Wooden Heart was recorded by Elvis for his 1960 film G.I. Blues. Recorded on April 28, 1960, at RCA's Hollywood studios, it was adapted from the German folk song "Muss I Denn Zum Stadtele Hinaus" by Bert Kaempfert, Kay Towmey, Fred Wise, and Ben Weisman. A few months after the release of the film and the soundtrack album, a single release in the United Kindgom (RCA 1226) reached number one for one week. It remained on the chart for 27 weeks - the longest of any Presley single in the country. The accordion player on Elvis's recording was Jimmie Haskell. A German version by Gus Bacchus (Fono-Graf 1234) was quite successful in Europe and almost cracked the charts in the United Kingdom (it reached #102 on the "Bubbling Under" list).

After watching Elvis in G.I. Blues, producer Shelby Singleton Jr. had singer Joe Dowell record a version of Wooden Heart in the summer of 1961. Eddie Wilson taught Dowell the German lyrics just three hours before the recording session. Instead of a tuba and accordion as on Elvis's version, a bass guitar (played by Jerry Kennedy) and organ (played by Ray Stevens) were used. The resulting single (SMash 1708) reached number one for one week on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and sold over a million copies.

It wasn't until 1964 that RCA released a single of Elvis's Wooden Heart in the United States. That release never charted, although it reached #107 on the "Bubbling Under" list. Wooden Heart was reissued the following year, again failing to chart (#110 on the "Bubbling Under" list). Nevertheless, the record was a million seller for Elvis, easily selling a million in West Germany alone.

In 1975 Bobby Vinton made a successful recording of Wooden Heart (ABC 12100). In the 1965 film Situation Hopeless - But Not Serious, Robert Redford sang a few lines of the song.