The definitive release of these sessions, although slightly edited, can be found on Follow That Dream's limited edition The Girl Happy Sessions 3xCD set, where everything has been mixed and remastered from scratch, and all masters and outtakes are presented in the best possible sound.
'Puppet On A String' has a slightly longer
intro (foot tapping) on the Girl Happy LP that
is not on any other official release, and also
features a completely different mix not used on
other releases with a slight echo on Elvis' vocals
and the instruments and backing vocals more centralised.
The movie'version of 'Puppet
On A String' is an edited, but speeded
up, Take 11 with an overdubbed piano at the end
and the backing vocals way back in the mix.
The acetate of 'Girl Happy' on the bootleg
LP Memphis Tennessee is most of 2003 Take 13 (with the count-in edited out), but also
has 'Insert #1 ending Take 5' spliced at the end, that is different
to the master ('Insert #1 ending Take 4'). It
would appear that this was initially intended
to be the original spliced master as an acetate
was cut.
'Insert #2 - intro' is the beginning of the song
- "Girl happy, yes I'm girl happy, girl happy
can't you see, girl happy, girl girl happy".
The second version of 'Girl Happy' heard
in the movie however has a longer guitar intro
before this and omits Elvis' lines during this
part and is possibly a different 'Insert #2' take
(NA2).
It is possible that 'Insert #2' and the final guitar notes were recorded at a later date, during post production of the movie.
MGM transfers to acetate for movie purposes are
numbered as follows:
2401 - Puppet On A String
2402 - The Meanest Girl In Town
2403 - Girl Happy
2404 - Cross My Heart And Hope To Die
2405 - Spring Fever
2406 - Do Not Disturb
2407 - I've Got To Find My Baby
2408 - Fort Lauderdale Chamber Of Commerce
2409 - Startin' Tonight
2410 - Do The Clam
2411 - Wolf Call
2412 - Spring Fever
2451 - Wolf Call
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 Gary Bressler for acetate scans and audio.
