How Do You Think I Feel?

I first heard this as a teenager in 1965 when I bought an old EP (Extended Play) disc with Long Tall Sally, How's the World Treating You, First in Line and How Do You Think I Feel.

1965 was the year of riff based pop songs like Ticket to Ride, Mr Tambourine Man etc. and so didn't sound quite so out of place with all the new music coming out. However it was an old release that surfaced in a sale in the local record shop.

The song was written by Wayne Walker and Webb Pierce. David Neale (link to his site in the topbar menu) suggests the first version was by Red Sovine in April 1954, followed closely in November by Jimmy Rogers Snow. 

Red Sovine  

Here's Jimmy Rogers Snow's version -

This Red Sovine with a different song - Juke Joint Johnny ...

Red Sovine

"Born Woodrow Wilson Sovine on July 17, 1918 in Charleston, WV, Red Sovine made his first attempt at a musical career in his teens along with Johnnie Bailes (of the Bailes Brothers) as members of Jim Pike's Carolina Tar Heels and then as the "Singing Sailors".  Red then opted for a factory job in Elanor, WV working his way into mid-management while still doing a program on local radio.


In 1948, the Bailes Brothers encouraged Red to join them in Shreveport, LA  After a brief stint at KWKH in Shreveport, Hank Williams lent a helping hand in securing a slot at WFSA in Montgomery, AL later that same year and a recording contract with MGM.

In 1949, Red returned to Shreveport and joined the Louisiana Hayride replacing Hank Williams.  In 1952, fellow Hayride star Webb Pierce asked Red to come to Nashville to front his band which led to a recording contract with Decca in 1954 and to appearances on the Grand Ole Opry." Read more Here http://www.virtualtruckroute.com/music_sovine.html


Jimmy Rogers Snow

"Born 1936, son of country star Hank Snow, Jimmie Rodgers Snow appeared to have everything going his way. With famous friends like Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, Jimmie began to rocket his way to stardom on the RCA label.

But Jimmie soon learned that there was something that wealth and fame cannot provide is lasting peace. In front of his parents house, Jimmie Rodgers Snow committed his life to Christ and soon answered the call to preach.

One of his early sermons was recently featured in a PBS documentary about Rock and Roll. The show featured a clip which is on display at the the rock and roll hall of fame of an early sermon by Jimmie Snow denouncing the evils of Rock and Roll." Source - http://www.jimmysnow.com/aboutme.html

Jimmy Rogers Snow with Elvis   Meridian, Mississippi May 26  1955

Source of photo  http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictures/1955_may_26.html

Here's Elvis's version - from 1956

The Songwriters

WAYNE WALKER

"Born Wayne Paul Walker, December 13, 1925, Quapaw, Oklahoma, Died January 2, 1979, Nashville, Tennessee. Wayne Walker was a prolific songwriter, with no less than 526 titles in the BMI database, 23 of which have won BMI awards. He was less successful as a singer, though he made some fine recordings, both in the rockabilly and the country field. Born in Oklahoma, Walker was raised in Kilgore, Texas, before moving to Shreveport, Louisiana. He worked as a vacuum cleaner salesman, fire escape salesman, car salesman, and roofer while getting his music career off the ground. He appeared on the Louisiana Hayride, where he met Tillman Franks and Webb Pierce and with their encouragement he was soon placing his songs with local artists. With Pierce he wrote the song "How Do You Think I Feel", which was first recorded by Red Sovine in early 1954 (Decca 29068), but the best known version is of course by Elvis Presley, on his second LP. " Read more here http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/wayne_walker.htm

There does seem to be a version by Wayne Walker himself but i can't find it on youtube although there there is a youtube by that name it seems to be compilation of some of his other songs and doesn't include How Do You Think I Feel.

Webb Pierce

"Webb Michael Pierce (August 8, 1921 – February 24, 1991) was one of the most popular American honky tonk vocalists of the 1950s, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the decade.

His biggest hit was "In the Jailhouse Now," which charted for 37 weeks in 1955, 21 of them at number one. Pierce also charted number one for several weeks' each with his recordings of "Slowly" (1954), "Love, Love, Love" (1955), "I Don't Care" (1955), "There Stands the Glass" (1953), "More and More" (1954), "I Ain't Never" (1959), and his first number one "Wondering," which stayed at the top spot for four of its 27 weeks' charting in 1952.

For many, Pierce, with his flamboyant Nudie suits and twin silver dollar-lined convertibles, became the most recognizable face of country music of the era and its excesses.[1] Pierce was a one-time member of the Grand Ole Opry and was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame." Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webb_Pierce