Don't Be Cruel

"Don't Be Cruel" gave Elvis Presley his biggest success on record. The song was written by Otis Blackwell, a favorite of the singer. It is a lover's plea in which the narrator begins by saying he is alone and apologizing to his girlfriend, then goes on to declare his fidelity, ask her to come over, and finally propose marriage. Presley was played a demo of the song at a recording session on July 2, 1956, and immediately agreed to record it. (He took a songwriting credit as a "cut-in.") He gave it a bouncy arrangement which made for an infectious track that suggested rockabilly while remaining a pop recording. "Don't Be Cruel" was released as a single later in the month. Its B-side, "Hound Dog," proved so popular that the two songs were linked and the record was treated as a double-A-side single. It topped the pop, country, and R&B charts for months, selling more than four million copies and becoming the biggest single record of 1956. Though it remains closely identified with Presley, "Don't Be Cruel" has been successfully covered by other artists. Bass player Bill Black, who played on the Presley recording, cut an instrumental version with his Combo that reached the pop Top 20 and the R&B Top Ten in 1960. Barbara Lynn had a minor chart entry with her version in 1963. The Judds took "Don't Be Cruel" into the country Top Ten in 1987, and Cheap Trick brought it back to the pop Top Five in 1988. In addition to appearing on 12 chart albums by Elvis Presley between 1958 and 1992, it has been featured on chart albums by a variety of other artists, among them Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy Swan, Alvin Lee, Merle Haggard, and Neil Diamond. And there have been dozens of other recordings, including ones by Sandy Denny, Dillard and Clark, Connie Francis, Tom Jones, Albert King, Al Kooper, Sandy Nelson, the Platters, the Residents, and the Smithereens. Song titles cannot be copyrighted, and, in 1988, Babyface, L.A. Reid, and Daryl Simmons wrote their own song called "Don't Be Cruel," which became a number one R&B and Top Ten pop hit for Bobby Brown.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/dont-be-cruel-mt0041515985