The story behind the song
One Night was first created by Dave Bartholomew and Pearl King. Smiley Lewis then recorded it in 1956 as an R&B song called One Night of Sin, which had suggestive lyrics.
Elvis Presley first recorded the song with its original, edgy lyrics (“One night of sin is what I’m now paying for”) on January 18, 1957. But because his record label and management worried about the explicit content, they decided not to release it officially until 1983.
Elvis really liked the song and decided to change it. He rewrote the opening line to something more acceptable—but still really passionate—”One night with you is what I’m now praying for,” and he brought in Anita Steinman as a co-writer to help with the new lyrics. He recorded this cleaned-up version on February 23, 1957, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood.
RCA Victor put out the new version of One Night on October 21, 1958. Since Elvis was serving in the U.S. Army at that time, his manager Tom Parker wouldn’t let him record anything new, so RCA had to go back through their old recordings to keep putting out new singles.
Released as a double A-side with I Got Stung, the single became a huge hit, reaching No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on the R&B chart. It sold more than 1.5 million copies, making it Elvis’s biggest hit since Jailhouse Rock. In the UK, it hit No. 1 and stayed there for three weeks. Years later, a 2005 re-release of the song made a record by becoming the 1,000th No. 1 single ever on the UK Singles Chart.
One Night was Elvis’s last commercial release in the 78 RPM format in the United States.
AT A GLANCE