Forrest AGAIN sings the praises of Elvis movies

Part 1, in which he messes around with some tuneage from '60s soundtracks. There're too many of these things that I laid down, even for the diehardest of the ForrestGump Record Club, so I split 'em up into two installments...second one will be along in maybe a day or so.

I had a ton of fun singing these songs, and some of the least (musically) were the most fun. "You Gotta Stop," from the Easy Come, Easy Go soundtrack (in the second batch of uploads, yet to come), is just one example of a less-than-stellar song that I not only find terminally catchy but that is just such fun to sing (always liked the lead guitar on that song, too).

Some of these songs are bona fide classics, like "Return To Sender," "Viva Las Vegas," "Wooden Heart," "A Little Less Conversation" (albeit this one being largely unappreciated until it resurfaced a few years ago), and a few others. Others are gems, on a par ( in my opinion) with his great non-soundtrack studio work from the '60s, like "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears," "Follow That Dream," "Let Yourself Go," "Edge Of Reality," and others. But some are, pretty much undeniably, not-so-good and definitely squandering of Elvis' talent and potential. Even these latter songs, though -- like the movies that so many of us grew up with via TV -- have attained a kind of legitimacy in the past decade or two, almost as a cult phenomenon. And, dammit, I still find "You Gotta Stop" catchy -- I have no explanation for "Do The Clam," however, but will note that it was an inexplicably huge hit in Japan in 1965.

Some of these songs pop up in unexpected places, too. I've got a recording of none other than Led Zeppelin doing "Frankfort Special," "Pocketful Of Rainbows" was on the Jerry Maguire soundtrack, "Follow That Dream" has for many years been a staple in Bruce Springsteen's live setlist, Julee Cruise's cover of "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" was recorded for the film Until The End Of The World, "Viva Las Vegas" has been covered by Bruce, ZZ Top, and just about anyone who's played Vegas, kd lang used to close her concerts with "I'll Be Back," and, of course "A Little Less Conversation" was a pet favorite of the maker of the remake of Oceans Eleven and went from its soundtrack to chart dominance after a remix for a Nike commercial.

Anyway, here they are, in all their dubious glory (some more dubious than others), my renditions of some of Elvis' celluloid ditties. All MP3 files...just click on the URL below the song title if it's a song you want to hear (my attempt thereof, anyway)