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Heartbreak Hotel

Rating:
4.7 / 5

Words & Music: Mae Boren Axton Tommy Durden Elvis Presley

Well, since my baby left me,
I found a new place to dwell.
It's down at the end of lonely street
at Heartbreak Hotel.

You make me so lonely baby,
I get so lonely,
I get so lonely I could die.

And although it's always crowded,
you still can find some room.
Where broken hearted lovers
do cry away their gloom.

You make me so lonely baby,
I get so lonely,
I get so lonely I could die.

Well, the Bell hop's tears keep flowin',
and the desk clerk's dressed in black.
Well they been so long on lonely street
They ain't ever gonna look back.

You make me so lonely baby,
I get so lonely,
I get so lonely I could die.

Hey now, if your baby leaves you,
and you got a tale to tell.
Just take a walk down lonely street
to Heartbreak Hotel.

Recordingdate: 1956/01/10, first released on: single (album)

Musicians

Musicians who contributed to the first recording of Heartbreak Hotel:

(guitar)
(guitar)
(guitar)
(bass)
(drums)
(piano)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)

Availability

Find available albums with Heartbreak Hotel.

Natha wrote on April 21, 2008
Here the young and ever vibrant Elvis is giving an excellent performance in which he knows how to combine that raw and provocative power of his with the 'sadness of loosing a lover'. You can really feel how that energy is sort of boxed in by the 'sadness'. Superb! Particularly interesting is the version with the Dorsey Brothers. Here the big band seems to lift him up as to show these dynamics all the more.
JLpResLey wrote on July 14, 2008
Wow. Heartbreak Hotel is just a brilliant recording. Actually I prefer the versions from the fifties, the best version of Hearbreak Hotel is in my mind the one on the Milton Bearle Show 1956. If you compare, that is more sincere than the ones from Comeback Special (especially from the standup shows) where it´s just sheer power. Too much power
Pedro Nuno wrote on July 14, 2008
What can we say! It was THIS MUSIC that made everything happening, that changed minds, social and political standards! This is not only one of the greatest Classics of Rock History but as well one of the greatest social forces in modern society! Just listen to that eco…
old shep wrote on July 14, 2008
That first big hit that made things happen for Elvis worldwide. He also made it happen for the fans too, many of whom like me were around at the time of the records release. And over 50 years later still listening to the great legacy Elvis left.
ekravik wrote on July 14, 2008
What a rawness!! No one else can pull this off as Elvis does here. Amazing. Primus inter pares.
My boy, my boy wrote on July 14, 2008
I must have listened to every version Elvis made of this song like a billion times each and I can't seem to get enough...
Ton Bruins wrote on July 14, 2008
What can I say ? That's were my idolation for Elvis started in 1977 with the LP "Elvis Forever" and I heard Heartbreak Hotel for the first time..
sitdown68 wrote on July 14, 2008
well, this was the first song I ever strummed on my guitar as a fourteen years old guy at some ski-camp in front of my whole school way back in february 78...a long time ago man...there's no rawer and more inspired version then the first one of the sitdownshows out there in burbank ca.
busboy wrote on July 14, 2008
The birth of rock n roll, simple as that.
Elvisonmymind wrote on July 24, 2008
Everyone is referring July 5, 1954 as the birth of rock and roll. It's wrong! It is January 10, 1956 cause Heartbreak Hotel is the first most energetic, most powerful, most sexiest, most rawness song ever recorded. Before this song there was nothing and after not much.
JerryNodak wrote on September 21, 2008
Now this is one of those rare '50s tunes that I'm not sick of hearing. A groundbreaking masterpiece.
Jay wrote on March 16, 2009
classic!
derekd wrote on March 16, 2009
Why was this recording so great, because Elvis was very much in control. Choice of song, how it was done, even when it was released. Could still be packaged and re-released as a UK single and if done right it could at last be another UK #1.
mbc77 wrote on March 16, 2009
The first time I heard this song and it really blew me away. A timeless classic, who knew that this could be the start of a great career for Elvis. I still love this song..one of the best.
JimmyCool wrote on March 17, 2009
A timeless classic!
Marty_TCE wrote on August 11, 2009
5 stars - end of. This is a song of legend!
theoldscudder wrote on August 11, 2009
This is the first time I heard Elvis. This started my collecting.
Deke Rivers 6 wrote on August 25, 2009
I wouldn't say it was the birth of R&R that was "Rock Around The Clock"but this certainly put Elvis on the map!
Swen wrote on August 25, 2009
Never really a favourite of mine, but Elvis´s performance of the song is out of this world. Would be impossible to improve! Incredible!
Gorse wrote on November 21, 2012
A pivotal track that gave the big lift off to the Elvis career - absolutely fantastic even after all these years.
sugartummy wrote on March 11, 2013
Sam Phillips hated the song. At RCA they thought that Elvis should re-record this one. They were all wrong. A time-less classic had been made, but they didn't know.
shawnrw wrote on January 05, 2014
Elvis gives a otherworldly performance. Groundbreaking, is it blues, is it rock, don't know for sure but it's dark and sinister for sure. Timeless classic and more.
ElvisSacramento wrote on June 12, 2015
This is such a marvelous, catchy and unique song and it rightfully was a smash #1 hit for Elvis here in the United States. The best renditions of it are Elvis' studio and live renditions of it from 1956. This is by far one of the very best Rock 'N' Roll songs that's ever been written. 5 Stars.
TheMemphisFan wrote on January 10, 2016
This classic masterpiece was recorded 60 years ago today! Not even Elvis himselvis could do the song later on as well as he did it on the day of January 10, 1956.
Cruiser621 wrote on January 09, 2018
The 1st of many, many hit records. A timeless classic.
Steve V wrote on August 08, 2019
Hound Dog was the first Elvis record I heard and bought, but this was the ground breaker. Elvis was never better than in the 50's. This started it all. Each record was innovative, versatile, and featured unworldly vocals. I will never tire of any 50's recording, even Old Shep!. 5 stars
bajo wrote on April 20, 2020
Heartbreak Hotel is among many an Elvis classic one never get tired of listening to! It's such a class over this tune, not least Elvis' delivery. I actually never heard Heartbreak Hotel until I heard Elvis' Golden Records for the first time in early 60's. But, that album was opened with Hound Dog, and it took me some time to get through the album. I repeated Hound Dog over and over and over...lifted the pickup back to start for so many times that my mother begged me to stop....
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