The story behind the song
Hard Headed Woman is a fast-paced 12-bar blues rock and roll song that Elvis Presley recorded back in 1958. It’s probably most well-known for making history as the first rock and roll single to get an official RIAA Gold Record certification.
Black American songwriter Claude Demetrius wrote the track. The lyrics are kind of funny and use famous biblical couples (like Adam and Eve, and Samson and Delilah) to warn guys about strong-willed, stubborn women.
Elvis recorded the track on January 15, 1958, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. To get that New Orleans jazz feel, his regular band got some extra wind instruments added to it.
It was recorded for the soundtrack of Elvis’s really popular film King Creole. Weirdly though, Elvis doesn’t actually sing the song in the movie; it just plays quietly in the background between scenes.
Elvis got his military draft notice before they finished filming, but they let him delay it so he could finish
King Creole. When RCA Victor released the single on
June 10, 1958, Elvis was already away doing basic training at Fort Hood, Texas.
On July 21, 1958, while Elvis was stationed in Texas, the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts, and it stayed there for two weeks. It also got to No. 2 on the R&B singles chart.
On August 11, 1958, the RIAA gave the single a Gold certification because it had sold over one million copies. Even though Perry Como had gotten the very first RIAA Gold Record earlier that year, Elvis was the one who got the first Gold Record for a rock and roll song.
AT A GLANCE