"Don't Be Cruel" was the first song that Presley's song publishers, Hill and Range, brought to him to record. Blackwell was more than happy to give up 50% of the royalties and a co-writing credit to Presley to ensure that the "hottest new singer around covered it". But unfortunately he had already sold the song for only $25, as he stated in an interview of American Songwriter. Freddy Bienstock, Presley's music publisher, gave the following explanation for why Elvis received co-writing credit for songs like "Don't Be Cruel." "In the early days Elvis would show dissatisfaction with some lines and he would make alterations, so it wasn't just what is known as a 'cut-in'. His name did not appear after the first year. But if Elvis liked the song, the writers would be offered a guarantee of a million records and they would surrender a third of their royalties to Elvis'." Presley recorded the song on July 2, 1956 during an exhaustive recording session at RCA studios in New York City. During this session he also recorded "Hound Dog", and "Any Way You Want Me". The song featured Presley's regular band of Scotty Moore on lead guitar, Bill Black on bass, D. J. Fontana on drums, and backing vocals from the Jordanaires. The producing credit was given to RCA's Stephen H. Sholes, although the studio recordings reveal that Presley produced the songs in this session by selecting the song, reworking the arrangement on piano, and insisting on 28 takes before he was satisfied with it. He also ran through 31 takes of "Hound Dog".
Release
The single was released on July 13, 1956 backed with "Hound Dog". Within a few weeks "Hound Dog" had risen to #2 on the Pop charts with sales of over one million. Soon after it was overtaken by "Don't Be Cruel" which took #1 on all three main charts; Pop, Country, and R 'n' B. Between them, both songs remained at #1 on the Pop chart for a run of 11 weeks tying it with the 1950 Anton Karas hit "The Third Man Theme" and the 1951/1952 Johnnie Ray hit "Cry" for the longest stay at number one by a single record from late 1950 onward until 1992's smash "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men. By the end of 1956 it had sold in excess of four million copies. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1956. Presley performed "Don't Be Cruel" during all three of his appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show in September 1956 and January 1957. In the United Kingdom it remained a B-side but was posthumously a hit in its own right, reaching #24 in the singles chart in 1978.
Legacy
"Don't Be Cruel" went on to become Presley's biggest selling single recorded in 1956, with sales over six million by 1961. It became a regular feature of his live sets until his death in 1977, and was often coupled with "Jailhouse Rock" or " Teddy Bear" during performances from 1969.
According to author Mark Lewisohn in The Complete Beatles Chroniclesthe Beatles performed it live from about 1959 to 1961, though no recording is known to survive. The band did record a laid-back version during the massive 1969 Get Back sessions, but it has never been released. However ex-Beatles John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Pete Best and Lennon's former bandmembers the Quarrymen as well as Tony Sheridan all later recorded versions of it.
