Moody Blue (song)

"Moody Blue"
Single by Elvis Presley
from the album Moody Blue
B-side"She Thinks I Still Care"
Released
  • 29 November 1976 (1976-11-29) (single)
  • June 1977 (1977-06) (Moody Blue album)
RecordedFebruary 4, 1976
StudioGraceland, Memphis, Tennessee
GenreCountry
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 and originally recorded by Mark James in 1975[1] on the Mercury label, with the B side "Wrong Kind Of Love".[2] (James also penned Elvis' "Suspicious Minds", among others.)

"Moody Blue" was recorded by Presley in February 1976 in the Jungle Room of his Graceland home and released as a single that November; it was Presley's last No. 1 hit in his lifetime. It topped the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart in February 1977[3] and peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March.[4][5] RCA Records 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 Country chart, Presley was dead.

Elvis' only performance of the song in its entirety was on February 21, 1977, at a concert in Charlotte, North Carolina; he'd sung a portion during the show the night before, but didn't complete it.[6] At that first performance, he hesitated over the lyrics, saying, "...I don't know the key, the chord changes, or anything." He returned the following night, lead sheet in hand, and performed the song with his eyes glued to the lyrics.[citation needed]

Both the February 20th false start and the February 21st concerts had soundboard recordings made that included the song. The recordings were released on compact disc in 2007 by the Follow That Dream label and in 1995 by Fort Baxter, respectively; audience recordings and still photos of both performances also exist.[7]

  1. ^ "Moody Blue". Allmusic. 2007-06-21.
  2. ^ "Mark James (4) – Moody Blue / Wrong Kind Of Love". Discogs. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 273.
  4. ^ rfanous (2023-10-11). "Billboard Hot 100™". Billboard. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 504.
  6. ^ "Elvis Presley In Concert". www.elvisconcerts.com. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  7. ^ "February 21, 1977 Concert". Elvis Presley In Concert. Retrieved 8 January 2012.