"Stay Away, Joe" is a song first recorded by Elvis Presley as part of the soundtrack for his 1968 motion picture Stay Away, Joe.

"Stay Away, Joe"
Song by Elvis Presley
from the album Let's Be Friends
Released1968 (motion picture)
April 1970 (on the album Let's Be Friends)
RecordedOctober 1, 1967
Length1:37
Songwriter(s)

In 1970 it was released as the opening track of Presley's budget album Let's Be Friends.

Writing edit

The song was written by Ben Weisman (music) and Sid Wayne (lyrics).[2][3][4][5][6]

According to David Neal and his book Roots of Elvis, the writers of the song "seem to have been at the very least inspired by the old slave song, "Pick a Bale's o'Cotton"", a "folk-blues classic", originally recorded by Huddie Leadbetter (better known as Lead Belly) in 1935.[7]

Recording edit

Presley recorded it at the soundtrack recordings for the M.G.M movie Stay Away, Joe that took place on Sunday, October 1, 1967, at the RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee.[8][7]

Critical reception edit

According to George Batista Da Silva's book Música e Ecran (in Portuguese), "Stay Awaya, Joe" "can be considered a minor song in Elvis Presley's vast repertoire". [9]

Track listings edit

7-inch EP (RCA Victor 20652, Australia, 1982)[1]

  1. "Stay Away, Joe"
  2. "Goin' Home"
  3. "All I Needed Was The Rain"
  4. "Stay Away"

7-inch EP (RCA EX 2764, 2001) — released in 2001 as a bonus disc with the album Blue Hawaii - Collector's Edition[1]

  1. "Stay Away, Joe"
  2. "Dominic"
  3. "All I Needed Was The Rain"
  4. "Goin' Home"
  5. "Stay Away"

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "australian-charts.com - Elvis Presley - Stay Away, Joe". Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  2. ^ Ernst Jorgensen (22 April 2014). Elvis Presley: A Life In Music. St. Martin's Press. pp. 366–. ISBN 978-1-4668-6855-7.
  3. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. 1971. pp. 698–.
  4. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Music. U.S. Government Printing Office. January 1970.
  5. ^ Jean-Jacques Jelot-Blanc (3 January 2016). CAMION BLANC: ELVIS A HOLLYWOOD Presley fait son cinéma. CAMION BLANC. pp. 138–. ISBN 978-2-35779-747-5.
  6. ^ James L. Neibaur (4 April 2014). The Elvis Movies. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 222–. ISBN 978-1-4422-3074-3.
  7. ^ a b David Neale (2003). Roots of Elvis. iUniverse. pp. 111–. ISBN 978-0-595-29505-0.
  8. ^ Ernst Jorgensen (22 April 2014). Elvis Presley: A Life In Music. St. Martin's Press. pp. 365–. ISBN 978-1-4668-6855-7.
  9. ^ George Batista Da Silva (11 October 2006). Música E Ecran. Clube de Autores. pp. 217–. PKEY:99031787.