Wednesday 16 February 2011

Baby Let's Play House - Arthur Gunter

"Arthur Gunter (May 23, 1926 – March 16, 1976)  was an American blues guitarist and musician. He was best known for his song "Baby Let's Play House", which was later a hit single for Elvis Presley. John Lennon used one of the lines in his song Run for Your Life in 1964.


Gunter was born in Nashville, Tennessee, a musician from an early age; as a child, he was in a gospel group with his brothers and cousins called the Gunter Brothers Quartet. In the early 1950s he played in various blues groups around Nashville, and began recording for Excello Records in 1954.

In November 1954, Gunter recorded "Baby Let's Play House" for Excello (2047), which became a local hit. It became nationally known later that year when Elvis Presley recorded a version for Sun Records. "Elvis got that number and made it famous. But I didn't get a chance to shake his hand," Gunter would later say. His first royalty check, received that same year, was for $6500.
Gunter continued to record for Excello until 1961. His regular band broke up in 1966 and he moved to Pontiac, Michigan, performing only occasionally thereafter." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Gunter


"Baby, Let's Play House", is a song written by Arthur Gunter and recorded by him in 1954 on the Excello Records label,and covered by Elvis Presley the following year on Sun Records. It was the fourth issue of a Presley record by Sun, and became the first song recorded by Elvis to appear on a national chart, when it made #5 on the Billboard Country Singles chart in July 1955.
Presley's version differed slightly from the original: Elvis started the song with the chorus, where Gunter began with the first verse, and he replaced Gunter's line "You may get religion" with the words "You may have a Pink Cadillac", referring to his custom-painted 1955 Cadillac auto that had been serving as the band's transportation at the time.
John Lennon used the line, "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man," from this song for the opening line of the Beatles song, "Run for Your Life."








Hear the new 

ELVIS PRESLEY - Baby Let's Play House (Spankox Re:Version) on You Tube




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eguwpx6UNVE&feature=related

on You Tube

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