5 Elvis Presley Songs That Are Just Awful
Elvis Presley songs weren’t always great. For example, he recorded a track about talking shrimp. He also released a song where he humiliated a man for eating too much.
5. ‘Song of the Shrimp’
Elvis’ movie Girls! Girls! Girls! is less than inspired. It features one great song: “Return to Sender.” Sadly, the track is clumsily employed in the film, where it plays over a suspenseful scene even though it’s a bright pop song.
The other notable song from Girls! Girls! Girls! is “Song of the Shrimp.” It’s a song about talking shrimp. It’s a bad song, partially because there’s no way anyone could write a good song about talking shrimp. Strangely, it sounds a tad like “Kiss the Girl” from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Elvis recorded songs in many genres but calypso was out of his range. The fake accent here is so offensive.
4. ‘Do the Clam’
“Do the Clam” actually has a decent beat. It’s sadly wasted in a song where the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll tries to get the listener to do “the clam,” a dance that never took off as a fad.
This track is remembered because it was penned by Dolores Fuller, the girlfriend of Ed Wood. Wood was a notoriously bad film director most known for Plan 9 from Outer Space. “Do the Clam” is on the same kitschy wavelength as Wood’s film. Surprisingly, this very silly song made it all the way to No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 at a time when Elvis was between career peaks.
3. ‘Rock-a-Hula-Baby’
Elvis cashed in on a cultural fascination with Hawaii in mid-century America, giving us three films set in the state: Blue Hawaii, Girls! Girls! Girls!, and Paradise, Hawaiian Style. He also incorporated Hawaiian elements into his music, like the ukulele riffs from “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
The most Hawaiian single he ever released was “Rock-a-Hula Baby,” a terrible campy relic that tries to combine rock ‘n’ roll with the hula. Fuller co-wrote this one too. This track made it to No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, which is somehow more embarrassing than it flopping.
2. ‘He’s Your Uncle, Not Your Dad’
Elvis was a patriotic American and “He’s Your Uncle, Not Your Dad” is patriotism at its most embarrassing. Released during the Cold War, “He’s Your Uncle, Not Your Dad” claims Uncle Sam isn’t a doting father, he’s an uncle who knows when to back off. “Just be thankful you don’t live in Leningrad” is one hell of a lyric.
1. ‘Ito Eats’
Blue Hawaii was a career touchstone for Elvis which is amazing considering how badly some of it aged. In “Ito Eats,” Elvis chastises a Polynesian man named Ito for eating too much. It’s sad to think this passed for representation at the time.
The instrumentation isn’t great either. The Blue Hawaii soundtrack was a massive success in the 1960s, but that worked to Elvis’ disadvantage in the long term. It paved the way for many of his most embarrassing songs.
