One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded: “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley!!!

For as long as I’ve been on the radio, and definitely for as long as I’ve been writing a blog, I will occasionally make a reference to a song being “One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded!” (GSER)

I would usually follow that by saying that I would eventually start a category for it, but then never get around to it.

Well, now I’m getting around to it!

My radio show, “Theme Attic,”  is on Wednesdays 12PM-4PM ET.

The show can be heard on WHFR 89.3 FM in the Dearborn-Detroit area of Michigan, or it can be streamed with this link: https://www.whfr.fm/streamer/!

The Greatest Songs will pretty much follow the pattern of The Most Awesomest Song of the Day.

I’ll select a song to celebrate and then give my thoughts about it. Nothing really brand new here that hasn’t been done before. But since I have a website, I can collect them and lay out what my own greatest songs are.

Here’s a link to have a look at “The Greatest Songs Ever Recorded”: https://philmaq.com/the-greatest-songs-ever-recorded/! Occasionally, an “awesome song” crosses over to become a “Greatest Song!”

Even though I always emphasize new music and artists, it’s always fun to take a short drive through the legendary artists, since they influenced those other artists!

But a song doesn’t have to be old or done by a legendary Theme Attic Hall of Fame member to be thus honored.

I can think of several songs that are only a few years old or less that I could identify as One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded.

This will be fun, and hopefully you will join me on my journey!

If you like what you see, don’t forget to spread the word by hitting the “like” button on my Facebook page, Phil Maq!

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When I was a kid discovering music, Elvis Presley never really interested me.

Yes, I was familiar with him and his music.

But I knew him more as a movie star who recorded mediocre songs for his movies.

Elvis was someone that my brothers or sister might like, so I sure wasn’t going to anxiously await new music from him.

Two of his singles in 1968 were “If I Can Dream” and “In the Ghetto.” Elvis wasn’t trying to appeal to a younger audience.

Therefore, at the time, I was mostly interested in British Invasion and Bubblegum with a “little bit of soul” thrown in.

However, things changed at the beginning of 1969.

It happened so imperceptibly, that even I couldn’t detect it.

“Suspicious Minds”–a song that would become one of Elvis’ biggest hits, was released as a single, taken from his “From Elvis in Memphis” album.

I’m pretty sure I ignored it when it came on the radio.

I’m almost positive that I scanned the AM dial to find a better song.

But, like most songs back in the 60s, that heavy rotation began to have some effect. I mean, no matter how hard one tried, you couldn’t change a song every time it came on.

You might be riding in the back seat of the car and couldn’t control the dial.

Others in the car might like a song and leave it on no matter how much you whined!

So, a change might have been inevitable.

The first hook that grabbed was that inconspicuous guitar lick that opens “Suspicious Minds” and gets repeated throughout the song. Sometimes the notes change, but it’s the same riff.

It sounded to me like, “durdle lurdle lurdle durn durn.”

I know it snagged me because I kept mimicking it out loud whether the song was on or not.

Actually, initially, I was unaware I was doing it. I only know I was because I was driving my best friend crazy when we were working on some after school homework.

Apparently, I had been doing it for several days.

And I couldn’t stop even when my friend was yelling at me!

It kept playing over and over in my brain!

And, of course, from that infectious riff, it was only a matter of time before I got hooked on the rest of the song.

And, what a song!

“Suspicious Minds” is an incredible song that includes everything plus the kitchen sink!

There’s a choir of amazing back up singers!

There’s horns!

There’s strings!

There’s time changes!

Mood changes!

A fake ending! (I’ve always loved those starting with “Do You Love Me?” by The Contours!)

And rising above everything else on “Suspicious Minds” was Elvis Presley’s powerful vocal!

So much was happening all at once!

I couldn’t resist!

I took some of my paper route money, bought a copy of it, and listened to it even more heavily than radio was playing it!

I still wasn’t exactly sold on Elvis yet. That would come years later when I got hooked on rockabilly!

But “Suspicious Minds” was the first song that made me appreciate Elvis!

Also, I had zero interest in the adult lyrical content. It never registered what the song was about for several years.

One last thing: Chips Moman, the producer of the original session that produced the song, did not have the fake fade out as part of the track. That was added later by RCA producer Felton Jarvis.

Chips hated it and referred to the gimmick as a scar on the record. He thought it ruined it, much like George Martin always talked about putting the two different versions of “Strawberry Fields Forever” by The Beatles together to make the single.

Obviously, millions of Elvis fans can’t be wrong!

One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded is “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley!!!

Elvis stated many times in interviews that he loved playing “Suspicious Minds” in concert!

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I have plenty of other musical areas to explore:

Here’s a link for my weekly list of Fave Songs:

https://philmaq.com/phils-lists/phils-faves-songs/

Here’s a link for my weekly Fave Album lists:
philmaq.com/phils-lists/phils-faves-albums

My somewhat unusual Hall of Fame can be explored here: https://philmaq.com/hall-of-fame/!

Lastly, but most importantly, is my Philby Awards link! A Philby is my annual award for outstanding musical achievement! https://philmaq.com/philbys/!