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Crawfish

Rating:
4.4 / 5

Words & Music: Ben Weisman Fred Wise

Crawfish
Well I went to the bayou just last night
There was no moon but the stars were bright
Put a big long hook on a big long pole
And I pulled Mr. Crawfish out of his hole
Crawfish

See I got him, see the size
Stripped and cleaned before your eyes
Sweet meat look, fresh and ready to cook
Crawfish

Now take Mr. Crawfish in your hand
He's gonna look good in your frying pan
If you fry him crisp or you boil him right
He'll be sweeter than sugar when you take a bite
Crawfish

Recordingdate: 1958/01/15, first released on: King Creole, Vol. 2 (EP)

Musicians

Musicians who contributed to the first recording of Crawfish:

(guitar)
(guitar)
(guitar)
(bass)
(bass)
(bass)
(drums)
(piano)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(bongos)
(cymbals)
(clarinet)
(sax)
(trombone)
(trumpet)
(tuba)

Availability

Find available albums with Crawfish.

Lex wrote on January 09, 2009
Love the song, especially the long version.
bastiaanvinke wrote on February 04, 2010
I Like this song a lot. The duet in the movie is awesome!
Steve V wrote on December 29, 2010
Love it. In the 50's everything he sang had heart & soul to it, even a situational movie song like this. Somehow that soul was lost as the mid-60's approached. If this was recorded in 1966 instead, I think it would have been a disaster.
Deano1 wrote on January 22, 2012
A great track for the opening scene of "King Creole" and it is sung with a lot of heart and soul, but I would not consider it a great track when listening to it on the record. I always thought that this track along with "Steadfast, Loyal and True" slowed (brought down) down the B-side of the LP. 3 stars from me.
tornado wrote on January 22, 2012
Too bad we never got some binaural versions of all that great sessions: like Love Me Tender, Loving You and Jailhouse Rock. Why is it so? FTD is today blocked by the missing outtakes of the masters, except King Creole. Maybe they were dumped in the "save spance operation" RCA did around 1959 as Ernst sadly discovered while looking for missing tapes. The long version of Crawfish we got in Essential Volume 3, remains to be released upgraded on a final Classic FTD yet to come.
dgirl wrote on January 22, 2012
I remember a music critic touting this as one of Elvis' top 10 tunes. I certainly think it is one of his finest and most unique songs and from a movie with so many good songs, tends to be forgotten. Yes it is right up there because it is different and showed how Elvis was ever gowing as a recording artist in the 50's, a growth that stopped soon after the 60's soundtracks took over.
freedom101 wrote on January 23, 2012
An instant classic!
ElvisSacramento wrote on October 27, 2012
This is such a terrific and unique Elvis song and the best version of it is definitely the version from the movie "King Creole". I like the album version too, but the movie version is vastly superior.
sugartummy wrote on March 01, 2013
It's funny too hear Elvis do a song about crawfish, when he realy detested seafood. Is Elvis' version the first of this song, because the Jesse Stone instrumental also sounds pretty old. A real gem.
Gorse wrote on July 30, 2013
Very unusual recording that has stood the test of time. A duet with Kitty White which is a breath of fresh air every time I listen to it, being different from nearly every recording he did. I much prefer the full version which runs a whole minute longer but I guess the Colonel did not want the talented Kitty Whiite having too much of the limelight.
alanfalk wrote on September 10, 2013
One of my favorites, from a killer soundtrack, 5 stars for both ! Elvis never stoped developing as a singer, even in the mid sixties he sang songs that were different from what he had done before, especially the soundtrack bonus songs and the gospel songs. I have always admired him for the way he was able to renew himself, both his style and his song choice (to bad that many people wanted him to stay a rock'n roll singer, accusing him of betraying that style as he developed), still today people criticize his "overblown" arrangements and saying they whished he had kept the three piece band and sung more rock songs !
Cruiser621 wrote on May 26, 2017
One of those really different sounding tunes from the movie "King Creole" which sticks in your mind.
JerryNodak wrote on December 08, 2019
When i was very young I didn't care for this song. But as I aged I developed a liking for it. Now it's one of my faves from the soundtrack. 4 stars.
bajo wrote on December 08, 2019
Elvis really couldn't do no wrong in the 50's imo! I've always liked this song. And even more so when the FTD brought along the complete song in proper sound quality on the FTD. Great stuff!
Pachakuti! wrote on October 08, 2021
What can one say? It has a unique afro, R&B kind of touch to it. On the other hand he could also deliver the most "Caucasian" type of country ballads as well. This to me proves Elvis had a touch for many cultures and backgrounds and knew how to interpret them. 5 stars.
Milky White Way wrote on January 28, 2023
A monster of a track from a brilliant soundtrack. I wish we had the out takes to these sessions. Love the full length version.
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