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TL;DR:

  • Tom Petty loved an Elvis Presley song that was a cover of a track by an obscure artist.
  • Petty praised Elvis for knowing the song in the first place.
  • Petty revealed what it was like being in the presence of the singer.

Tom Petty discussed one of Elvis Presley‘s songs that influenced him. In addition, he discussed a visit to a film set that got him interested in the singer in the first place. Notably, Petty said he tried to get his hands on every Elvis record he could when he was young.

Tom Petty discussed a song that was obscure before Elvis Presley decided to cover it

During a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, Petty named “That’s All Right” as one of the Elvis songs that inspired him. “Elvis and his band were fooling around at the end of a session at Sun with this song, and Sam Phillips heard it right away,” he said. For context, Phillips was the founder of Sun Records. That label launched the careers of Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis, and was pivotal in popularizing rock ‘n’ roll.

“It was a pretty obscure Arthur Crudup song, and it’s incredible to me that Elvis knew it,” Petty added. “He really put his own whack on it. He sings with a hiccup in the timing — I don’t know where that came from. The Sun stuff is really high art. It’s so pure, and that sense of discovery is there.”

Tom Petty became interested in the singer after seeing the reaction to him on a film set

Petty revealed he became interested in the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll after seeing him on the set of the film Follow That Dream. “He arrived in a fleet of white Cadillacs,” Petty said. “People were screaming, handing records over a chain-link fence for him to sign. 

“I remember his hair was so black that the sunshine was glowing off of it,” he added. “Just a nod and a hello made your skin tingle. I was high for weeks. It lit a fever in me to get every record I could, and I really digested it. Elvis became the soundtrack of my early years.”

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The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’: Paul McCartney Reacted to Elvis Presley Changing the Lyrics

How Elvis Presley’s ‘That’s All Right’ performed on the charts in the United States

“That’s All Right” was released before the Billboard Hot 100 existed, so it didn’t hit that chart. It later appeared on the compilation album Elvis: 2nd to None. That compilation climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard 200, staying on the chart for 16 weeks. Notably, the album was the sequel to one of the most famous compilations of all time: Elvis: 30 #1 Hits.

“That’s All Right” played a major role in Baz Luhrmann’s film Elvis. In that movie, the tune is repeatedly used to represent the singer’s early years. The film also briefly portrays Crudup and shows how he influenced the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

“That’s All Right” is a seminal song and it inspired Petty’s music.

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