"Wooden Heart" is a pop song recorded by Elvis Presley. The composition is based on a German folk song "Muss i denn" (lit. Must I then) and it was featured in the 1960 Elvis Presley film G.I. Blues. The song was a hit single for Presley in the UK Singles Chart, reaching No. 1 for six weeks in March and April 1961.[1][2]
Background
The song was published by Elvis Presley's company Gladys Music, Inc. In the United States, it was released in November 1964 as the B-side to "Blue Christmas". Presley performed the song live during his Dinner Show concert at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas in 1975, a recording available on the Elvis Presley live album Dinner At Eight.
A cover version by Joe Dowell on the Smash Records label made it to number one in the US at the end of August 1961, knocking Bobby Lewis' "Tossin' and Turnin'" off the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 after seven weeks. Dowell's version also spent three weeks at number one on the Easy Listening chart.[3]
"Wooden Heart", written by Fred Wise, Ben Weisman, Kay Twomey and German bandleader Bert Kaempfert,[1] was based on the German folk song, "Muss i denn", originating from the Rems Valley in Württemberg, south-west Germany, and arranged by Friedrich Silcher. "Wooden Heart" features several lines from the original folk song. Marlene Dietrich recorded a version of the song in the original German sometime before 1958, pre-dating Presley, which appears as a B-side on a 1959 version of her single "Lili Marlene", released by Philips in association with Columbia Records.[4] The Elvis Presley version was published by Gladys Music, Elvis Presley's publishing company. Bobby Vinton recorded his version in 1975 with those lines translated into Polish.
The Elvis Presley version features two sections in German, the first being the first four lines: "Muss i' denn zum Städtele hinaus". The second section is towards the end and is based on a translation of the English version (therefore not appearing in the original German folk lyrics): Sei mir gut, sei mir gut, sei mir wie du wirklich sollst, wie du wirklich sollst... ("Be good to me, be good to me, be to me how you really should, how you really should...").
^ a b c"Elvis Presley – Wooden Heart (muss i denn...)" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
^"flavour of new zealand - search lever". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
^"Elvis Presley – Wooden Heart (muss i denn...)". VG-lista.
^ a b"South Africa Top 40 Singles". 5 May 2009. Archived from the original on 5 May 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
^ a b cJoel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004
^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 40, 1977" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
^"Elvis Presley – Wooden Heart (muss i denn...)" (in French). Les classement single.
^"Elvis Presley – Wooden Heart (muss i denn...)". Singles Top 100.
^"Sixties City - Pop Music Charts - Every Week Of The Sixties". Sixtiescity.net. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
^Murrells, Joseph (1985). Million selling records from the 1900s to the 1980s : an illustrated directory. Arco Pub. p. 145. ISBN0668064595. Wooden Heart - Elvis's 31st million seller achieved a seven-figure sale in Europe alone ...
^"Cash Box - Germany" (PDF). Cash Box. March 4, 1961. p. 44. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
^Wapperom, Hemmy J.S. (June 26, 1961). "Connie Froboes Set For Festival". Billboard. p. 41. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved June 26, 2023 – via Google Books.