The Most likely Unreleased Sun tune to be issued is.....

[cadillac-elvis]

"Tennessee Saturday Night".

I have an article from the 90's that states a tape exists.
There is a rumor of an acetate of this song.
There are many cover versions on youtube, and it does seem like the type
of thing Elvis would have cut if he was inclined to do so.

To top it off, Ernst has a habit of holding back material
and saving stuff for future releases.
Hopefully this tune will get "discovered" and
put out some time soon, because we are all getting older
and would like to hear this stuff.

Here is a link to article I found on line.

http://www.elvis-express.com/news2019-02-0601.htm

I am also included a piece from Elvis express as well.

[Mojo Filter]

There is no absolute proof that Elvis recorded this song at Sun. It's all just rumours with no hard evidence. The label shot in the link is a fake. It's just another example of people guessing and speculating, and in some cases making up stories. As far as i know there is no RCA log sheet that Elvis recorded the song or any notes from Steve Sholes that he required from the tapes from Sam Phillips.

If there was any evidence that the song was recorded at Sun Ernst surely would have included it in ABFT, even if it was just paperwork. There's no way he would have held anything back, and most certainly not the audio if he had it or knew who had it.

Every scrap that was all to do with Sun was "all" in ABFT that Jorgensen could find.

[Colin B]

There is no absolute proof that Elvis recorded this song at Sun. It's all just rumours with no hard evidence. The label shot in the link is a fake. It's just another example of people guessing and speculating, and in some cases making up stories. As far as i know there is no RCA log sheet that Elvis recorded the song or any notes from Steve Sholes that he required from the tapes from Sam Phillips.

If there was any evidence that the song was recorded at Sun Ernst surely would have included it in ABFT, even if it was just paperwork. There's no way he would have held anything back, and most certainly not the audio if he had it or knew who had it.

Every scrap that was all to do with Sun was "all" in ABFT that Jorgensen could find.

We are all familiar with the list of unreleased songs supposedly recorded at Sun !

What makes Tennessee Saturday Night different from the other rumoured titles is the fact that RCA were considering it for release on the 1965 album: Elvis For Everyone.

This lends credence to the idea that they actually had it in their possession then !

[Mojo Filter]

There is no absolute proof that Elvis recorded this song at Sun. It's all just rumours with no hard evidence. The label shot in the link is a fake. It's just another example of people guessing and speculating, and in some cases making up stories. As far as i know there is no RCA log sheet that Elvis recorded the song or any notes from Steve Sholes that he required from the tapes from Sam Phillips.

If there was any evidence that the song was recorded at Sun Ernst surely would have included it in ABFT, even if it was just paperwork. There's no way he would have held anything back, and most certainly not the audio if he had it or knew who had it.

Every scrap that was all to do with Sun was "all" in ABFT that Jorgensen could find.

We are all familiar with the list of unreleased songs supposedly recorded at Sun !

What makes Tennessee Saturday Night different from the other rumoured titles is the fact that RCA were considering it for release on the 1965 album: Elvis For Everyone.

This lends credence to the idea that they actually had it in their possession then !

I have never seen any proof of that not even a photocopy of the log sheet.

[Sebastian E]

The fact that the song title appeared on a list in 1965 does not prove that RCA had a recording of this song. A possible alternate explanation could be that someone at RCA simply assumed that they had a recording because the song was listed in the booklet "The Album Of Jukebox Favorites No 1". Today we know that these kinds of booklets were simply filled up with non Elvis songs. Maybe they didn't know that in 1965.

[Mister Moon]

Here's an excerpt from the book "Sun Records - The Brief History Of The Legendary Record Label", by Colin Escott and Martin Hawkins (Omnibus Press). This appears on page 11 of the 1980 edition, in reference to the unissued Sun stuff by Elvis :

RCA has admitted having "Tennessee Saturday Night" on tape and various guesses have been made concerning the other songs left unissued.

[Sebastian E]

Does Escott name a source for this claim?

[Mister Moon]

Does Escott name a source for this claim?

No, there is no source named.

At least one of our members has direct contact with Escott. Maybe he could drop him a line.

If "Tennessee Saturday Night" exists / has ever existed as performed by Elvis, Scotty and Bill during 1954 / 55, it has to be a radio transcription. I don't recall this title being among those annotated by Steve Sholes when he received the Elvis tapes from Sun.

[cadillac-elvis]

Someone just recently mentioned that the correspondense within RCA in 1965 listed this song for possible inclusion for
"Elvis for everyone". that's pretty good evidence.

[Mojo Filter]

The fact that the song title appeared on a list in 1965 does not prove that RCA had a recording of this song. A possible alternate explanation could be that someone at RCA simply assumed that they had a recording because the song was listed in the booklet "The Album Of Jukebox Favorites No 1". Today we know that these kinds of booklets were simply filled up with non Elvis songs. Maybe they didn't know that in 1965.

That's it. That booklet is where it all started. I don't believe the rumours actually started when the booklet was released which was in late 1955, but rather during the heyday of bootlegging. In the 70s, especially after Elvis died, and unreleased stuff was popping up more frequently, i honestly believe that when bootleggers and collectors saw this original song folio book they thought Elvis must have recorded these, why would they put these other songs in amongst some of the songs that Elvis did record, and that's where i believe it all started.

In reality, and according to Ger Rijffs research, the songs where just under the Hill and Range publishing and to pad the book out more. If you study the book not all of Elvis' sun sides are included, the ones that are not included are because Hill and Range couldn't get the publishing, i would assume. The non Elvis songs were just there to pad out the booklet and promote the songs.

If "Tennessee Saturday Night" was recorded by Elvis at Sun or any other time in his career RCA would have no problems or hesitation in releasing it considering it was under the Hill and Range publishing umbrella.

When they put together out of desperation a non Elvis soundtrack album, namely "Elvis For Everyone" in 1965, they put at least two songs on that album that weren't under the Hill and Range publishing - "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "When It Rains it Really Pours" --> a song that was recorded in 1957 but held back because Sam Phillips wouldn't have them any of the publishing. So wouldn't RCA have preferred to have a song released that they owned rather than two that they didn't?

Considering all this i doubt RCA had "Tennessee Saturday Night" by Elvis.

[JimmyCool]

I am totally convinced that they were actually referring to "Tomorrow Night".

[colonel snow]

Here a scan with a test pressing for LP Elvis for everyone - without Tennesssee Saturday night.

Included on the LP:
1) Your cheating heart - Crying in the chapel - Tell me why - When it rains it really pours - Sound Advice
2) A whistling tune - You'll be gone - In my way - Forget me never - Tomorrow night


Indeed the story about including this track on LP Elvis for everyone is circulating for years without evidence.
Maybe RCA had the track in their vaults in the 60's?

colonel snow

[cadillac-elvis]

I am totally convinced that they were actually referring to "Tomorrow Night".

'They are two totally different songs and a mistake between these two is really a stretch.

[cadillac-elvis]

Colonel Snow, wasn't it you, on another thread that said that RCA had some documentation
for a promotional type material about the Elvis for everyone album that mentioned this song?

[colonel snow]

Colonel Snow, wasn't it you, on another thread that said that RCA had some documentation
for a promotional type material about the Elvis for everyone album that mentioned this song?

According to a Dutch “Sun-expert” the tape was in possession of Judd Phillips the brother of Sam Phillips in the 70’s. I trust the Dutch Sunexpert (he discovered My baby’s gone – acetate in the early 70’s) but I doubt about the story of the tape.
Maybe the tape was lost with cleaning the vaults in 1959 by RCA?


colonel snow