| "Jailhouse Rock" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byElvis Presley | ||||
| from the EPJailhouse Rock | ||||
| B-side | "Treat Me Nice" | |||
| Released | September 24, 1957 (1957-09-24) | |||
| Recorded | April 30, 1957 | |||
| Studio | Radio Recorders, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:35 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Songwriter | Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller | |||
| Producer | Jeff Alexander | |||
| Elvis Presley singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Jailhouse Rock" (audio) onYouTube | ||||
| Audio sample | ||||
Jailhouse Rock | ||||
"Jailhouse Rock" is arock and roll song recorded by American singerElvis Presley for thefilm of the same name. It was written byJerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.RCA Victor released the song on a45 rpm single on September 24, 1957, and as a 78 rpm single in the UK, as the first single from the film'ssoundtrack EP. It reached the top of the charts in the U.S. and the top 10 in several other countries. The song has been recognized by theGrammy Hall of Fame, theAmerican Film Institute, and others.
Some of the characters named in the song are real people.Shifty Henry was a well-knownLos Angeles musician, not a criminal.The Purple Gang was a real mob. "Sad Sack" was aU.S. Army nickname inWorld War II for a loser, which was also the name of a popularcomic strip and comic book character.[1]
According toRolling Stone,Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "theme song for Presley'sthird movie was decidedly silly, the kind of tongue-in-cheek goof they had come up with forThe Coasters. Presley, however, sang it as straightrock & roll, overlooking the jokes in the lyrics (like the suggestion ofgay romance when inmate Number 47 tells Number 3, 'You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see') and then introducingScotty Moore's guitar solo with a cry so intense that the take almost collapses."[2] Gender studies scholars cite the song for "its famous reference to homoerotics behind bars",[3] while music critic Garry Mulholland writes, "'Jailhouse Rock' was always a queer lyric, in both senses."[4] Douglas Brode writes of the filmed production number that it's "amazing that the sequence passed by the censors".[5]
The single, with itsB-side "Treat Me Nice" (another song from the film's soundtrack) was a US number one hit on theBillboard Hot 100 for seven weeks in the fall of 1957, and aUK number one hit for three weeks early in 1958.[6] In addition, "Jailhouse Rock" spent one week at the top of the UScountry charts,[7] and reached the number one position on theR&B charts.[8]
Also in 1957, "Jailhouse Rock" was the lead song in an EP (extended play single) titledJailhouse Rock, together with other songs from the film, namely "Young and Beautiful", "I Want to Be Free", "Don't Leave Me Now" and "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" (but with "Treat Me Nice" omitted). It topped theBillboard EP charts, ultimately selling two million copies and earning a double-platinumRIAA certification.[citation needed]
Credits sourced from AFM union contracts and label records.[9]
Rolling Stone magazine included "Jailhouse Rock" at number 67 on its list ofThe 500 Greatest Songs of All Time[10] and it was named one of theRock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2004, it finished at number 21 onAFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. On November 27, 2016, theGrammy Hall of Fame announced its induction, along with that of another 24 songs.[11] In 2019, the song ranked number 31 on Spanish radio stationRock FM 500's list of "Five HundredRockers of All Time", ahead of any other song of the 1950s.[citation needed] By 2006, numerous scholars would accept that the song's line about prisoner "number 47" being attracted to prisoner "number 3" was a reference tohomoeroticism.[12][13]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[34] | Gold | 45,000‡ |
| Germany (BVMI)[35] | Gold | 300,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI)[36] | Gold | 35,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[37] | Platinum | 30,000‡ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[38] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[39] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[40] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
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