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January 12 1964
(+ means you need both    ~ means same material    °° means stereo or binaural    ° means mono)
(SFS = Short False Start | FS = False Start | LFS or BD (Breakdown) = Long False Start | PB (Playback) or Complete = Complete Take)

RCA Studio B - Nashville, Tennessee
Producer : Chet Atkins (See Note)
Engineer : Ron Steele
(6.30pm - 9.30pm / 9.30pm - 11.30pm)

Musicians:   Backup Vocals:
Guitar:
Scotty Moore The Jordanaires: Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Ray
Guitar: Thomas 'Grady' Martin Walker
Guitar: Harold Bradley Millie Kirkham
Drums: D.J. Fontana  
Drums: Murrey 'Buddy' Harman  
Bass: Bob Moore  
Piano / Organ: Floyd Cramer  
Saxophone / Vibes: Homer 'Boots' Randolph  

Memphis, Tennessee (remake)
RPA4 1004
  January 12 1964 (Sun)
Take 1 Complete
2:45   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°~Studio B (FTD)°°+Devil In
Disguise 3 (FTD)°° (count-in)
Take 2 FS 0:31   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 3 LFS 1:27   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 4 No Take      
Take 5 Complete 2:31   Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°+Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°
(count-in)~Essential Elvis Volume 6°°
Take 6 M 2:09 (2:26 with count-in) Comp. Elvis Presley Masters 10 (Sony)°°~The Nashville Sessions (Franklin
Mint Comp. Masters Coll. 27)°°~60s Box 3°°~Elvis For Everyone (FTD)°°
~Devil In Disguise 1 (FTD)°°~For The Asking°°+Elvis Sings Memphis
Tennessee (FTD)°° (orig. 2-track stereo mix)+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
(count-in)

Ask Me (remake)
RPA4 1005
  January 12 1964 (Sun)
Take 1 FS
0:18   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 2 Complete 2:21   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
(count-in)~Today, Tomorrow And Forever 2°°
Take 3 Complete 2:28   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 4 FS 0:47 "We got a pop on 'Possess" Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
(count-in)
Take 5 LFS 0:55   Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 6 FS 0:08   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 7 Complete 2:15   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°~Close Up 3°°+Devil In Disguise
3 (FTD)°°
Take 8 FS 0:28   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°~Studio B (FTD)°°+Devil In
Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 9 Complete 2:18 "One more please..." Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°~Studio B (FTD)°°+Devil In
Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 10 FS 0:15   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
(count-in)
Take 11 M 2:07 (2:15 with count-in) Comp. Elvis Presley Mast. 10 (Sony)°°~Ultimate Love Songs (Franklin
Mint Comp. Masters Collection 25)°°~Elvis' Gold Records Vol. 4 (FTD)°°
~Devil In Disguise 1 (FTD)°°~Comp. Single Collection 4°°~60s Box 3°°
~For The Asking°°~Acetate°+Elvis Forever Vol. 2 (1st pressing)°~Single°
(France - see note)+Elvis' Gold Records Vol 4 (FTD)°~The Mono Masters
CD2 (Venus)°+Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°° (original 2-track
stereo mix)+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°° (count-in)

It Hurts Me
RPA4 1006
  January 12 1964 (Sun)
Take 1 Complete 2:39   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°~Essential Elvis Volume 6°°
+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 2 FS 0:14   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 3 FS 0:20   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 4 LFS 1:08   Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee (FTD)°°+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°°
Take 5 M 2:28 (2:35 with count-in) Complete Elvis Presley Masters 10 (Sony)°°~Loves Lost (Franklin Mint
Complete Masters Collection 12)°°~Elvis 75 - Good Rockin' Tonight 3
(Legacy)°°~Devil In Disguise 1 (FTD)°°~Complete Single Collection 4°°
~60s Box 3°°~Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4 (FTD)°°~For The Asking°°
+Elvis' Gold Records Vol. 4 (FTD)°~The Mono Masters CD1 (Venus)°
+Elvis In Demand°~Single° (Italy - see note)+Elvis Sings Memphis
Tennessee (FTD)°° (original 2-track stereo mix)+Elvis Sings Memphis
Tennessee (FTD)°° (Take 5)+Devil In Disguise 3 (FTD)°° (count-in)

Notes

The definitive release of these sessions can be found on Follow That Dream's limited edition Devil In Disguise - The 'Lost Album' Sessions 3xCD set, where everything has been compiled and remastered from scratch, and all masters and outtakes are presented in the best possible sound.

Although Chet Atkins is listed as producer on this session, according to the engineer, Ron Steele, interviewed in 2013 by Paul Richardson for the magazine Elvis: The Man And His Music, the session was held on a Sunday and Atkins (nor anyone else from RCA for that matter) was not present at the session. However, someone who sounds like Chet Atkins can actually be heard afer Take 4 of 'Ask Me' breaks down saying "We got a pop on 'Possess'", and again after Take 8 saying "one more please", so it does appear that he was at the session for a short time.

'Memphis, Tennessee' and 'Ask Me' were both first recorded on May 27 1963 without success.

A tape with what was thought to be the unedited Take 6 of 'Memphis, Tennessee' had been in the hands of collectors for years. This actually turned out to be Take 1, which was released on Studio B (FTD) with count-in.

On FTD's Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee Takes 8, 9 and 10 of 'Ask Me' have been edited together. There is the false start from Take 8, then talking from before Take 9, then the false start from Take 10, and then the complete Take 9.

'Ask Me' was released without backing vocals as the B-side to 'Ain't That Loving You Baby' on the French single (45.567) in 1964. This was done by mistakenly eliminating one of the stereo channels when mixing the song to mono for single release.
It was also released without backing vocals on the 1980 1st pressing of the German RCA release Elvis Forever Volume 2, with matrix number CL 42853. This was done by eliminating one of the stereo channels, and sides 2 and 3 were released this way. When RCA discovered the mistake they made a new LP master with new matrix number CPL 42853.

'It Hurts Me' was released without backing vocals as the B-Side to 'Kissin' Cousins' on the Italian single (45N-1410) in 1964, and was also released on the 1977 UK LP (BMG Australia 1990 CD) release Elvis In Demand. This was done by eliminating one of the stereo channels and releasing the song in mono.

In March of 2007, Sony decided to go through all of Elvis' masters. They retransferred everything and remastered all tracks including repairing as many clicks, pops, bad edits and dropouts as they could. They have used these newly mastered recordings on their new releases since 2007 including budget soundtracks, Legacy releases, the 30 disc Complete Elvis Presley Masters collection and the Franklin Mint package.

Thanks to Ken Kelly for noticing Chet Atkins' presence during the recording of 'Ask Me'.

Session Logs
Tape Log
January 12 1964
January 12 1964
Recording Information
January 12 1964
January 12 1964
 


Music Sheets
Music Sheet
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Music Sheet
Ask Me
Ask Me (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
It Hurts Me
It Hurts Me

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