Tickle Me (EP)

Tickle Me
EP by Elvis Presley
Released June 1965
Genre Pop
Length 10:31
Label RCA Victor
Elvis Presley chronology
Girl Happy
(1965)Girl Happy1965		 Tickle Me
(1965)		 Elvis for Everyone!
(1965)Elvis for Everyone!1965

Tickle Me Vol. 1 and Tickle Me Vol. 2 are two extended plays by Elvis Presley, containing songs from the motion picture of the same name. They were released by RCA Victor in 1965.

Content

For the first time in his career, the budget did not allow new songs to be commissioned for a Presley film. The soundtrack was assembled from previously released recordings, recycling nine songs in total with some dating back to recording sessions from 1960.[1]

All songs were taken, as originally pressed, from previously released albums but a new vocal was recorded for "I Feel That I've Known You Forever", and a harmony vocal and narration was removed on "I'm Yours".

Four of the songs were released on singles, with the other five on an extended play single as the official soundtrack. "(Such an) Easy Question," by Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott, was paired with "It Feels So Right" by Fred Wise and Ben Weisman. Released previously on Pot Luck with Elvis and Elvis Is Back! respectively, they were reissued as catalogue 47-8585 in June 1965, with the A-side "Easy Question" going to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the B-side peaking at #55 independently. A second pairing, "I'm Yours" by Don Robertson and Hal Blair also from Pot Luck with "(It's A) Long Lonely Highway" by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman from Kissin' Cousins, were reissued as the A and b sides respectively of catalogue item 47-8657 in August 1965, "I'm Yours" also peaking on the chart at #11.

"I'm Yours" was released on 45 rpm as presented on film and the flip side was the movie opening number "(It's a) Long, Lonely Highway" , but in an alternate take.

The soundtrack EP was issued in June 1965 containing the other five songs. It only reached #70 on the singles chart, another indication of format's lack of appeal by the mid-1960s,[2] although the fact its contents featured songs that were already available on various still-in-catalog albums may have also played a role. RCA would only issue one more extended play single for Presley in 1967. And with Beatlemania and the British Invasion in full swing, the music was stagnant.

In the 1960s, to obtain all nine songs in long-playing format, one would have to acquire Elvis Is Back!, Something for Everybody, Pot Luck, and the Fun in Acapulco and Kissin' Cousins soundtracks (which featured some of the songs as non-movie "bonus tracks"). In 2005, Sony Music issued a compact disc soundtrack of Tickle Me on their specialty Presley-oriented collectors label, Follow That Dream. It featured the film's nine songs along with five bonus tracks.

Reissues

Tickle Me was reissued on the Follow That Dream label in 2005 in a deluxe 2-disc CD collection containing the original Extended Play along with numerous alternate takes from the original recording sessions.

Personnel

Track listing

Tickle Me, Vol. 1

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."I Feel That I've Known You Forever" (from Pot Luck with Elvis)
March 19, 19621:39
2."Slowly But Surely" (from Fun in Acapulco)
May 27, 19632:12
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."Night Rider" (from Pot Luck with Elvis)
October 15, 19612:08
2."Put the Blame On Me" (from Something for Everybody)
March 12, 19611:57
3."Dirty, Dirty Feeling" (from Elvis Is Back!)Jerry Leiber and Mike StollerApril 3, 19601:35

Tickle Me, Vol. 2

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."I'm Yours"
 
2."(It's A) Long, Lonely Highway"
  • Doc Pomus
  • Mort Shuman
 
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."It Feels So Right"
  • Ben Weisman
  • Fred Wise
 
2."(Such An) Easy Question"
 

Charts

Tickle Me (EP)
Chart (1965) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[3] 70

References

  1. ↑ Jorgensen, Ernst. Elvis Presley A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998; p. 199.
  2. ↑ Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 416.
  3. ↑ "Elvis Presley - Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2016-12-30.
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