The King Can't Help It

The Elvis song that's now stuck in my head is this little live gem from 1970, "I Just Can't Help Believin'", taken from the soundtrack to the awesome concert film Elvis: That's The Way It Is. Unfortunately, the current DVD edition of the movie leaves this song out even though it purports to contain extra footage. And that blows. Fortunately, this song doesn't.

This easygoing song has a melody that's somehow bored a hole into my head. Written by B.J. Thomas, it's essentially a love song about how the singer is happy that this chick he's with might be his woman and not just another tawdry one night stand.

As with a fair amount of the King's stuff from the 70's, this tune is overloaded with strings and orchestral sap, but the greatness of the song still shines through. Elvis's performance is great (he was still in his prime, and I've read that his shows from '69 and '70 were among his best) and his interaction with the background singers is pretty cool.

Anyway, if you haven't heard this song and you're at all interested, it can be found on the album "That's The Way It Is", the 3 disc special edition soundtrack album of the same name (which contains the original album plus extra live songs, an entire concert from August 12, 1970, and rehearsals for the live shows), and the 5-disc 70's box set Walk A Mile In My Shoes. Or you can listen to it on Rhapsody like I did (PLUG!).

If you're not interested, that's cool. Who knows... my fascination with Elvis could be because of a brain tumor or something.