Elvis Presley Was at No. 1 on This Day in 1957, Selling Over 2 Million Copies With a Classic Song Inspired by a Dream

On this day (April 20) in 1957, Elvis Presley was at No. 1 with “All Shook Up.” The song spent nine weeks at the top of the Hot 100. It also topped the R&B chart for four weeks and ruled over the country chart for a week. It was also an international success, topping the charts in Canada and the United Kingdom. It became one of Presley’s biggest hits, second only to “Don’t Be Cruel.”

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“All Shook Up” was a huge hit and continues to be one of Presley’s best-known songs. Since its release, it has been certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA. It has also inspired multiple covers over the years. Suzi Quatro’s rendition reached No. 85 in 1974. In 1992, Billy Joel recorded a version for the film Honeymoon in Vegas. It peaked at No. 92. The song has also inspired a Broadway musical of the same name, which featured several of Presley’s hits with a narrative based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1972, Elvis Presley Recorded His Final Major Hit Despite Fears It Was Too “Sexy”]

Interestingly, “All Shook Up” is the only song Presley claimed to have co-written during his career.

How Elvis Presley Co-Wrote “All Shook Up.”

Elvis Presley was a singer and entertainer, but he was not a songwriter. He did, however, have songwriting credits on several hits. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, sometimes made giving Presley a writing credit on a song a condition of his recording it. “All Shook Up” is reportedly different than the others.

Presley opened up about all of this during a 1957 interview. During the chat, he admitted that he didn’t really play guitar and couldn’t read music. Then, the interviewer asked how he could write music if he couldn’t read it. “It’s all a hoax, honey,” Presley said. “I never wrote a song in my life. I get one-third of the credit for recording it. It makes me look smarter than I am. I’ve never even had an idea for a song. Just once, maybe,” he added.

Then, he revealed the inspiration behind one of his biggest hits. “I went to bed one night, had quite a dream, and woke up all shook up. I phoned a pal and told him about it. By the morning, he had a new song,” Presley explained.

Conflicting Stories

That pal Elvis Presley called would have been Otis Blackwell. He had written “Don’t Be Cruel” and was struggling to write a follow-up hit. According to Songfacts, he was in his office at Shalimar Music, the publishing company with which he was signed, when he was inspired to write the song.

Al Stanton, a co-owner of Shalimar, stepped into Blackwell’s office and suggested, “Why don’t you write a song called ‘All Shook Up’?” Some versions of the story say that Stanton was shaking a bottle of Pepsi at the time. Blackwell finished the song a couple of days later.

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