text: heartbreak hotel " heartbreak hotel " is a song recorded by american singer elvis presley . it was released as a single on january 27 , 1956 , presley 's first on his new record label rca victor . it was written by tommy durden and mae boren axton . a newspaper article about the suicide of a lonely man who jumped from a hotel window inspired the lyrics . axton presented the song to presley in november 1955 at a country music convention in nashville . presley agreed to record it , and did so on january 10 , 1956 , in a session with his band , the blue moon boys , the guitarist chet atkins , and the pianist floyd cramer . " heartbreak hotel " comprises an eight - bar blues progression , with heavy reverberation throughout the track , to imitate the character of presley 's sun recordings . the single topped billboard 's top 100 chart for seven weeks , cashbox 's pop singles chart for six weeks , was number one on the country and western chart for seventeen weeks and reached number three on the r & b chart , becoming presley 's first million - seller , and one of the best - selling singles of 1956 . " heartbreak hotel " achieved unheard of feats as it reached the top 5 of country and western , pop , and rhythm ' n ' blues charts simultaneously . it would eventually be certified double platinum by the recording industry association of america . presley had first performed " heartbreak hotel " during a live show in december 1955 during a tour of the louisiana hayride , but the song gained strong popularity after his appearance on stage show in march 1956 . it became a staple of presley 's repertoire in live appearances , last performed by him on may 29 , 1977 , at the civic center in baltimore , maryland . in 1995 " heartbreak hotel " was inducted into the grammy hall of fame , and in 2004 rolling stone magazine named it one of the " 500 greatest songs of all time " . that year it was also included in the rock and roll hall of fame 's " 500 songs that shaped rock and roll " . a rock and roll standard , since its original release " heartbreak hotel " has been covered by several rock and pop acts , including willie nelson and leon russell , who recorded a duet version that topped the country charts in 1979 . background and writing the song was written in 1955 , by mae boren axton , a high school teacher with a background in musical promotion , and jacksonville based singer – songwriter tommy durden . the lyrics were based on a report supposedly in the miami herald about a man who had destroyed all his identity papers and jumped to his death from a hotel window , leaving a suicide note with the single line , " i walk a lonely street " . in 2016 , an article in rolling stone magazine suggested that the story in reality originated from a report about a painter and petty criminal , alvin krolik , whose marriage had failed and who wrote a partial autobiography including the line " this is the story of a person who walked a lonely street . " krolik 's story was published in news media , and received further publicity after he was shot and killed in an attempted robbery in el paso , texas . on august 25 , 1955 , the el paso times reported krolik 's death under the headline " story of person who walked lonely street " . axton and durden give different accounts of how the song was written . durden 's account is that he had already written the song and performed it with his band the swing before he presented it to axton . axton 's account is that durden had only written a few lines of the song and asked her to help him finish it . she says that the report of the suicide " stunned " her , and she told durden , " everybody in the world has someone who cares . let 's put a heartbreak hotel at the end of this lonely street " . they were interrupted by the arrival of glen reeves , a local performer who had previously worked with axton . the duo asked reeves to help with the song , but after hearing the title he remarked that it was " the silliest thing i 've ever heard " , and left them to finish it themselves . the song was written within an hour , and durden recorded it onto axton 's tape recorder . reeves returned , and after hearing the song he was asked to provide a voice demo for axton in the style of elvis presley . reeves obliged , but once again turned down the offer of a writing credit for his input . axton approached the popular singing duo the wilburn brothers , and offered them the chance to record " heartbreak hotel " . however , doyle and teddy wilburn declined , describing the song as " strange and almost morbid " . axton , however , agreed to a publishing deal with buddy killen , a young nashville bass player , who had recently set up his own publishing company called tree publishing . with a publishing deal in place , axton arranged through presley 's manager colonel tom parker to present the song to presley at the annual country music disc jockey convention in nashville , tennessee , where he was to be named the most promising male country star of 1955 . axton had been hired earlier in the year to publicise the hank snow jamboree concerts at the gator bowl stadium in jacksonville , florida , which included presley in the line up . during one concert axton observed the reaction of the audience to presley 's performance , in which a crowd of screaming fans chased him back to his dressing room and ripped his clothes off to take as souvenirs . axton followed presley 's career closely after this incident , and met him at a july 28 concert in jacksonville , this time interviewing him for the local media . according to author albert goldman , axton made writing presley 's first big hit one of her ambitions . rumors had been circulating in the press for several weeks that presley , who had begun his career at sun records , was ready to move to rca victor to help launch him nationally . axton played the demo to him in his room at the andrew jackson hotel on november 10 , 1955 . upon hearing the demo , presley exclaimed " hot dog , mae , play that again ! " , and listened to it ten times , memorizing the song . after signing with rca on november 21 , 1955 , presley accepted axton 's offer of a third of the royalties if he made the song his first single on his new label . presley performed the song for the first time in , arkansas on december 9 , 1955 , and declared to the audience that it would be his first hit . recording " heartbreak hotel " was the second song presley recorded at rca victor , following " i got a woman " , during his debut session at 1525 street in nashville on january 10 , 1956 . presley arrived at the studio with the song ready to record without seeking rca 's approval , and although producer steve sholes was not sure that it would be a success , he recorded " heartbreak hotel " believing that presley knew what he was doing . recording at rca victor was a different experience for presley and his band , who were used to a more relaxed atmosphere at sun studio . guitar player scotty moore later commented , " it was a larger studio than sun 's and more regimented - they called everything by a tape number . we would sit around at sun , eat hamburgers and then somebody would say , ' let 's try something . ' " almost immediately sholes discovered a problem while recording presley . rca victor had always insisted their performers stay still as they sang so the microphone would pick up the vocals ; even the slightest tilt of the head would result in missing sound . sholes had told presley to stand on a painted x on the floor , telling him " whatever you do , don 't move " . during the recording of " i got a woman " , sholes noticed that presley 's voice and guitar were not always being picked up by the microphone . presley explained to sholes that he had to " jump around to sing it right . it 's something that just happens — just a part of the way i sing " . sholes arranged for the whole studio to be re - miked so that presley 's voice and guitar could be picked up from anywhere in the studio , and recording continued . as well as the blue moon boys , his regular backing band of moore , bassist bill black and drummer d.j. fontana , presley was joined by established rca victor musicians chet atkins ( who also helped sholes produce the session ) on guitar , and floyd cramer on piano . following a suggestion from presley , sholes used a hallway at the studio to get an unusual echo for the single . sholes was attempting to recapture the sun records sound , but he was unaware that sun founder sam phillips had used two tape recorders and a slight time delay to create it on previous presley recordings . when phillips first heard " heartbreak hotel " , he remarked that it was a " morbid mess " . most others at rca agreed , declaring " heartbreak hotel " a terrible choice of song , especially after hearing that the finished recording sounded nothing like presley 's sun recordings . internal memos from the time show that every one of rca 's executive corps disliked it so much that one of them insisted " we certainly can 't release that one " . in an interview , durden conceded that he did not recognize his song after presley had made the changes to it in the studio , including the tempo , phrasing , lyrics , and overall sound . in subsequent recordings , these major modifications to the existing material became a normal procedure for presley who took over the role of producer , although sholes was still credited . speaking of sholes ' producing credits , phillips said " he was not a producer . steve was just at every session " . mae boren axton was by elvis ' manager , colonel parker , into giving up a third of the song 's royalties to elvis , as well as adding elvis ' name to the list of songwriters for the song . release and reception " heartbreak hotel " was released as a single on january 27 , 1956 , with b - side " i was the one " , a song that was also recorded during presley 's rca debut sessions . billboard magazine praised it as " a strong blues item wrapped up in his usual powerful style and a great beat " . however , " heartbreak hotel " was less - than - warmly received by the british music press . the new musical express wrote that , " if you appreciate good singing , i don 't suppose you 'll manage to hear this disc all through " . bbc , which held a monopoly on broadcasting in britain at the time , didn 't consider it fit for general entertainment and placed it on its " restricted play " list . presley made his national television debut on january 28 , appearing on cbs ' stage show , starring tommy and jimmy dorsey . as stage show 's ratings had been slipping , producer jack philbin agreed to have presley on because he was relatively cheap at $ 1 , 250 ; after looking at a photograph of the singer , philbin exclaimed , " he 's a guitar playing marlon brando ! " despite the single having been released only a day before to coincide with presley 's national television debut , the dorsey brothers did not allow presley to perform it on their show because it didn 't work well in rehearsals . for his second appearance , on february 4 , presley was again aware that he could not perform " heartbreak hotel " . however , at his third appearance on stage show a week later , sholes pressured cbs to give consent . subsequently , presley and his band performed " heartbreak hotel " with borrowed instruments ( their own were being driven to florida in preparation for a tour ) with the backing of the dorsey brothers ' orchestra . on february 22 , the song entered the billboard pop chart at number 68 , and the country and western chart at number nine . within two months , " heartbreak hotel " reached number one on both charts . it also made top five on the r & b chart , the first presley single to chart there . this resulted in " heartbreak hotel " becoming only the second single in history to reach all three billboard charts , after carl perkins ' " blue suede shoes " . the song spent a total of twenty - seven weeks in the top 100 . by april , " heartbreak hotel " became a million - seller , earning presley his first riaa - certified gold record , and going on to be the biggest selling single of 1956 . " heartbreak hotel / i was the one " was certified platinum by on march 27 , 1992 and 2 × platinum on july 15 , 1999 by the riaa . the song made its debut on the uk singles chart in may 1956 ; it peaked at the second spot the next month and stayed on the charts for 22 weeks . personnel elvis presley – lead vocals scotty moore – electric guitar chet atkins – acoustic guitar bill black – double bass d.j. fontana – drums floyd cramer – piano steve sholes – producer , a & r bob farris – engineer legacy presley would perform the song during most of his live shows between 1956 and 1977 , performing it for the last time on may 29 , 1977 , at the civic center in baltimore , maryland . the song has been released on almost every presley compilation album since 1956 , and alternative takes have also surfaced on several compilation albums . " heartbreak hotel " was awarded by the broadcast music incorporated in its country music awards . it was re - released in 1971 for the uk market where it charted at number ten . in 1979 , following presley 's death , author robert matthew - walker wrote " heartbreak hotel became one of the legendary rock performances . for many people it is elvis presley , and it continues to excite and fascinate listeners . heartbreak hotel is a classic performance , yet when it is analyzed it appears so simple that one cannot recall a time when one did not know it . " in 1995 , the song was inducted into the grammy hall of fame , and was re - released in 1996 to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of its recording . in a 1975 interview , john lennon recalled his friend don beatty introducing him to presley 's music . lennon said that his family rarely had the radio on , unlike other members of the beatles who grew up under its influence . beatty showed lennon a picture of presley that appeared along with the charts on the new musical express , and lennon later heard " heartbreak hotel " on radio luxembourg . lennon has said : when i first heard " heartbreak hotel " , i could hardly make out what was being said . it was just the experience of hearing it and having my hair stand on end . we 'd never heard american voices singing like that . they always sang like sinatra or enunciate very well . suddenly , there 's this hillbilly hiccuping on tape echo and all this bluesy stuff going on . and we didn 't know what elvis was singing about ... it took us a long time to work what was going on . to us , it just sounded as a noise that was great george harrison described " heartbreak hotel " as a " rock n roll epiphany " when in 1956 , at age 13 , he overheard it while riding his bike at a neighbor 's house . some have said that " heartbreak hotel " turned that well - mannered schoolboy into a guitar - crazed truant who would audition for john lennon 's quarrymen the following year . the rolling stones ' guitarist keith richards wrote in his 2010 autobiography that " heartbreak hotel " had had a huge effect on him . beyond presley 's singing itself , it was the total effect of his sound and his silence that so totally affected richards : then , " since my baby left me " — it was just the sound ... that was the first rock and roll i heard . it was a totally different way of delivering a song , a totally different sound , stripped down , no bullshit , no violins and ladies ' choruses and schmaltz , totally different . it was bare right to the roots that you had a feeling were there but hadn 't yet heard . i 've got to take my hat off to elvis . the silence is your canvas , that 's your frame , that 's what you work on ; don 't try and deafen it out . that 's what " heartbreak hotel " did to me . it was the first time i 'd heard something so stark . led zeppelin 's lead singer robert plant stated that the song " changed his life . " he recalled hearing it for the first time when he was eight years old : it was so animal , so sexual , the first musical arousal i ever had . you could see a twitch in everybody my age . all we knew about the guy was that he was cool , handsome and looked wild . critic robert cantwell wrote in his unpublished memoir twigs of folly : the opening strains of " heartbreak hotel " , which catapulted presley 's regional popularity into national hysteria , opened a fissure in the massive mile - thick wall of post - war regimentation , standardization , , and commercialization in american society and let come rushing through the rift a cataract from the immense waters of sheer , human pain and frustration that have been building up for ten decades behind it . president bill clinton performed the song on saxophone during his appearance on the arsenio hall show on june 3 , 1992 . in 2004 it was ranked number forty - five on rolling stone 's list of " the 500 greatest songs of all time " , the rock and roll hall of fame included it in its unranked list 500 songs that shaped rock and roll and in 2005 , uncut magazine ranked the first performance of " heartbreak hotel " in 1956 by presley as the second greatest and most important cultural event of the rock and roll era . paul mccartney , who participated in uncut 's poll stated , " it 's the way [ presley ] sings it as if he is singing from the depths of hell . his phrasing , use of echo , it 's all so beautiful . musically , it 's perfect . " heartbreak hotel , a film based on a mythical incident involving the kidnapping of presley , was released theatrically in 1988 . it starred david keith as elvis presley , and was directed by chris columbus . in 1999 , elvis presley enterprises purchased a wilson world hotel branch and after several renovations , opened it and named the hotel after the song , located across the street from presley 's home , graceland , in memphis , tennessee . in 2015 , " heartbreak hotel " was named as the # 2 song of the rock era in the book the top 500 songs of the rock era : 1955 - 2015 . early cover versions radio humorist stan freberg parodied " heartbreak hotel " immediately after its release , because the vocals on the original record featured a heavy use of reverb . in the cover , the lead singer repeatedly asks for " more echo on [ his ] voice . " when presley recorded " hound dog " a few months later , he had taken over the role of producer , using what he learned at sun records ( although sholes was still credited ) and decided not to use echo . connie francis recorded the song for her 1959 album rock ' n ' roll million sellers ; this album also features " don 't be cruel " . country singer johnny cash parodied the song in 1959 on the television show town hall party , imitating presley 's characteristic crib and hip movements . before the performance cash explained that it was " an impersonation of a rock and roll singer impersonating elvis , is what this really is " . beatles historian mark lewisohn noted that , at first as the quarrymen then later as the beatles , the group performed " heartbreak hotel " live from 1957 until 1961 ( in liverpool then later in hamburg and elsewhere ) . it is unclear whether the lead vocal was by john lennon or paul mccartney or both . a recorded version has not been forthcoming . however , mccartney ( using bill black 's upright bass ) did a version for a documentary elvis - viva las vegas , which also appears on dvd . later renditions part of the original personnel of the 1956 recording released their own versions , chet atkins recorded it for the 1963 album the guitar genius , and also , presley 's lead guitarist scotty moore recorded the song for his 1964 album the guitar that changed the world . willie nelson and leon russell had a number one cover version in 1979 on the country charts , it was russell 's only number one hit on the charts . paul mccartney later also made another cover of the song in chaos and creation at abbey road , performing it with bill black 's bass . others who have covered the song include ann - margret , who would later co - star with presley in the 1964 motion picture viva las vegas , the cadets , delaney bramlett , justin timberlake , cher , roger miller , bob dylan , bruce springsteen , john cale , merle haggard , tom jones , dax riggs , roger mcguinn , suzi quatro , van halen , jimi hendrix , neil diamond , lynyrd skynyrd , and guns n ' roses . in the 1992 film honeymoon in vegas , billy joel made a version of " heartbreak hotel " and " all shook up " , while the same year in true romance , actor val kilmer performed an a cappella version . nicole kidman and hugh jackman covered the song in a medley with prince 's " kiss " , for the 2006 warner bros. film happy feet . the song was also featured in alvin and the chipmunks ' 1990 television special rockin ' through the decades , as part of the fifties medley and its soundtrack and again for the 2007 video game alvin and the chipmunks . charts elvis presley willie nelson and leon russell