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If You Talk in Your Sleep

Rating:
4.5 / 5

Words & Music: Red West John Christopher

I know you're a lonely woman and I love you
But someone else is waiting and he owns you
If he should ever wake up, make sure that your story is straight love
If you talk in your sleep don't mention my name
And if you walk in your sleep forget where you came

Walking every night here in the shadows
So afraid that sometime he may follow
There's always the chance he'll find us
I don't need to remind you
If you talk in your sleep don't mention my name
If you walk in your sleep forget where you came

Love is so much sweeter when it's borrowed
I'll feel a little easier tomorrow
Don't give our secret away, be careful what you say
If you talk in your sleep don't mention my name
If you walk in your sleep forget where you came

Forget where you came, now
Forget where you came
Don't mention my name
Don't mention my name
Forget where you came

Recordingdate: 1973/12/11, first released on: single (album)

Musicians

Musicians who contributed to the first recording of If You Talk in Your Sleep:

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

Others*

(oboe)
(sax)
(sax)
(trombone)
(trumpet)
(trumpet)
(cello)
(cello)
(cello)
(cello)
(viola)
(viola)
(viola)
(viola)
(viola)
(viola)
(violin)
(violin)
(violin)
(violin)
(violin)
(violin)
(violin)
(violin)
(violin)
(violin)
(violin)
(violin)

*Orchestra, overdubs

Availability

Find available albums with If You Talk in Your Sleep.

MJB63 wrote on April 29, 2009
What a low down funky song, may not be his greatest but i'll always listen to it.
My boy, my boy wrote on May 14, 2009
Nice song, good arrangement, fits perfectly for Elvis, the live versions are quite interesting too !
Pedro Nuno wrote on May 14, 2009
One of Elvis Best 70’s songs. Always one of my favourites, gave Elvis one of his last Top 20 hit, charting as high as # 17, in the beginning of 1974. Excellent studio performance, love the alternate take we have in the Today Tomorrow and Forever Box set. Outstanding live versions too. A fine example of the December 1973 Stax sessions, which marked Elvis last truly committed studio session.
Steve V wrote on May 14, 2009
One of the better Elvis post Burning Love songs. A real funky song that was in tune with the times. Should have been a bigger hit but Elvis was so far out of radio airplay at this time it was not to be. A re-release with a newer backing may be a good idea. its too good to be unknown.
mature_elvis_fan75 wrote on May 14, 2009
I like the song and agree it should have been a bigger hit,i love the ending,this is another song many non fans have no idea was recorded!
JerryNodak wrote on May 14, 2009
I like it. But I like the flipside more.
dgirl wrote on May 14, 2009
Good song, one of the better 70's efforts. Much better than all those tired weepy country ballads that seemed to dominate most of the releases.
Deano1 wrote on March 03, 2010
A funky tune in the vein of "If You Don't Come Back", but with very suggestive lyrics. It is after all a song about adultery. Recorded in December of 1973 and released as single, the song reached #17 and would have reached higher had RCA not pushed the flipside "Help Me"(what an odd pairing a song about sexual sin and I guess the prayer and plea to God to help him). Hindsight is 20/20, but I so wish they would have taken the best 24 songs from the Stax sessions and Palm Springs sessions of 1973 and put them on two albums. One could have still been called "Raised On Rock", but contained "Promised Land", If You Talk In Your Sleep", "I Got A Thing About You Baby", If You Don't Come Back", "Talk About The Good Times", "Just A Little Bit" and "Find Out What's Happening" and been a true rock/funk album. The 2nd album could have collected the strong country ballads "My Boy", "Lovin' Arms", "Help Me", "Honky Tonk Angel", etc and been called "Elvis Country 2".
Deke Rivers 6 wrote on September 22, 2012
Quite a good song for a change, because Elvis was getting more country & nonsense song's. Just didn't get the right song's after Burning Love.
Stevekimb1 wrote on September 22, 2012
A great song and a legitimate hit at the time that had Memphis written all over it.
GEORGE (GK) wrote on September 22, 2012
Love this one ! Besides being a good single choice, It was featured on one of his best 70s albums "Promised Land". It should have been a bigger hit on radio.
ElvisSacramento wrote on October 28, 2012
This is such an excellent song and it should have been a much bigger hit than it turned out to be. It's one of eleven songs that Elvis recorded that was written by Elvis' longtime friend and bodyguard Red West.
Gorse wrote on January 21, 2013
A great song from one of my favourite albums namely Promised Land. As stated a mesmeric funky beat on a song different from other recordings at the time and it went down well in concert accompanied by a karate routine - 5 stars all the way from me.
sugartummy wrote on March 15, 2013
Great song. Mature lyrics. Love it.
bajo wrote on January 17, 2014
Great track and performance! I agree that is should have been an even bigger hit! Funky stuff!
ElvisSacramento wrote on February 18, 2016
This song is definitely a true gem and Elvis' renditions of it have always been such a joy to listen to. The other ten songs that Elvis recorded that were written or co-written by his longtime friend and bodyguard Red West were "Holly Leaves And Christmas Trees", If Every Day Was Like Christmas", "If You Think I Don't Need You", It's No Fun Being Lonely", "I've Been Blue", "Mary Lou Brown", "Seeing Is Believing", "Separate Ways", "That's Someone You Never Forget" and "You'll Be Gone".
Cruiser621 wrote on July 30, 2016
Definitely 5-Stars; great song when you consider what he was constantly putting out back then; of course, I really didn't know what he was releasing after my final purchase of all things Elvis aka "Burning Love" on 45 RPM Single. I completely stopped buy anything Elvis back then. He was irrelevant and completely boring. It's only in my later years when I picked up the Elvis story via FTD where I discovered some really decent music buried on CD's. His constant recording of depressing, sad songs was no longer relevant anymore. Thank God for FTD, good, bad or indifferent.
Jim Davidson wrote on November 21, 2016
I heard this song for the first time in 1978. I thought to myself, "That guy sounds a lot like Elvis". Then, the radio announcer stated "That was Elvis Presley". When I play If You Talk in Your Sleep, I set the CD player on a continuous loop. Kentucky Rain also garners the same level of attention.
Milky White Way wrote on December 03, 2022
Outstanding funky track from an outstanding album. Some of Elvis’ finest work came from these 73 Stax sessions. This isn’t the best but I still enjoy listening to it. Written by Red West and so not a cover version but a song Elvis could call his own. 4 stars
DerekH wrote on December 03, 2022
By 1973 Elvis was recording some good music, really good if you compare it to the rubbish between '65 & '67. Pity he didn't look after himself. Still, we've got his great recordings to remember him bye.
Gorse2 wrote on December 04, 2022
My comment in 2013 has not changed at all. A brilliant recording that stands the test of time. I can easily, to my ears anyway, create top rate CD's of his 1973 output when his voice timbre and style seemed perfect to this ole codger.
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