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Don't Be Cruel

Words & Music by Otis Blackwell, Elvis Presley

Go Back

Don't Be Cruel

Words & Music by Otis Blackwell, Elvis Presley

Lyrics:

You know I can be found,
Sitting home all alone,
If you can't come around,
At least please telephone.
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.

Baby, if I made you mad
For something I might have said,
Please, let's forget the past,
The future looks bright ahead,
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.
I don't want no other love,
Baby it's just you I'm thinking of.

Don't stop thinking of me,
Don't make me feel this way,
Come on over here and love me,
You know what I want you to say.
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.
Why should we be apart?
I really love you baby, cross my heart.

Let's walk up to the preacher
And let us say I do,
Then you'll know you'll have me,
And I'll know I'll have you too,
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.
I don't want no other love,
Baby it's just you I'm thinking of.

Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.
I don't want no other love,
Baby it's just you I'm thinking of.

First album:

RCA 20-6604, 1956, Don't Be Cruel / Hound Dog (78)

First recorded:

RCA Studios, New York, New York, July 2, 1956
More info:
Elvis sang Don't Be Cruel on the Ed Sullivan Show (September 9, 1956; October 28, 1956; and January 6, 1957) and on his 1977 TV special Elvis In Concert (October 3, 1977). The song was recorded during the tapings for the 1968 TV special, but was not used for the telecast or the subsequent soundtrack album. The Ed Sullivan Show appearance of January 6, 1957, was used in the documentary This Is Elvis.

Don't Be Cruel has been recorded by several other artists over the years, most of them unsuccessfully. Bill Black had a 1960 instrumental version (Hi 2026) that reached #11 on the Hot 100 chart. Scotty Moore played guitar on that recording. In 1963 Barbara Lynn barely made the Hot 100 (#93) with her recording of Don't Be Cruel (Jamie 1244). Cheap Trick had a #4 hit with the song in 1988 (Epic 24-07965).

During the Million-Dollar-Quartet session of December 4, 1956, Elvis commented to Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins that he'd heard a member of Billy Warck and His Dominoes sing Don't Be Cruel in Las Vegas. He enjoyed the slower version so much that he wished he'd recorded it that way. The unnamed member of the Dominoes to whom Elvis was referring to was Jackie Wilson. Elvis then demonstrated to Lewis and Perkins how Wilson sang Don't Be Cruel.

Lyrics:

You know I can be found,
Sitting home all alone,
If you can't come around,
At least please telephone.
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.

Baby, if I made you mad
For something I might have said,
Please, let's forget the past,
The future looks bright ahead,
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.
I don't want no other love,
Baby it's just you I'm thinking of.

Don't stop thinking of me,
Don't make me feel this way,
Come on over here and love me,
You know what I want you to say.
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.
Why should we be apart?
I really love you baby, cross my heart.

Let's walk up to the preacher
And let us say I do,
Then you'll know you'll have me,
And I'll know I'll have you too,
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.
I don't want no other love,
Baby it's just you I'm thinking of.

Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.
Don't be cruel to a heart that's true.
I don't want no other love,
Baby it's just you I'm thinking of.

First album:

RCA 20-6604, 1956, Don't Be Cruel / Hound Dog (78)

First recorded:

RCA Studios, New York, New York, July 2, 1956

More info:

Elvis sang Don't Be Cruel on the Ed Sullivan Show (September 9, 1956; October 28, 1956; and January 6, 1957) and on his 1977 TV special Elvis In Concert (October 3, 1977). The song was recorded during the tapings for the 1968 TV special, but was not used for the telecast or the subsequent soundtrack album. The Ed Sullivan Show appearance of January 6, 1957, was used in the documentary This Is Elvis.

Don't Be Cruel has been recorded by several other artists over the years, most of them unsuccessfully. Bill Black had a 1960 instrumental version (Hi 2026) that reached #11 on the Hot 100 chart. Scotty Moore played guitar on that recording. In 1963 Barbara Lynn barely made the Hot 100 (#93) with her recording of Don't Be Cruel (Jamie 1244). Cheap Trick had a #4 hit with the song in 1988 (Epic 24-07965).

During the Million-Dollar-Quartet session of December 4, 1956, Elvis commented to Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins that he'd heard a member of Billy Warck and His Dominoes sing Don't Be Cruel in Las Vegas. He enjoyed the slower version so much that he wished he'd recorded it that way. The unnamed member of the Dominoes to whom Elvis was referring to was Jackie Wilson. Elvis then demonstrated to Lewis and Perkins how Wilson sang Don't Be Cruel.