The story behind the song
On April 14, 1956, Elvis and his band flew to Nashville for the recording session. Their chartered plane suffered engine failure and plunged wildly, leaving the group too traumatized and exhausted to perform well in the studio.
After trying 17 times without success, producer Steve Sholes managed to do something pretty cool for the 1950s. He took the best pieces from Take 14 and Take 17, then manually cut and spliced them together to make the final version of the record.
The song dropped on May 4, 1956, and it totally blew up, moving more than 1.3 million copies and hitting the top spot on both the Billboard Country and Top Sellers charts.
AT A GLANCE