Burning Love
| "Burning Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Elvis Presley | ||||
| from the album Burning Love and Hits from His Movies, Volume 2 | ||||
| Released | August 1, 1972 | |||
| Format | 7" 45 rpm record | |||
| Recorded |
RCA Studios, Hollywood, California, March 28, 1972 Master Take #6 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 3:23 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Writer(s) | Dennis Linde | |||
| Producer(s) | Felton Jarvis | |||
| Elvis Presley singles chronology | ||||
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"Burning Love" is a song written by Dennis Linde and originally recorded by country soul artist Arthur Alexander, who included it on his 1972 self-titled album. It was soon covered and brought to fame by Elvis Presley, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious Minds" in 1969 and his last Top 10 hit in the American Hot 100 or pop charts.
Elvis version
Presley's version was released as a single on August 1, 1972, with the B-side "It's a Matter of Time", and it reached the Top 40 on the country charts, peaking at #36. Elvis had recorded it at RCA's Hollywood studios on March 28, 1972. The electric guitar opening and riffs were overdubbed and played by Dennis Linde himself.
For the weeks of October 21 and 28, 1972, "Burning Love" rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, being kept from #1 by Chuck Berry's novelty song "My Ding-a-Ling." However, it reached #1 on Cashbox's Top 40 Charts for the week of November 11, which gave him 20 US #1 hits. The song was Elvis's 40th and last Top Ten hit on the US charts. It was also one of the last real rock songs in the last years of his life; from 1972 to 1977 the majority of his songs were ballads, and many of those placed on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart. "Burning Love" was one of the few exceptions, along with "Promised Land" in 1974.
Presley however, stated that he did not care for the song, and did not feel comfortable performing it. Nonetheless, he performed it in at least two high-profile productions: the concert film Elvis on Tour (during which he had to use a lyric sheet as the song was still new to him), and the later Aloha from Hawaii concert.
The song was also released on an album titled Burning Love and Hits from his Movies: Volume 2 on November 1, 1972. Despite this album's subtitle, none of the movie songs on it were ever hits. The only actual hit on the album was the title song, "Burning Love".
Other versions
- Mother's Finest covered the song for their 1976 album, Another Mother Further.
- Travis Tritt recorded the song for Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack in 1992.
- Melissa Etheridge covered the song in 1994 for the televised Elvis Tribute hosted by John Stamos. It was released on the album "It's Now or Never: The Tribute to Elvis".
- Bruce Springsteen used the song in his concert line-ups in the late 90's and 2000's.
- Wynonna Judd recorded her version for the Lilo & Stitch soundtrack in 2002.
- The 69 Eyes recorded a more upbeat version for their 1992 album Bump 'n' Grind
- The Residents covered the song in 1989; it appears on their album The King & Eye.
- Hellstomper recorded their own version on Hillbilly Motherfucker.
- The Way High Men covered the song on their debut album, "Let's Get Arrested"[1]
Uses
- "Burning Love" was used as a wake-up song on the space shuttle mission STS-123.
- Was recorded for the 1979 film, Elvis The Movie, starring Kurt Russell and Ronnie McDowell as the singing voice of Elvis. The song was not released for a soundtrack.
- The song was frequently used by comedian Conan O'Brien to warm up his audience prior to taping his talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien, with the host singing the lyrics with musical accompaniment by the house band.
- A remix of the original was used for the Cirque du Soleil show Viva Elvis and found on its soundtrack. During the live show, it is played during a montage of Elvis's best love scenes on the rear-projection screen, while the band has a spotlight. This remix puts more emphasis on drums and guitars, with a sound like The Who.
- Velveeta used the song for a commercial changing the lyrics to "Hunka Hunka Meltin' Love".
- The song was used during the Miss Universe 2012 swimsuit competition, where Ximena Navarrete from México won the title of most beautiful woman in the Universe.
- Zooey Deschanel sang Burning Love while impersonating Elvis on Season 2, Episode 20 of New Girl.
- A cover of the song is sang by Jonathan Wood's character, Nick, on ABC Family's Original Movie, The Mistle-Tones starring Tia Mowry.
- A cover of the song is sang by Dwayne Johnson's character, Joe Kingman, on the Movie, The Game Plan.
- The title of the Simpsons episode "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love" (2001) is a reference to a line from "Burning Love".
References
External links
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