On This Day in 1999, We Said Goodbye to the Unsung Songwriter Behind Elvis Presley’s Breakthrough Hit

On this day (October 17) in 1999, Tommy Durden died at his home in Houghton Lake, Michigan, at age 79. In addition to playing steel guitar for Johnny Cash and Tex Ritter, Durden’s most notable accomplishment is co-writing the song that launched Elvis Presley’s stratospheric career — 1956’s “Heartbreak Hotel”.

Today, we’re diving into the life and career of Tommy Durden on the 27th anniversary of his passing.

How a Suicide Note Reportedly Inspired Tommy Durden

Born on December 15, 1919, in Morgan County, Georgia, Thomas Russell “Tommy” Durden was the youngest of seven children in a sharecropper family.

Growing up primarily in Jacksonville, Florida, Durden learned to play slide guitar before picking up steel guitar. He played the latter for the Westernaires before moving to Gainesville, where he joined the country band Smilin’ Jack Herring and his Swingbillys. 

While playing with the Swingbillys, Durden reportedly read a Miami Herald article about a man who had destroyed all his identity papers before jumping to his death from a hotel window. He left behind only a piece of paper with the haunting phrase “I walk a lonely street.” (Songfacts.com was unable to verify the existence of this article, labeling the story as an urban legend.)

Inspired, Durden took the half-written lyrics to his friends and occasional songwriting partners Mae Boren Axton and Glenn Reeves. Axton — the mother of country singer-songwriter Hoyt — was a high school English and journalism teacher who wrote songs on the side. She also worked part-time as a public relations secretary for Elvis Presley’s manger, Colonel Tom Parker.

According to Axton, she came up with the concept of a “lonely street” leading to “Heartbreak Hotel”. Upon hearing the title, Reeves dismissed it as “the silliest thing I’ve ever heard” and left the studio.

“A Morbid Mess”

Within an hour, Mae Axton and Tommy Durden had finished the song. Axton first offered it to the Wilburn Brothers, but they declined, finding the lyrics “strange and almost morbid”.

Sun Records founder Sam Phillips agreed, declaring the song “a morbid mess.” However, Presley’s reaction to Axton bringing him a “Heartbreak Hotel” demo was, “Hot dog, Mae, play it again.”

Even after Presley recorded the song, RCA Victor executives were skeptical. (In November 1955, RCA bought his contract from Sun for $35,000.)

Still, the budding superstar was determined this was the song to kickstart his career, and he released “Heartbreak Hotel” as a single in January 1956.

While not warmly received at first, the song’s popularity began to grow after Presley performed it on CBS’ Stage Show. “Heartbreak Hotel” reached number one on both the pop and country charts, spending 27 weeks in the top 100.

After “Heartbreak Hotel”

Tommy Durden continued writing songs, but none approached the astronomical success of “Heartbreak Hotel”. Nevertheless, royalties from the song would pay his bills for the next four decades.

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After playing steel guitar for Johnny Cash, Tex Ritter, and Johnny Tillotson, Durden moved to Houghton Lake, Michigan, where he worked as a commercial dishwasher repairman until his retirement in the early 1980s.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images