The story behind the song
A Big Hunk O’ Love is Elvis Presley’s 12th number-one hit in America. Aaron Schroeder and Sidney Wyche wrote the track.
Elvis got drafted into the U.S. Army in March 1958. On June 10, 1958, he took a quick break from military training before heading to West Germany and managed to record this song at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee. This recording session was really significant because it was the only time he recorded anything during his whole two years serving in the military.
The session also showed a big change in who played with him: it was the first time without his original guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. Instead, top Nashville session musicians backed him up, including Hank Garland playing lead guitar and Floyd Cramer on an intense, hard-hitting piano. His longtime drummer D.J. Fontana and the backing group The Jordanaires were also there. The finished song was actually put together by combining parts from takes three and four.
RCA Victor put out the single on June 23, 1959, with
My Wish Came True on the flip side. This was the first brand-new Elvis song released in America after he joined the military.
The song climbed the charts super fast and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 10, 1959, staying there for two weeks. It also got to number 10 on the R&B Singles chart and reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart.
AT A GLANCE