Elvis Presley Sheet Music
Elvis Presley
„A song is not a song until you sing it.“
Did you know that Elvis Presley did not write any ‚of his‘ songs himself?
Asked about it, „The King“ expressed in 1959 that he probably could if he sat down and tried, only he had never felt the urge.
Elvis Aaron Presley (* January 8, 1935 Tupelo, USA; † 16. August 1977 Memphis, USA), better known as Elvis Presley or simply Elvis, was a performer; a gifted singer, his own music producer and arranger of the songs he carefully selected (although he does not appear in these capacities by name on any of his records).
And „The King of Rock 'n' Roll“ was also very busy in acting, especially in the 1960s. Mostly as the young, handsome and guitar-playing playboy on beautiful beaches of our earth, singing in a shallow story idolized by the girl world.
A voice that even Plácido Domingo raved about
To interpret songs was more important to the young, singing talented Elvis Presley since his childhood than to write them. He did receive a guitar as a gift from his penniless parents at the age of 10 after he placed fifth in a radio talent contest with an a cappella number, but it was not to inspire him to a career as a singer/songwriter (as was the case, for example, with his contemporary Buddy Holly). The guitar remained a dear instrument to him (on which he was also able to strike three chords, as Presley once jokingly answered to smash rumors that the guitar on stage was only fake, or he must be a gifted guitarist), but Elvis Presley it meant everything to sing and thereby put all his passion, conviction and statement of the song in its interpretation.
Inspiration sources he had thereby quite! In the then strictly racially segregated southern states of the U.S., the young Elvis stole again and again together with the colored neighbor boy and friend in the nearby ‚black‘ church congregation and listened to the partly extatically presented gospels of the choir there. Gospel, country, blues and rock 'n' roll were to influence and shape Elvis Presley. And with his unique, baritonal voice color and his sometimes very rhythmic, then again wonderfully legato-like singing technique, he gave the songs of the 30s to 60s an unmistakable style, a character that made the songs his own. In addition, in the rehearsal and recording sessions with the musicians present, he determined the arrangements, some of which differed significantly from the originals.
Naturally, Elvis Presley initially moved in the newly emerging style of Rockabilly (a mix of ‚black‘ Rhythm & Blues and ‚white‘ Country and thus a variant of rock 'n' roll); „Blue Moon“ (1956) and „Good Rockin' Tonight“ (1954/55) are testimonies from that time. But Presley could not be reduced to this genre; he served pretty much all styles that offered themselves to him in the three decades of his musical career with a somnambulistic and promising security. The fact that he had a largely free hand in the selection of songs (his manager took care exclusively of organizational and financial matters) was very convenient for Elvis Presley.
And so, in addition to the fast and rocking numbers, to which he lent his unmistakable hip swing and his pointe dancing foot acrobatics on stage, such wonderful ballads also flowed into his portfolio, such as „Are You Lonesome To-night?“ (1960, the only track included at the suggestion of his manager), „Can't Help Falling in Love“ (1961) and, last but not least, the socially critical song „In The Ghetto“ (1969).
A propos ‚socio-critical‘ - what do you know about Elvis Presley?
From his private life? Not much. Presley left no diary, no biographical records of any kind. Interviews he gave rarely and reluctantly. From large Galaveranstaltungen held the „King“ rather far away. It is sufficiently known that he exercised the two years of military service (which he completed in Germany, where he also met his later wife Priscilla Ann Beaulieu) gladly and patriotically as a simple soldier and behaved so conscientiously and disciplined that the GI Presley returned to the U.S. with the rank of sergeant in 1960.
At the same time, Elvis Presley has left a clear statement against racial segregation, without making big talk about it: The closeness to ‚black‘ music, which impressed him since childhood, could not be ignored. Also, from 1968, the colored gospel and soul singing group „The Sweet Inspirations“ belonged as backup singers to his permanent live band.
Elvis Presley is said to have rejected sheet music - but there are some?
Meanwhile, yes!
In fact, Elvis Presley thought nothing of notated music. And also he did not allow his fellow musicians in the studio to bring sheet music of the selected songs. Just by reception, he was able to get melodies, chords and lyrics in no time draufzuschaffen and come up with arrangements, which he then worked out with the musicians and played through until the respective song was perfect for a record recording.
Happily, some publishers have now taken on the songs interpreted by Elvis Presley, so that there is a rich palette of sheet music and published arrangements.
And the nice thing is: you can find this sheet music after Elvis Presley with us in our webshop!
You can get a complete catalog of all sheet music of Elvis Presley songs in our webshop by clicking this link.
Please use our multiple filters like ‚category‘, ‚rubric‘, ‚style/genre‘ or ‚difficulty‘ to search specifically for your desired Elvis sheet music.
We have gladly presorted some for you here from ‚category‘:
- Symphony Orchestra Sheet Music of Elvis Presley songs
- Concert Band Sheet Music of Elvis Presley songs
- Jazz Ensemble Sheet Music of Elvis Presley songs
- Brass Ensemble Sheet Music of Elvis Presley songs
Under ‚Sub Category‘ you will also find CDs, DVDs, Play Alongs, a biography about Elvis Presley – and so much more. Take a look!
I play the trumpet. Is there Elvis Presley sheet music available for my instrument?
But yes! Please access our full catalog with sheet music of Elvis Presley songs.
Under "Limit selection" you can thin the full list according to your needs, for example by filtering the list under "Category" ➺ "Sheet Music for Instruments" for instrumental sheet music of Elvis Presley. You will surely find what you are looking for!
You can also search specifically for a title by Elvis Presley: To do this, please enter the name of the song (often only a part of the name is enough) and in addition the word presley in our search box. Since the Elvis Presley songs were all covered by „The King of Rock 'n' Roll“, it could happen without the name addition presley after the search that you are offered the original version of the title by the original author / composer.
For example, typing the words jailhouse presley will find you all the sheet music from the Elvis Presley version of „Jailhouse Rock“. Try it!
Ah, and as an aside, the following now-winged words emerged from a security protocol used by the security team at the end of Elvis Presley concerts;
they were meant to prevent escalation and keep adrenaline-saturated, raving (especially female) fans from storming the stage in search of their idol.
They read: