The story behind the song
All Shook Up stands as one of Elvis Presley’s most famous and best-selling singles, taking over the charts in 1957 and helping rock and roll become a major force in popular music.
Otis Blackwell, a well-known songwriter, wrote the song after previously creating Elvis’s huge hit Don’t Be Cruel. The song’s idea came from a fun moment at Shalimar Music. Someone working there (usually said to be Blackwell’s buddy Al Stanton) shook up a Pepsi bottle and playfully told Blackwell to write a song using the words “all shook up”. Blackwell came up with the song fast, using that phrase to describe the confused, spinning feeling of falling head over heels in love.
When the song came out, both Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley got writing credit. But this shared credit was just how the music business worked back then, and Elvis’s manager Tom Parker really pushed for it. To get to record the song, Blackwell gave up one-third of his publishing money to Elvis. Elvis was always straight up about this deal, telling people in interviews that he’d never actually written a song and that the credit came with his publishing agreement.
Elvis recorded the song on January 12, 1957, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood during a time when he was recording a lot of music. Steve Sholes produced it, and the recording has a cool, punchy sound: Elvis actually slaps the back of his acoustic guitar throughout the whole song to keep the beat. With The Jordanaires singing backup harmonies, Elvis was joking around during the recording, trying to get the singers to laugh and mess up. He finally got them to crack up at the very end of the song, which makes backup singer Gordon Stoker accidentally come in a tiny bit too early on the last note.
Released on March 22, 1957, All Shook Up turned into a massive hit. The song climbed to the #1 spot on Billboard’s R&B chart and stayed there for four weeks straight. It ended up being the best-selling single of the whole year in 1957.
AT A GLANCE