Surrender ?

[Lisarose]

Since Elvis had trouble with the endings on both "Surrender" and "Its Now or Never" according to the accounts I have read of that session-I could not say for sure if he could or could not hit the notes he hit in the 70s- during the early 60s. But if you listen to Elvis during the recording sessions for Blue Hawaii he does say as an aside that -he can not hold a note worth a d*** or something to that effect. So around this time Elvis evidently had doubts about his note holding ability on certain songs. The final word of "Its Now Or Never"... "wait..." is sung in a continuing climb up the scale to a crescendo ending. I like it more and feel it has more feeling, power, and grit to it-you like the original smoother version better.

I read somewhere, liner notes for an early album, I think, that Elvis had doubts about hitting & maintaining the end note for It's Now Or Never someone from his backup quartet, took him into the bathroom and taught him some simple breathing exercises & coached him on how to get the results he wanted. I'll look that up & get back with you.

[KPM]

[QUOTE=T_J;150407]

Sure, all about what floats your boat :-) Elvis had no trouble hitting the end of It's Now or Never in concert in 1961 though. Far from it - he does it with ease. I don't think it's true that he had trouble hitting it in the studio either. However, there is the anecdote about struggling with the ending of Surrender until he figured out how to do it. That said, the ending of Surrender is significantly higher. It's also a one-off note hit in isolation, which is more challenging to sing than sliding up the scale as in the end of It's Now or Never in the 70s. Elvis was always self deprecating about his abilities of course, but by 1960 he was a very fine ballad singer and a very versatile vocalist. The sing-a-long he does with the instrumental to Like a Baby is interesting. He's singing some really high notes but totally unforced and well within his capabilities. Had he focussed on pushing his voice to its absolute limits, like he did on certain tracks in the 70s, he'd probably have shocked a lot of people. It's one of the reasons that it's such a shame he didn't tour in this period. Such a waste.

I read that he did have trouble on the endings of both "It Now or Never" and "Surrender "and the post by Lisarose reminded of the story about it. I thought on one of these songs he was told that 2 takes could be spliced to get the ending and he said no I want to get it. I do not recall where I read it, sorry.
Yes climbing the scales is much easier but if he had not climbed the scale on the 70s endings it would have been an odd ending-hitting it dead on. For opera the dead on high note would have been correct but since Elvis's "Its Now or Never" was not true opera- the climb is more pop, IMO, and it makes the crescendo more exciting. On "Surrender" he hits the high note on the word "to----night" coming back down on the second syllable "night" I think Elvis could have sung either like a straight opera singer if he had worked at them-but he(and we) would probably have not liked them nearly as much.
I agree Elvis was a fine ballad singer by the 1960 sessions. I'm just not sure how confident he was in his own ablilties as a ballad singer. One of the Imperials said Elvis's voice climbed higher in live performances than his normal range would usually allow. He said he attributed it to Elvis reacting to crowds and the excitement of live performing. I guess that is the part that attracts me to the live version.

[T_J]

I read somewhere, liner notes for an early album, I think, that Elvis had doubts about hitting & maintaining the end note for It's Now Or Never someone from his backup quartet, took him into the bathroom and taught him some simple breathing exercises & coached him on how to get the results he wanted. I'll look that up & get back with you.

That was the ending of Surrender not It's Now or Never. As I said in my post, once he worked out how to do it, he nailed it. One of the Jords is also on record as saying he thinks Elvis' voice was at its technical best in that period. I think Elvis' doubts were more in his head than anything, because that style of singing was new to him at the time. He had actually sung It's Now or Never with different lyrics at home in Germany a year before. It was the song There's No Tomorrow, and he had no trouble with the ending there either.

The Elvis is Back FTD is a good listen. This gives us all four takes of It's Now or Never, one of which only lasts 30 seconds. He hits the ending perfectly on all three complete takes. The master was a splice of take 4 and the ending of take 2 though. I think that was because he goes slightly off mic near the end of take 4, because there's nothing wrong with the singing.

One of the Imperials said Elvis's voice climbed higher in live performances than his normal range would usually allow. He said he attributed it to Elvis reacting to crowds and the excitement of live performing. I guess that is the part that attracts me to the live version.

That's what I was getting at really. He really pushed his voice to it's absolute limits at certain points on stage in the 70s, and as you say I'm sure that was partly inspired by the crowd. Too bad there wasn't that audience interaction in the early 60s to inspire him.

[EnigmaticSun]

That's why I've often said he might have enjoyed classical education. We all know these operatic ballads were among his favorites as well. Even with a lot of God-given talent you need to do your best, so my words are certainly not to bring down Elvis as a musician.

I didn't have classical education, just some experience by studying religious songs (husband = priest). I can do a lot with my voice and I'm familiar with the phenomenon of singing "higher than your range would allow" - I can also go lower than it would usually allow.

In case of a dramatic ending, I'd prefer to keep it shorter or softer instead of missing the note or forcing the vocal chords. You need to cherish and cultivate the voice like a gift from God.

[KPM]

The Elvis is Back FTD is a good listen. This gives us all four takes of It's Now or Never, one of which only lasts 30 seconds. He hits the ending perfectly on all three complete takes. The master was a splice of take 4 and the ending of take 2 though. I think that was because he goes slightly off mic near the end of take 4, because there's nothing wrong with the singing

I got the original album in 1962 (2 years after release) it opened up with several pictures of Elvis in the Army. Its a great album.

[EnigmaticSun]

I was relieved to hear that Elvis needed to try some songs over and over again, e.g. "Surrender" and "Danny Boy". With a difficult note, he too started out gentle. This is the best way to work your way towards reaching it, so to say. Easy does it.

[COL DRIES]

All We Can Do Is Hope That There's An Audio Tape With A Rehearsel Were He Sings "surrender" !!
By The Way There Are A Few Attemps On Live Shows Of Surrender ..but Only One Liners !!