Wooden Heart

"Wooden Heart (Muss I Denn)"
Single by Elvis Presley
from the album G.I. Blues
A-side	"Blue Christmas" (USA 1964)
B-side	"Tonight is So Right for Love" (UK 1961)
Released	1960
Format	7", 45rpm
Recorded	April 28, 1960
Genre	Blues
Length	2:03
Label	RCA
Writer(s)	Fred Wise, Ben Weisman, Kay Twomey, Bert Kaempfert
Elvis Presley USA chronology
"Ask Me" (1964) "Blue Christmas" (1964) "Do the Clam" (1965)
Elvis Presley UK chronology "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (1960) "Wooden Heart" (1961) "Surrender" (1961)

"Wooden Heart (Muss I Denn)" is a song best known for its use in the 1960 Elvis Presley film G.I. Blues. The song was a hit for Presley in the United Kingdom, making number one for six weeks, but wasn't released as a single in the United States until November 1964 as the B-side to "Blue Christmas". Presley performed the song live during his Dinner Show concert at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas in 1975. The recording is available on the Elvis Presley live album, Dinner At Eight.

A cover version by Joe Dowell did make it to number one in the US at the end of August 1961, knocking Bobby Lewis' "Tossin' and Turnin'" off the number-one spot of the Billboard Hot 100 after seven weeks. Dowell's version also spent three weeks at number one on the Easy Listening chart.^[1]

"Wooden Heart", created by Fred Wise, Ben Weisman, Kay Twomey and German bandleader Bert Kaempfert, was based on a German folk song by Friedrich Silcher, "Muss i' denn zum Städtele hinaus", originating from the Rems Valley in Württemberg, Southwest Germany. "Wooden Heart" features several lines from the original folk song, written in the German Swabian dialect, spoken in Württemberg. The Elvis Presley version was published by Gladys Music, Elvis Presley's publishing company. Bobby Vinton recorded his version in 1975 with those lines translated into Polish.

The Elvis Presley version featured two parts in German, the first one is the first four lines of "Muss i' denn zum Städtele hinaus", whereas the second part appears towards the end and is based on a translation of the English version (therefore not appearing in the original German folk lyrics). This part being "Sei mir gut, Sei mir gut, Sei mir wie du wirklich sollst, Wie du wirklich sollst..." This literally means "Be good to me, Be good to me, Be to me how you really should, How you really should..."

"Wooden Heart" was covered by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1993. It was released in their 1995 Playback box set on disc six, "Nobody's Children".

Another Elvis song from the same session, this one a track from G.I. Blues, "The first album I ever owned," Petty says. In 1995 Petty arranged for his family to take a private tour of Graceland, and for the Heartbreakers to record at Sun Studios. "I am the true Elvis fan. The music meant so much to me. I really have to give him credit for saving my life on so many levels. – Tom Petty, Playback box set liner notes

Editions

• (US) "Blue Christmas" b/w "Wooden Heart" Released: November 1964, RCA 447-0720

References

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Record Research. p. 82. 

External links

• Elvis News Network – G.I. Blues
• Joe Dowell biography
• Muß i' denn zum Städtele hinaus lyrics and translation

Preceded by "Walk Right Back" b/w "Ebony Eyes" by The Everly Brothers	UK Singles Chart number-one single (Elvis Presley version) March 23, 1961 (6 weeks)	Succeeded by "Blue Moon" by The Marcels
Preceded by "Together" by Connie Francis	Billboard Easy Listening number-one single (Joe Dowell version) August 14 – 28, 1961	Succeeded by "Michael" by The Highwaymen
Preceded by "Tossin' and Turnin'" by Bobby Lewis	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (Joe Dowell version) August 28, 1961