Blue Hawaii
Soundtrack album by Elvis Presley
Released	October 20, 1961
Recorded	March 21–23, 1961
Studio	Radio Recorders (Hollywood)
Genre	Pop
Length	32:02
Label	RCA
Producer	Steve Sholes
Elvis Presley chronology
Something for Everybody (1961) Blue Hawaii (1961) Follow That Dream (1962)
Singles from Blue Hawaii
"Can't Help Falling in Love/Rock-A-Hula Baby" Released: November 21, 1961

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
MusicHound	[2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[3]
Rough Guides	[4]
Uncut	[5]

Blue Hawaii is the fourthsoundtrack album by the American singerElvis Presley, released onRCA Victor Records inmono andstereo, LPM/LSP 2426, on October 20, 1961.^[6] It is the soundtrack to the 1961 filmBlue Hawaii starring Presley. In the United States, the album spent 20 weeks at the number one slot and 39 weeks in the Top 10 onBillboard'sTop Pop LPs chart. It was certified Gold on December 21, 1961, Platinum and 2× Platinum on March 27, 1992, and 3× Platinum on July 30, 2002, by theRecording Industry Association of America.^[7] In the UK, the album spent 18 weeks at No. 1 on the Record Retailers (RR) album chart. On the US Top Pop Albums chart,Blue Hawaii is second only toWest Side Story as the most successful soundtrack album of the 1960s.

RCA and Presley's manager,Colonel Tom Parker, had initially planned a schedule of onesoundtrack and onepopular music release per year for Presley, in addition to foursingles.^[8] To reflect the location of the film, touches ofHawaiian music were included, from instrumentation to the traditional song "Aloha 'Oe".^[9]

The title song "Blue Hawaii" was taken from the 1937Bing Crosby filmWaikiki Wedding, and "Hawaiian Wedding Song" dates from a 1926operetta.^[10]

The song "No More" is based on the melody of the Spanish song "La paloma", "Almost Always True" on the Quebecois song"Alouette", and "Can't Help Falling in Love" on the eighteenth-century French song "Plaisir d'amour".

Recording sessions took place atRadio Recorders inHollywood on March 21, 22, and 23, 1961.^[11] The songs "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Rock-A-Hula Baby" were pulled off the album for two sides of a single released on November 21, 1961.^[12] TheA-side "Can't Help Falling in Love", which became the standard closer for a Presley concert in the 1970s, went to number two on theBillboard Hot 100, while the B-side charted independently at number 23.^[13]

Blue Hawaii was nominated for aGrammy Award in 1961 in the category of Best Sound Track Album or Recording of Original Cast from a Motion Picture or Television.^[14]

The success of thissoundtrack and its predecessorG. I. Blues, both of which sold in much greater quantity than Presley's recent released albumsElvis Is Back! andSomething for Everybody, set the pace for the rest of the decade.^[15] Parker and Presley would focus almost exclusively on film work for much of the 1960s.

Blue Hawaii was reissued oncompact disc in 1997 and again in 2008. The latter edition was a deluxe two-disc release on the Follow That Dream label that featured numerous alternate takes. It also corrected the error with the 1997 issue that incorrectly reversed the stereo channels.^[16]Five songs from this album appear on the 1995 compendium soundtrack box setCommand Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II: "Can't Help Falling in Love", "Rock-A-Hula Baby", "Blue Hawaii", "Hawaiian Wedding Song", and "Beach Boy Blues".^[17]

On April 29, 1997, RCA released aremastered and expanded version forcompact disc. Tracks 1–7 were the seven songs from side one of the original LP and tracks 8–14 were from side two. Tracks 15–22 are bonus tracks, all of which had been recorded during the original album sessions and were previously unreleased except for "Steppin' Out of Line" which had originally appeared on the LPPot Luck with Elvis (1962).

Sourced from Keith Flynn's analysis of RCA and AFM paperwork.^{[18][19][20][21]}

• Elvis Presley – lead vocals
• The Jordanaires – backing vocals, acoustic guitar, ukulele
• The Surfers – backing vocals
• Loulie Jean Norman, Dorothy McCarty, Virginia Rees, Jackie Allen – overdubbed backing vocals on "Moonlight Swim"
• Scotty Moore – electric guitar
• Hank Garland – electric guitar
• Tiny Timbrell – acoustic guitar
• Floyd Cramer – piano
• Dudley Brooks – piano,celeste
• Bob Moore – double bass
• D.J. Fontana – drums
• Bernie Mattinson – drums, percussion
• Hal Blaine – drums, percussion
• Boots Randolph – saxophone
• George Field – harmonica
• Freddie Tavares –ukulele
• Bernie Lewis – ukulele
• Alvino Rey –pedal steel guitar

• List ofBillboard 200 number-one albums of 1961
• List ofBillboard 200 number-one albums of 1962
• List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1960s

• Blue Hawaii atDiscogs (list of releases)
• LPM-2426 Blue Hawaii Guide part ofThe Elvis Presley Record Research Database
• LSP-2426 Blue Hawaii Guide part ofThe Elvis Presley Record Research Database

• Albums produced by Steve Sholes
• 1961 soundtrack albums
• Elvis Presley soundtracks
• RCA Victor soundtracks
• Musical film soundtracks
• Comedy film soundtracks

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