"Moody Blue"
Single by Elvis Presley
from the album Moody Blue
B-side"She Thinks I Still Care"
ReleasedNovember 29, 1976
RecordedFebruary 4, 1976
GenreCountry, Pop,
Length2:53
LabelRCA Records
Songwriter(s)Mark James
Producer(s)Felton Jarvis
Elvis Presley singles chronology
"Hurt"
(1976) 		"Moody Blue"
(1976) 		"Way Down"
(1977)
Blue vinyl pressing
US Limited release edition

"Moody Blue" is a song made famous by Elvis Presley. The song was written by Mark James[1] who recorded the original version of the song, which reached #15 in South Africa during the summer of 1976.[2] James also penned Elvis' "Suspicious Minds".

"Moody Blue" was Presley's last No. 1 hit in his lifetime, topping the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart in February 1977.[3] "Moody Blue" also peaked at number 31 on the Hot 100.[4] RCA Records also issued an extremely limited quantity of the "Moody Blue" single in an experimental translucent blue vinyl pressing, with "She Thinks I Still Care" as the B-side. Six months after "Moody Blue" topped the chart, Presley was dead.

The song was recorded in February 1976 in the Jungle Room of Presley's Graceland home. The only time Elvis performed the song in its entirety was on February 21, 1977, at a concert in Charlotte, North Carolina. He had attempted to perform the song February 20 at the same venue but revealed to the crowd that he had completely forgotten the song; he returned on February 21, lead sheet in hand, and performed the song with his eyes glued to the lyrics. Both the February 20 false-start and the February 21 performance were recorded on soundboard in good sound quality and were released officially in 2007 by the Follow That Dream label; still photos of the February 21 performance also exist. The complete version was first released on bootleg by the Fort Baxter label in 1995.[5]

By May 1977 the song had reached 120,000 sales in Germany.[6]

Chart performance

References

  1. ^ "Moody Blue". Allmusic. 2007-06-21.
  2. ^ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 273.
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 504.
  5. ^ "February 21, 1977 Concert". Elvis Presley In Concert. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  6. ^ "From The Music Capitals of the World - Hamburg". Billboard. May 7, 1977. p. 73. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  7. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (doc). Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  8. ^ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  9. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Moody Blue". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  10. ^ "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1977-04-24. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  11. ^ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  12. ^ UK Official Charts, 5 March 1977
  13. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  14. ^ "Adult Contemporary Music Chart". Billboard. 1977-02-19. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  15. ^ Australian-charts.com
  16. ^ MBAJ&printsec=frontcover Billboard, December 24, 1977.
  17. ^ "Top Selling Singles of 1977 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1977-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-11.

External links

Elvis Presley singles
Authority control databases
Categories