We’re throwing back to the week of April 18, 1956, and the 50s just got interesting!
While Les Baxter’s instrumental ‘The Poor People of Paris‘ held on to the #1 spot for the sixth straight week, it was about to be unseated by the song at #2.
That was Elvis Presley’s ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ the King’s first of 17 chart-topping hits on the Hot 100 (or the Best Sellers in Stores chart, as it was called before 1958).
‘Heartbreak Hotel’ was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, allegedly after they read a Miami Herald article about a man who jumped to his death from a hotel window. His suicide note read simply “I walk a lonely street.”
It’s an interesting story, but probably not a true one, as no such article has ever been discovered.
Axton saw the young Presley becoming a phenomenon and became determined to have him record one of her songs. She worked through Col. Tom Parker to arrange an audience with Elvis and he was immediately gripped by ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ when she demoed it. In exchange for agreeing to make it his first single with RCA, Presley was given a writing credit on the track.
Elvis earned that credit in the recording studio, changing up the tempo and some of the lyrics. The result was a phenomenon, a massive hit that made the top five of the R&B and Country charts in addition to becoming Presley’s first overall #1.
Well, since my baby left me
Well, I found a new place to dwell
Well, it’s down at the end of Lonely Street
At Heartbreak Hotel
[Chorus]
Where I’ll be, I’ll be so lonely, baby
Well, I’m so lonely
I’ll be so lonely, I could die
[Verse 2]
Although it’s always crowded
You still can find some room
For broken-hearted lovers
To cry there in their gloom
[Chorus]
They’ll be, they’ll be so lonely, baby
They’ll be so lonely
They’re so lonely, they could die
[Verse 3]
Now, the bellhop’s tears keep flowin’
And the desk clerk’s dressed in black
Well, they’ve been so long on Lonely Street
They’ll never, never look back
[Chorus]
And they get so, they get so lonely, baby
Well, they are so lonely
They’re so lonely, they could die
[Verse 4]
Well, now, if your baby leaves you
And you got a tale to tell
Well, just take a walk down Lonely Street
To Heartbreak Hotel
[Chorus]
Where you will be, you will be, you’ll be so lonely, baby
Well, you will be lonely
You’ll be so lonely, you could die
[Verse 2]
Although it’s always crowded
You still can find some room
For broken-hearted lovers
To cry there in their gloom
[Chorus]
Where they get so, they get so lonely, baby
Well, they’re so lonely
They’ll be so lonely, they could die
Meet Me In Montauk 