I got to talking to Paul Haney of Record Research about Elvis after our interview with Wink Martindale ran on Sunday. I found some chart information that he had posted to the ARSA site over the weekend … information that was posted several years ago showing both sides of Elvis’ first release, “That’s All Right” / “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” charting in Pennsylvania and Florida … perhaps the very first charts in history to show his records … amazing to me, as I would have thought this record would have first charted in Memphis. (If anybody out there has proof of either of these sides charting in Memphis prior to this date, we’d love to see it! But, as Paul explains below, weekly radio station charts were hard to come by before the Top 40 era ... and these would most likely have been COUNTRY charts to boot!)
Neither of these sides ever made any of the pop charts published in the national trade publications at the time … nor did they make Billboard’s Country Singles chart. In fact, Elvis’ next two Sun singles ("Good Rockin' Tonight" / "I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine" and "Milkcow Blues Boogie" / "You're a Heartbreaker") didn’t chart either.
It wasn’t until his fourth Sun single release, “Baby Let’s Play House” / “I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone” that Billboard took notice. (“Baby Let’s Play House” reached #10 on their Country Best Sellers Chart with “I’m Left …” tagging along as the B-Side.) Six weeks later, Elvis earned his first country #1 Hit with “I Forgot To Remember To Forget," which topped Billboard’s Country Singles Best Sellers list for two weeks. Once again, the B-Side (“Mystery Train”) also made the chart, this time charting on its own and peaking at #11.
Paul also sent me this very rare newspaper clipping of Elvis from 1953 … a full year earlier (!) … from The Memphis Press-Scimitar …
Hi Kent,
I've attached another cool Elvis article I found from the same Memphis newspaper as the earlier one I sent you. This one is dated July 28, 1954.
I have no doubt that his debut Sun record was getting played in Memphis first. The trick is finding solid documented proof, such as those Cash Box charts. Radio stations just weren't printing surveys like they would do later in the 1950s and 1960s, so those Cash Box charts are invaluable for covering the late 1940s and early 1950s era.
Paul
Sun commercially released FIVE Elvis Presley singles before he was signed by RCA …
Sun 209—July 19, 1954: "That's All Right" / "Blue Moon of Kentucky"
Sun 210—September 25, 1954: "Good Rockin' Tonight" / "I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine"
Sun 215—December 28, 1954: "Milkcow Blues Boogie" / "You're a Heartbreaker"
Sun 217—April 10, 1955: "Baby Let's Play House" / "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone"
Sun 223—August 6, 1955: "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" / "Mystery Train"
