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January 16 / 17 1968
(+ 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
Soundtrack Session for MGM's Stay Away, Joe
& Studio Session for RCA (double session)
Producer : Felton Jarvis
Engineer : Bill Vandevord

Musicians:   Backup Vocals:
Guitar:
Scotty Moore The Jordanaires: Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Ray
Guitar: Jerry Reed Walker (from 1:00am - 5:00am)
Guitar: Chip Young  
Drums/Tambourine: D.J. Fontana  
Drums: Murrey 'Buddy' Harman  
Bass: Bob Moore  
Piano: Floyd Cramer  
Harmonica: Charlie McCoy  
Steel Guitar: Peter Drake  

Stay Away
  Jan. 16 1968 (Tue: 9.30pm - 2.00am)
Take 1 LFS
1:43 (slow tempo - no backing vocals)
"Where the eagles shit..."
Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (count-in only)+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5
(FTD)°°~I'm Going Home° (count-in)~24 Carat Gold°
Take 2 FS+Comp 3:27   Long Lonely Highway (FTD)°+Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (with count-in for
Take 1)+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°°~Latino°°~There's Always
Me Vol. 2°°+I'm Going Home°° (count-in)~24 Carat Gold° (count-in+FS
only - not listed)
Jam   0:36 "Muleskinner Blues" Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)° (track 2 - not listed)~Stay Away, Joe
(FTD)°~So High (FTD)°~There's Always Me Volume 4°
Take 3 FS 0:33 (fast tempo - no backing vocals)
"... entitled to one stupid ass mistake"
Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (talking only - not listed)+Guitar Man - '67/'68
Sessions 5 (FTD)°°~There's Always Me Volume 4°~I'm Going Home°
Take 4 LFS 2:14 "You got one more Chip, then that's
it for you darlin'..."
Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (talking only - not listed)+Guitar Man - '67/'68
Sessions 5 (FTD)°°~I'm Going Home° (count-in+LFS)~There's Always
Me Volume 4° (count-in+talk only)~24 Carat Gold°
Take 5 FS 0:09   Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°°+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°°
~A Legendary Performer Volume 6° (count-in)
Take 6 Complete 2:34   So High (FTD)°°+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°°~Stay Away, Joe
(FTD)°°~I'm Going Home° (count-in)~24 Carat Gold°
Take 7 FS 0:07   Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°°~There's Always Me Volume 4°
~I'm Going Home°
Take 8 FS 0:26   Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°°~There's Always Me Volume 4°
~I'm Going Home°
Take 9 Complete
2:25   Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°°~I'm Going Home° (count-in)
~24 Carat Gold°
Take 10 FS 0:32   Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°°~A Legendary Performer Vol. 6°
Take 11 FS+LFS 2:19 "You Belong To My Heart" Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (count-in & LFS)+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5
(FTD)°°~There's Always Me Volume 4°
Take 12 FS 0:15   Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°°+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°°
~I'm Going Home° (count-in)~24 Carat Gold°
Take 13 Complete 2:23 (backing vocals from Take 13 on) Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (count-in & talking - not listed)+A Legendary
Performer Volume 9°° (part of count-in)+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5
(FTD)°°~I'm Going Home°~24 Carat Gold°
Take 14 Complete 2:38   Today, Tomorrow & Forever 3°°+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°°
~Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°°~There's Always Me Volume 4° (count-in)
Take 15 (M) 2:49 Undubbed master Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°°~I'm Going Home°~24 Carat Gold°

Stay Away (overdub)
WPA1 1002
  Jan. 16 1968 (Tue: 9.30pm - 2.00am)
Take 1 Complete 2:23 Guitar overdub of Take 15
by Jerry Reed
Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°°~A Legendary Performer Vol. 6°
~Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°
Take 2 Complete 2:34   Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°°~Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°
Take 3 M 2:24 (2:38 with count-in)
(W3KM 6600)
Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 1 (FTD)°°~Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°°~Comp.
Elvis Presley Masters 15 (Sony)°°~Hollywood Hijinks (Franklin Mint Comp.
Masters Collection 29)°°~Tomorrow Is A Long Time°°~Double Features -
Kissin' Cousins / Clambake / Stay Away, Joe°°+The Mono Masters CD3
(Venus)° (faded - master only)+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°°
(count-in)

Stay Away (movie version)
  January 16 1968 (?)
Overdub (M) 2:55 Harmonica 'intro' / faded at end Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°~Soundtrack°

U.S. Male
WPA4 1807
  Jan. 17 1968 (Wed: 2.00am - 5.00am)
Take 1 LFS 1:59   Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°°~Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°
~There's Always Me Vol. 2°~I'm Going Home°
Jam   1:05 "The Prisoner's Song"
"Wings Of An Angel"
Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°~Stay Away, Joe (FTD)° (0:18 - edited)
+Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°~There's Always Me Volume 2°
~I'm Going Home°
Take 2 2xFS+LFS
1:59   Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (1st FS+LFS)+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5
(FTD)°°+Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°~I'm Going Home° (2xFS
+LFS)~There's Always Me Vol. 2° (LFS only - listed as Take 4)
Take 3 FS+LFS 1:18   Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°°~Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°
~I'm Going Home°
Take 4 LFS 2:15 "I wouldn't worry about it"
(followed by rehearsal)
Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (talking only)+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°°
~Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°~I'm Going Home°
Take 5 LFS 2:13   Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°~I'm Going Home° (count-in - tape
cut - 0:40)+Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (LFS - with talk from Take 4)
+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°° (count-in & LFS)
Take 6 FS+LFS 2:15   Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (FS - not listed)+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5
(FTD)°°~Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°~I'm Going Home° (count-in)
~There's Always Me Volume 4°
Take 7 FS+Comp 3:10   Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°°~Today, Tomorrow & Forever 3°° (FS+complete)
+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°°~Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°
~I'm Going Home° (count-in+FS+complete)~There's Always Me Volume 4°
(complete only)
Take 8 LFS 1:22   Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°°~Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°
~I'm Going Home°
Take 9 2xFS+LFS 2:14   Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (2nd FS+LFS)+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5
(FTD)°°~There's Always Me Vol. 4° (faded)+Sessions From Clambake
(Victrola)°~I'm Going Home°
Take 10 Complete 3:16 (preceded by rehearsal)
"I'll knock your dick stiff, man"
Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°°~Close Up 3°°+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5
(FTD)°° (faded/edited)+Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)°~There's
Always Me Volume 4°~I'm Going Home°
Take 11 FS+Comp 3:22 "It's All Over Now" I'm Going Home° (count-In+FS+PB - tape cut)~24 Carat Gold° (PB/comp)
~Sessions From Clambake (Victrola)° (count-in+FS+PB - faded)
+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sess' 5 (FTD)°°~Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°° (count-in
+FS+PB & 1-liner)~So High (FTD)°°
Take 12 M 2:42 (preceded by rehearsal)
(3:21 with count-in)
Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 1 (FTD)°°~Stay Away, Joe (FTD)°°~Comp.
Elvis Presley Masters 15 (Sony)°°~Rhythm & Blues (Franklin Mint Comp.
Masters Collection 9)°°~Elvis 75 - Good Rockin' Tonight 3 (Legacy)°
~Elvis 75 CD2°°~Tomorrow Is A Long Time°°~The Legend Lives On 4
(Readers Digest)°°~60s Box 3°°+Celluloid Rock 2-4°° (diff. mix)+The
Definitive Country Album°° (edit)+Mono Masters CD3 (Venus)° (master)
+Guitar Man - '67/'68 Sessions 5 (FTD)°° (count-in)

Notes

The definitive release of these sessions can be found on the Follow That Dream 5xCD set Guitar Man - The '67/'68 Sessions, where all outtakes and masters have been remixed and mastered from scratch. However, on this release some editing has been done to take out some swearing and inappropriate language, or they have muted (turned down) Elvis' vocal channel at some points, or faded a take.

The 'Jam' listed on FTD's So High and the extended soundtrack of Stay Away, Joe is actually called 'Muleskinner Blues'.

Confusingly, on FTD's extended soundtrack of Stay Away, Joe we get the 'Muleskinner Blues' jam (from after Take 2 of 'Stay Away'), then the count-in for Take 1, then Take 2 of 'Stay Away'. This is also the first official release of Take 2 in stereo.

The movie version of 'Stay Away' has a long intro with harmonica and is also overdubbed at the beginning of the song.

The original temporary matrix numbers for these songs issued by RCA to MGM (W3KM 6599 & 6600) were later changed for record release by RCA. Strangely, for the takes of 'Goin' Home' on Collectors Gold the original film company custom matrix number W3KM 6599 was used instead of the master matrix number WPA1 1001, for some reason.

An edited (2:12) version of 'U.S. Male', with omitted part of verse ("I catch you 'round my woman champ..." to "Quit playing games with this U.S. male..."), was released in 1987 on the BMG Ariola release The Definitive Country Album.

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 Adrian V Stokes regarding the edited versions of songs on the BMG Ariola set of Definitive albums.

Session Logs
Acetate
Stay Away(movie Version)
Stay Away
Recording Information
January 15 - 17 1968
January 15 1968
 


Music Sheets
Music Sheet
Stay Away
Stay Away (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
U.S. Male
U.S. Male (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
 

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