The story behind the song
I Beg of You is a pop-rock song that Elvis Presley recorded and released as a major hit during early 1958.
Rose Marie McCoy and Kelly Owens, a songwriting team of Black American musicians, created this song. McCoy was known for writing tons of R&B and pop songs throughout the 1950s. The song has a fast, energetic beat combined with emotional lyrics where a guy is basically asking his girlfriend to be gentle with his feelings.
Elvis laid down the recording on February 23, 1957, at Radio Recorders Studios in Hollywood, California. This recording session happened during a time when Elvis was super productive, and he also recorded other popular early songs like Teddy Bear and Mean Woman Blues around the same time.
Back in the 1950s, Billboard would combine double-sided hits on their R&B singles chart whenever both songs got a lot of radio play and were popular on jukeboxes. When they were counted together, these two tracks made it to #4 on the R&B chart.
AT A GLANCE