“I’ve had people ask me was I gonna sing in the movies. I’m not, I mean as far as I know, ’cause […] I wouldn’t care too much about singing in the movies.”
–Elvis Presley, April 15, 1956
(Source: Elvis Word For Word, by Jerry Osborne, Harmony Books, New York, 2000.)

Despite the fact that Elvis did not plan to sing in his movies, he of course went on to sing in all 33 of them. In fact, 1969’s Charro would be the only film in which his character did not sing on screen – though Elvis still provided the theme song for the credits.

What if Elvis had been able to follow his heart and not sing in the movies? Would his Hollywood career have been as successful? Would he perhaps have been even more successful if allowed to develop as a true actor? We will never know for sure the answers to these questions.

What we do know, however, is that 241 of Elvis’ 710 master recordings were made specifically for movie projects. While losing songs like “Queenie Wahine’s Papaya” from his career catalog would surely not have been detrimental, a fair number of more impressive songs would also be gone.

With that in mind, below is my top 25 list of Elvis’ greatest movie songs.

#1 Can’t Help Falling In Love (1961)
From Blue Hawaii

#2 Jailhouse Rock (1957)
From Jailhouse Rock

#3 Clean Up Your Own Backyard (1968)
From The Trouble With Girls

#4 Baby, I Don’t Care (1957)
From Jailhouse Rock

#5 Let Yourself Go (1967)
From Speedway

#6 All I Needed Was The Rain (1967)
From Stay Away Joe

#7 You Don’t Know Me (1967)
From Clambake

#8 Mean Woman Blues (1957)
From Loving You

#9 Charro (1968)
From Charro

#10 Follow That Dream (1961)
From Follow That Dream

#11 King Of The Whole Wide World (1961)
From Kid Galahad

#12 Viva Las Vegas (1963)
From Viva Las Vegas

#13 Hard Headed Woman (1958)
From King Creole

#14 Got A Lot O’ Livin’ To Do (1957)
From Loving You

#15 Edge Of Reality (1968)
From Live A Little, Love A Little

#16 King Creole (1958)
From King Creole

#17 Anyone (1963)
From Kissin’ Cousins

#18 Bossa Nova Baby (1963)
From Fun In Acapulco

#19 Speedway (1967)
From Speedway

#20 Let Us Pray (1969)
From Change Of Habit

#21 Today, Tomorrow And Forever (1963)
From Viva Las Vegas

#22 No More (1961)
From Blue Hawaii

#23 Rock-A-Hula Baby (1961)
From Blue Hawaii

#24 Ku-u-i-po (1961)
From Blue Hawaii

#25 G.I. Blues (1960)
From G.I. Blues

By the way, because it was a documentary, I left out songs from Elvis-That’s The Way It Is – which certainly would have dominated this list. The above also does not include songs from Tickle Me or “Rubberneckin'” from Change Of Habit because those were re-uses of previously recorded songs. Otherwise, a number of them would have cracked the top 25 as well.

Though it was a cost-saving maneuver for Tickle Me, oddly enough using existing recordings resulted in better songs because it featured selections from Elvis’ non-movie sessions.

Though the movie years resulted in more bad songs than great ones, we still would have missed out on all or most of the above listed songs without them. Beyond this, the power of 1968’s legendary ELVIS (Comeback) TV special would be diminished if that moment had not been about getting back on the track. History cannot be changed, and usually that is for the best.

(Thanks to Alex, whose comment on a previous entry inspired today’s post.)