Kissin' Cousins (soundtrack)

Kissin' Cousins is the eighth soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2894, in April 1964. It is the soundtrack to the 1964 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 26 and 27, and September 29 and 30, 1963. It peaked at number six on the Billboard Top LPs chart.^[3] The album was certified Gold on March 27, 1992 by the Recording Industry Association of America.^[4]

Kissin' Cousins
Soundtrack album by Elvis Presley
Released	April 2, 1964
Recorded	May–September 1963
Studio	RCA Studio B (Nashville)
Genre	Pop, rock and roll
Length	26:15
Label	RCA Victor
Producer	Gene Nelson Fred Karger
Elvis Presley chronology
Fun in Acapulco (1963) Kissin' Cousins (1964) Viva Las Vegas (1964)
Singles from Kissin' Cousins
"Kissin' Cousins" Released: September 30, 1963

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]
Record Mirror	^[2]

Background

Since the sessions for Viva Las Vegas had gone way over budget, released after but completed before Kissin' Cousins, Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker determined for fiscal prudence to have the songs recorded at Studio B, away from Hollywood and its distractions, and its platoon of available on-call musicians.^[5] Demand for songs to fill long-playing soundtrack albums, by now a regularity as the EP single was becoming less and less a viable sales item, strained the resources of the stable of Presley songwriters, with five songs alone originating from the team of Giant, Baum and Kaye.^[6]

Content

Ten soundtrack songs were recorded by Presley with members of the Nashville A-Team during two evening sessions in September, with two distinct versions by different songwriters of the title track, one (titled "Kissin' Cousins") recorded in Presley's normal voice and the other (titled "Kissin' Cousins (No. 2)") with a mock-hillbilly twang.^[7] The former version of "Kissin' Cousins" would be issued as a single in February 1964, with "It Hurts Me" on the B-side. It would peak at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, its flipside making it independently to No. 29.^[8] It became a gold record. "Anyone (Could Fall In Love With You)", included in the album, was omitted from the film. "Pappy, Won't You Please Come Home", performed by Glenda Farrell, is included in the film but omitted from the album.

As had happened with soundtrack of Fun in Acapulco, two additional tracks, "Echoes of Love" and "(It's a) Long Lonely Highway" by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman were taken from the aborted "lost" album sessions of May 1963, and added here to bring the running order up to twelve tracks. Three selections — "Once Is Enough", "One Boy, Two Little Girls", and the single – were on the 1995 soundtrack compilation, Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II.^[9]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date	Length
1.	"Kissin' Cousins (Number 2)"	Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Florence Kaye	September 29, 1963	1:16
2.	"Smokey Mountain Boy"	Lenore Rosenblatt, Victor Millrose	September 30, 1963	2:37
3.	"There's Gold in the Mountains"	Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Florence Kaye	September 29, 1963	1:54
4.	"One Boy, Two Little Girls"	Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Florence Kaye	September 29, 1963	2:32
5.	"Catchin' On Fast"	Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Florence Kaye	September 30, 1963	1:21
6.	"Tender Feeling"	Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Florence Kaye	September 29, 1963	2:33

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recording date	Length
1.	"Anyone (Could Fall in Love with You)" (omitted from film)	Bennie Benjamin, Luchi de Jesus, and Sol Marcus	September 30, 1963	2:29
2.	"Barefoot Ballad"	Dolores Fuller, Larry Morris	September 30, 1963	2:26
3.	"Once Is Enough"	Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett	September 29, 1963	1:55
4.	"Kissin' Cousins"	Fred Wise and Randy Starr	September 30, 1963	2:14
5.	"Echoes of Love" (bonus track)	Bob Roberts and Paddy McMains	May 26, 1963	2:20
6.	"(It's a) Long Lonely Highway" (bonus track)	Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman	May 27, 1963	2:38

Note

• "Kissin' Cousins (Number 2)" was released as a single (RCA 47-8307) on February 10, 1964. It reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single's B-side, "It Hurts Me" (not from the film) reached number 29. The British release of the single (RCA 1404) reached number 10.^[10]

Personnel

• Elvis Presley – vocals
• The Jordanaires – backing vocals
• Millie Kirkham – backing vocals
• Dolores Edgin – backing vocals
• Winnifred Brest – backing vocals
• Boots Randolph – saxophone, jug on "Barefoot Ballad"
• Bill Justis – saxophone
• Cecil Brower – fiddle
• Scotty Moore – electric guitar
• Grady Martin – electric guitar
• Jerry Kennedy – electric guitar, banjo on "Smokey Mountain Boy"
• Harold Bradley – electric guitar, banjo on "Barefoot Ballad"
• Floyd Cramer – piano
• Bob Moore – double bass
• D.J. Fontana – drums
• Buddy Harman – drums

Charts

Album Year Chart Position 1964 Billboard Pop Albums 6 Region Certification Certified units/sales United States (RIAA)^[11] Gold 500,000^^ ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Allmusic review
2. (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 173. 4 July 1964. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
3. . Elvis Presley: Official Site of the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. 2013. Archived from the original on May 20, 2013. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
4. "Searchable database". RIAA. Recording Industry Association of America. 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2013. Note: Enter search for "Kissin' Cousins"
5. Jorgensen, Ernst. Elvis Presley A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998; p. 186
6. Jorgensen, op. cit., pp. 186, 199.
7. Jorgensen, op. cit., pp. 185–186.
8. Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 415.
9. Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II at AllMusic
10. Guralnick, Peter, From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters (Booklet for CD box-set)
11. "American album certifications – Elvis Presley – Kissin' Cousins". Recording Industry Association of America.

External links

• Kissin' Cousins at Discogs (list of releases)