~ IT'S NOW OR NEVER ~

- ( Aaron Schroeder/Wally Gold ~ Gladys Music ) -

3rd April 1960: (7.30pm-12am) Session

L2WB 0100-4 (4 takes) (3rd song completed after "1st" FEVER + "2nd" LIKE A BABY)

Studio B Sessions for RCA in NASHVILLE

"It's Now or Never" was based on the Italian song "O Sole Mio," written in 1901 by G. Capurro and Eduardo di Capua. ("O Sole Mio" means "My Sunshine.")

Over the years, "O Sole Mio" has been recorded by countless singers, including Emilio De Gorgorzo (Victor 74105) in 1908, Enrico Caruso (Victor 87243) in 1916, and Mario Lanza.

In 1949 Tony Martin had a #2 hit with "0 Sole Mio," using English lyrics and the title "There's No Tomorrow" (RCA 3078).

"O Sole Mio" was the first song actor James Stewart learned to play on the accordion. It was also the first song Connie Francis sang at a school recital at the age of 12.

While still in the Army, Elvis decided he wanted to record Tony Martin's "There's No Tomorrow," but he wanted new lyrics and a new arrangement. He told Freddie Bienstock of Hill and Range Music of his inter­est.

Bienstock flew back to his New York office from West Germany.

When he arrived, the only songwriters around at the moment were Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold. They got the job of rewriting "There's No Tomorrow" for Elvis.

It didn't take long. The title—"It's Now or Never"—came quickly;

the new lyrics took about 30 minutes.

A demonstration record for Elvis was recorded by David Hill (real name: David Hess), using an up tempo cha-cha arrangement.

Elvis loved the demo and recorded "It's Now or Never" on April 3, 1960, at RCA's Nashville studios.

The single release entered Billboard's Hot 100 chart at #44.

Within five weeks "It's Now or Never" was number one, replacing Brian Hyland's "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka dot Bikini."

After five weeks at the top, it was dethroned by Chubby Checker's "The Twist."

"It's Now or Never" spent a total of 20 weeks on the chart. It reached #7 on the rhythm & blues chart.

In England,
"It's Now or Never" entered the chart at number one and remained in that position for eight weeks—the longest period for any Presley single in England. (at that time, and for a long period afterwards....)

Be­cause of copyright reasons, the release of "It's Now or Never" in England was held up for five months.

Total global sales of the record exceed 22 million+ copies
—the most for any Presley record. Billboard magazine named "It's Now or Never" the Vocal Single of 1960.

Elvis sang "It's Now or Never" in concert on several occasions in the 1970s.
Before Elvis's performances, Sherrill Nielsen would sometimes sing a few bars of "O Sole Mio."

However, Elvis is known to have sung "O Sole Mio" himself in concert,
including a performance at the Las Vegas Hilton on December 13, 1975.

In 1981, John Schneider reached #14 on the USA Hot 100 chart and #4 on the country chart with his recording of "It's Now or Never" (Scotti Brothers 02105).

Singles:
• "IT'S NOW OR NEVER'~A Mess of Blues" (RCA 47-7777) July 1960. Standard release.
A few copies of "It's Now or Never" were released without the piano track.

• "IT'S NOW OR NEVER" ~ "A Mess of Blues" (RCA 61-7777) July 1960. "Living Stereo" release.

• "IT'S NOW OR NEVER" ~ "A Mess of Blues" (RCA 447-0628) Febru­ary 1962. Gold Standard Series reissue.

• "IT'S NOW OR NEVER" ~ "A Mess of Blues" (RCA PB-11110) October 1977. One of 15 singles in the boxed set 15 Golden Records—30 Golden Hits (RCA PP-11301).

• "IT'S NOW OR NEVER" ~ "Surrender" (RCA PB-13889) October 1984. One of six singles in the boxed set Elvis' Greatest Hits—Golden Singles, Volume 1 (RCA PP-13897). The singles were pressed on gold vinyl with gold "50th" anniversary labels.

• "IT'S NOW OR NEVER"/"! Walk the Line" (by Jaye P. Morgan) (U.S.A.F. Program #125/#126) February 1961.
An edited version of the song was contained in this five-minute radio program for the U.S. Air Force.

He co-composed a number of Elvis songs:

AARON SCHROEDER...

What a talent,and what great song"s this man wrote/co.


R.I.P.

I always thought one of the best pictures of ELVIS ever was put on the "It's Now or Never" release. I love how his dimple shows so much in that picture. I have seldom, if ever, noticed it in other photos. I think the Denmark cover is really different. What a treasure to have that rare one!
Aaron Schroeder, may he rest in peace. I was surprised to see how many songs the gentleman had co-written for ELVIS!! It is a shame how Colonel turned so many of the writers off with his greediness. Seems there would have been plenty of money to go around for the song writers too.....if the COLONEL wasn't hoarding so much of it for HIMSELF. Thinking of all the money the Colonel gambled away anyway...makes me think of all that money that could have been spent on more beautiful music/lyrics for Elvis to sing or at least to take some financial pressures off our guy!!! What a waste.
Thanks again... for another amazingly interesting and documented thread.

Thanks "CAROLE" and "KEV"



*MAY 5th... ELVIS Is Unhappy! and complains to the Colonel that when RCA Mastered "It's Now or Never" in NY ~ the sound was altered.. on the new TEST RECORDING.. is different to the Acetate Recording he was given at the Session. 'Bill Bullock' responds that Elvis' record player probably sounds different to the Studio Equipment ~ hoping that will be the end of it!

*USA... The 45rpm single shipped in July'60.. and in a very short space in time generated $4.5 million dollars in sales.
*USA... in the States IT'S NOW OR NEVER was his 26th Million seller... A MESS OF BLUES his 27th.
*USA... 5 million sales (by 1966 for the States)
*ELVIS said.... 1st October 1960.. I've recorded 26 single releases, and in fact I have 33 Gold Records.
--(due to 2 million sellers+)
*G.B. - First single to be Number 1 in its first week (also 9 weeks in total at Number 1)
*G.B... 1 million sales + in Britain.
*GERMANY... 1 million+ sales.. (up to 1966)
*OTHERS..... 2 million + including NORWAY, SWEDEN, JAPAN and many others...(1966 Reports)
*1960-AUGUST ~ It's Now or Never, is included on GOLD RECORDS Volume 3, & quickly sells 600,000 copies.
*1966... IT'S NOW OR NEVER was reported to have 9 million GLOBAL SALES. (1966 estimate)

ELVIS RECORDED a Home Version of
THERE'S NO TOMORROW in April 1959 in Bad Nauheim, GERMANY
(before the new Lyrics for IT'S NOW OR NEVER took place)

"There's No Tomorrow", written by Al Hoffman, Leo Corday, and Leon Carr,
is one of two popular songs based on the Italian song "O Sole Mio" [music by Eduardo di Capua].
(The other was "It's Now or Never", popularized by Elvis Presley.)

The biggest hit version of the song was recorded by Tony Martin which charted in 1950.

The recording was released by RCA Victor Records as a 78rpm record (catalog number 20-3582)
and a 45rpm record (catalog number 47-3078).

The record first reached the Billboard magazine charts on November 4, 1949
and lasted 27 weeks on the chart, peaking at #2.

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Wonderful informative thread Rex. Thanks !

Even though this was one of his biggest selling records...i still can't help thinking that his actual vocal perfomance is overlooked. It is OUTSTANDING. Only bettered around this period by the incredible Surrender. Wonderful !

Thanks Chris... totally agree...


When you think ITS NOW OR NEVER and ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT are recorded at the same sessions as the ELVIS IS BACK album..

April 1960 really was a Masterful Recording Session... and the album never had the 2 big hit singles included on it.. back then..

Elvis' Vision in wanting to record this song, and even requesting New Lyrics... was very Unique and far sighted I think... its great that Freddy really took that excitement from Germany back to the States and actually acted on Elvis' wishes so promptly... a Master Stroke all round.

I remember the Radio Plays for this song at the time ~ really captured Elvis to the Music Publics Heart... he may have been away for almost 2 years... but this Song really put Elvis back at Number 1 in peoples minds again.. in the 1960s new era of Pop Music... and the next release "..Lonesome" really made sure Elvis would be noticed on Every Release...

Which probably helped him through the whole of the 60s with the start of the Beatles and Beat Groups...

additional info:


The first version with English lyrics was recorded in april 1914 by Charles W. Harrison with the title "My sunshine" on Edison cylinder 2594 & Edison record 2964. (Sound available on the web).


colonel snow

Thankyou "Colonel Snow"

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Thanks for sharing this

Thanks for all the info very interesting Rex

You can't really fault this song.Elvis' vocals are awesome on this

TCE
Lorraine

love this song

see for additional information the US single section



colonel snow