All shook up

Today’s duel is between Elvis Presley and the Jeff Beck Group. The song is All shook up.

All shook up was written in 1956. It has three different stories regarding its origin. The first story, as told by Elvis in a 1957 interview, is: “I went to bed one night, had quite a dream, and woke up all shook up. I phoned a pal and told him about it. By morning, he had a new song, 'All Shook Up'." The second story is from a book called "Last Train to Memphis" by Peter Guralnick. In the book he wrote that Elvis thought that the phrase all shook up would make a good refrain.  Those two are probably the same story from different perspectives, and are likely the truest, but the third story is my favorite:  Otis Blackwell the co-writer of the song wrote it after Al Stanton one of the owners of Shalimar Music suggested writing a song called all shook up while shaking up a bottle of Pepsi. According to that story is pretty much a song about getting soda on yourself. How great is that?

Elvis’s version was pretty successful. It was number 1 on the US Pop chart for eight weeks, number 4 on the R&B chart for four weeks, and reached number 3 on the Country chart. It’s certified Double Platinum, and is ranked number 352 on Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest songs of all time.

The Jeff Beck Group recorded it for their second studio album Beck-Ola, which was released in 1969. Rod Stewart and Ron Wood left the group shortly after the album was release due to internal conflict. The album reached number 15 on the billboard top 200 and number 39 on the British album chart.

Elvis Presley:

Jeff Beck Group:

I really like both versions of this song. I keep saying that over and over. Don’t worry I’ll eventually get to songs with covers I don’t like. There are just so many I do like, and I’d like to wear down that list (It’s pretty long) before I get to some of the good songs versus bad covers. There are probably a few bad songs out there that have been improved by covers, so I’ll probably get to some of those too. Eventually.

Anyway, I totally like the Jeff Beck Group’s version better. This is probably one of those personal taste ones, because Elvis’s version is really good. It has a specific style that really makes it stand out. It’s instantly recognizable. He’s a good singer, and the way he pauses before he says I’m all shook up both add to what makes the song good. The drumming sounds like it’s just a hand slapping the side of a guitar (I’m assuming that’s what it is) and it’s timed so well. It’s a really good song. It’s just that I think what the Jeff Beck Group brought to the table is better.  The Jeff Beck group is pretty much an all star team, and I feel like the internal conflict and competition brought the best out of everyone in the band.  Jeff Beck on guitar is Jeff Beck on Guitar. Rod Stuart is arguably at his best. The way he repeats Love me over and over before he says I’m all shook up is fantastic.  I mean come on, you listened to it. That cover is solid.