since been released officially on FTD in a two disc set with the previous nights show in Dallas - both excellent shows. The New Years Eve show at the Civic Center Arena was probably the best of the five with Elvis on stage for almost two hours!

On a Friday evening,16,409 people in Pittsburgh saw in 1977 with 'The King' and after three opening acts and a lengthy intermission Elvis walked on stage at 23.35 to a mass of flashbulbs and screams - you would have been forgiven for thinking it was already twelve!

When twelve did arrive the house lights went up and Elvis lead the audience in a rousing rendition of Rabbie Burns' 'Auld Lang Syne' wished the audience and band members 'Happy New Year' before resuming the show but nor before introducing his father, daughter and sound engineers!

By this stage the Elvis Presley shows' penultimate number was usually 'Funny How Time Slips Away' but on this particular evening he had sang this just before midnight and so since he was already at the piano having sung 'Unchained Melody' he decided to give the only live performance of 'Rags To Riches'.

The master of this song was recorded in RCA's studio B in Nashville on 22 September 1970 in an additional session to create some extra cuts to compliment the June sessions. In addition to 'Rags to Riches' Elvis also recorded 'Snowbird', 'Where Did They Go, Lord' and 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On' at this session.

The original audience recording of this New Years Eve show was for many years one of the most sought after bootlegs and after the introduction of the FTD label they quickly bought the original recording from fan John Herman who had recorded it that evening, how much RCA paid is anyone's guess and it remains the only audience recorded show in the FTD catalouge. Released officially by FTD in 2003 it was titled simply - New Years Eve 1976. This however must only bring one to the natural conclusion that a soundboard version does not exist.

Bridge Over Troubled Water - 11 August 1970 Dinner Show

By August 1970 Elvis was back on top, not just the king of rock 'n' roll but now arguably the King of entertainment. The six shows filmed by MGM for TTWII show Elvis at the height of his powers. he had managed to combine the theatrics and bombast of Vegas and incorporate them in his show which resulted in a performance that was almost as much Broadway as Las Vegas. Now Elvis had finally found a way in which to integrate all of his musical influences and country music for example finally had a place within the Elvis repertoire.

Probably the biggest influence on Elvis and that closest to his heart was gospel music and in 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' he found a song in which that influence could shine through. Wheras the original recording by Simon (the song's composer) and Garfunkel is somewhat subdued Elvis turns it into a powerful showpiece.

This performance from 11 August 1970 Dinner Show, only the second time that he had sung it live, is Elvis Presley at his absolute peak and anyone who hears this cannot possibly have any doubts as to his vocal prowess or to the magnificent entertainer that he had become. Many fans point to the performance at Greensboro Coliseum almost two years later, the rendition included in the 'On Tour' movie as their favourite. Whilst acknowledging that it is a fabulous performance it seems to lack the freshness of those from August 1970 and now by this time, three Vegas seasons, one Tahoe Season and three tours later it almost feels like a routine performance.

In his book 'Heartbreak Hotel' author and music critic Robert Matthew Walker writes of this performance:
'Presley's outstanding singing is not disguised; this is a fabulous version, burning with sincerity and power, and finding depths not revealed by it's composers'

It was widely written around this time that after after witnessing an August 70 rendition of the song in Vegas that Paul Simon said
'That's it we might as well all give up now'
although he has since denied saying those exact words.

However in Rolling Stone magazine interview:
Paul Simon later noted that Presley's rendition of his song was a "touch on the dramatic side." "But so was the song," he added. "When I first heard Elvis perform 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' it was unbelievable. I thought to myself, 'How the hell can I compete with that?'"

So now, put on you headphones turn the volume up full and witness Elvis at his absolute best!!!

The audio in this video has been replaced with audio from disc#3 of Sony's TTWII Deluxe Edition which contains the entire 11 August DS from which this performance originates.

Inherit The Wind - 26 August 1969 Dinner Show

The studio master of 'Inherit the Wind' was recorded on 15 January 1969 and was the twelfth song that Elvis recorded during those landmark recording sessions at American Sound Studios in Memphis. 

The only live recording of the song first appeared on the 1991 RCA/BMG box set Collectors Gold on disc #3 which was titled 'Live In Las Vegas' and also featured the first official releases of the only live performances of 'This Is The Story' and 'Rubberneckin'.

In 2005 FTD released the entire 26 August 1969 Dinner Show, titled 'Live In Las Vegas 1969', from which this song was performed and finally placed the song into it's proper context.
26 August 1969 was a strange night as far as the setlist was concerned as that evening also produced the only live performances of Rubberneckin' and 'This Is The Story' at the Midnight show. Considering August 69 probably had the most rigid setlist that Elvis would employ with rarities at a premium those in attendance at these shows probably didn't appreciate how lucky they were that evening.

Considering this was Elvis' first live performance in eight and a half years the rigid setlist was understandable with band and singers all new and a tight setlist keeps any problems with unfamiliarity at a minimum and creates a comfort zone. As Elvis' confidence increased the rarities appeared,and as such this track was performed a full four weeks into the engagement.
The actual reason for performing this 'Memphis trio' was actually for inclusion in what would become 'Elvis In Person' a fact Elvis tells the audience before singing 'Inherit The Wind' at the Dinner Show, odd therefore that all three were ommited from the album and were only officially released 24 years later!

You'll Never Walk Alone - 19 July 1975

Although Elvis won three grammy awards and another posthoumously it is little known that he was also nominated for a further eleven including one in the Best Sacred Performance category in 1968 for the studio master of this song.

'You'll Never Walk Alone' was written by Rodgers and Hammerstein for their 1945 musical 'Carousel' and Elvis recorded his version on 11 September 1967. It was in fact the last of seven songs recorded that night at RCA's Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee.

Despite being released as a single and achieving a grammy nomination it would take over three years before it would make it onto an album and even then RCA released it only on their budget label, Camden,

This, with Elvis at the piano and recorded during the evening show in the Nassau Veteran Coliseum, Uniondale, NY on 19 July 1975 is the only known live performance of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' by Elvis. Listening to this performance and Elvis' vocal it doesn't seem like eight years between this and the original studio master!

Don't Cry Daddy / In The Ghetto - 13 August 1970 Dinner Show

When the Lost Performances was released on home video in 1992 we all sat with mouths wide open at what we were seeing. Here in front of us, salvaged from an MGM vault contained within a disused salt line in Kansas and found during a routine inspection in 1986, was footage from TWII and On Tour that many suspected but never knew for ceratin existed. As the DVD sets 'TTWII - The Complete Works' and 'On Tour - behind the scenes' proved, it was only the tip of the iceberg.

The highlight of these new performances was regarded by many as being the back to back renditions of 'Don't Cry Daddy' and 'In The Ghetto' from the dinner show on 13 Auhust and seamlessly fused together almost as one.

Both songs were composed by Mac Davis and both recorded by Elvis at American Sound Studios in Memphis, Tennessee in 1969. 'Don't Cry Daddy' was the first to be recorded on 15 January and it is a song with a powerful narrative. The song tells the story from the mind of the protaganist and how he is struggling to cope with the loss of his wife or partner, whether through death or divorce is open to interpretaion, but it seems only the pleas of his young son are helping him to continue on.

'Don't Cry Daddy' was introduced to the setlist during the opening show of the previous Vegas engagement and almost always the fourth song sung during these shows. It was sung at every show at the Houston Astrodome but was sung only once during the August 1970 Vegas engagement and this would also be the final time it would be sung live by Elvis.

'In The Ghetto' on the other hand was a song with a completely different premise and one which was completely out of the 'Elvis comfort zone' in that it was a protest song dealing with social injustice and not an area Elvis would normally venture.
In spite of these reservations, Elvis recorded it on 20 January 1969 in American Sound Studios and it was a worldwide hit and reamains one of his most critically acclaimed recordings. It was included in the Elvis live show from the first Vegas show on 31 July 1969 and would be sung at virtually every show for the next year, which incorporated the six shows at the Houston Astrodome and the Jan/Feb 70 Vegas engagement. It would only be performed a further six times thereafter, this solo appearance during August 70, at five shows during the September 70 tour and finally in Vegas at the midnight show on 19 February 1971.

Here are the words of the song's composer Mac Davis on the song's inception and how it was originallly titled 'The Vicious Circle' :

'I never really dreamed of pitching that song to Elvis. I had been working on In the Ghetto for several years. I grew up playing with a little boy in Lubbock, Texas, whose family lived in a dirt street ghetto. His dad and my dad worked in construction together. So that little boy and I sort of grew up together. I never understood why his family had to live where they lived while my family lived where we lived. Of course back in those days, the word 'ghetto' hadn't come along yet. But I always wanted to write a song about that situation and title it 'The Vicious Circle.
I thought that if you were born in that place and that situation, then you grow up there and one day you die there, and another kid is born there that kind of replaces you. And later I started thinking about the ghetto as a title for the song. In the meantime, Freddy Weller had showed me a guitar lick he had been playing. I liked the lick and went home one night and used that guitar lick and wrote that song'. 'I didn't write the song for anyone in particular, but later while I was working on an album in Memphis, Chips Moman called me and said Elvis was recording and asked me if I had any songs for him. So I sent him a tape with 19 songs on it and Elvis recorded the first three songs on the tape, In the Ghetto, Don't Cry Daddy and another song they never released titled Poor Man's Gold. A lot of people have asked me about Elvis talking to me about In the Ghetto. I don't think we ever had a conversation about that song ... either before or after he recorded it'.

The audio in this video has been replaced with superior audio from Sony's TTWII Deluxe Edition's disc #7 containing this performance and the show from which it was performed.

Words - 12 August 1970 Midnight Show

As if to compliment the new varied setlist Elvis of August 1970 reintroduced one of the few comtemporary covers that he had included in his setlist for his return to live performing a year earlier, the Bee Gees' self penned hit - Words, which had been dropped for the January/February 1970 engagement.

At present there is only evidence to suggest that it been used five times in that comeback Vegas run - on 23 Aug DS, on 24 Aug MS, both shows on the 25th and at the Dinner Show on the 26th.

One of the first things that we heard in the original TTWII movie, during Culver City rehearsals, was that he was unhappy with the arrangement, the ending in particular and this would possibly explain it's limited use in August 69 and it's complete disappearance for the next engagement. Whether it was brought back because they thought they had fixed the problem or that it was performed purely for the MGM cameras is pure conjecture as he only sang it twice in August 70, on opening night and this performance from the Midnight Show on 12 August and then apparantly dropped it completely.

Despite filming both versions in August, neither made it into the final cut of either the 1970 or 2001 versions of the movie although both films contain rehearsal sequences of the song. The latter movie used 'Words' as a link to advance the movie from the International's Convention Room rehearsals to the stage rehearsals by switching half way through the song.

This live performance was first heard on Disc #2 of the 2001 TTWII special edition CD boxset amongst the entire show from 12 August Midnight Show. The original audio in this video has been replaced by audio taken from disc #6 of Sony's excellent TTWII Deluxe Edition which contains that 12 August 1970 midnight show.