In 1982 RCA released an album especially for the German Presley fans. Because Elvis had done his military service in West-Germany, the label thought it would be a great idea to present a collection of songs, that had a link to this very country and therefore might appeal to the local devotees. It soon turned out to be a misconception, because "Elvis In Germany" sold in so little numbers, that it didn't even chart. Nevertheless BMG (the successor of RCA) released a cd-version through their "Bertelsmann Club" in 1989.

Because all tracks are available elsewhere, Sony never released a digital version of "Elvis In Germany", so the album cannot be found on the streaming platforms.

As written before, Elvis had undertaken his military service in Germany and so the cover displays a painting of him in his uniform. To look as teutonic as possible, the picture also includes a castle, a forrest and mountains. Well, the northern part of the country (where I live) looks completely different, but the cover certainly lives up to the stereotype. The back cover features liner notes as well as the tracklisting and promotion for the albums "Pictures Of Elvis" and "Pure Gold", which were also part of the Presley series of RCA/TakeOff.

The album was compiled by Helmut Radermacher, who had also created the album-series "Elvis Forever", "Rare Elvis" and "32 Film-Hits". At the time Helmut was the head of the "Elvis Presley Gesellschaft", the largest fanclub in the German speaking area. Later he published a magazine called "Golden Boy Elvis" (named after a rare German record) and "Das Grosse Elvis Presley Filmbuch", which without doubt is the most comprehensive book about the king's movies so far. As written before, all songs on the album have a link to Germany. The highlight is the inclusion of the extended player "Elvis Sails", which at the time had been out of print for decades and therefore was appealing to many fans.

The album starts with "Wooden Heart", the most famous "German" Presley tune. The song is based on the traditional "Muss I Denn, Muss I Denn Zum Staedtele Hinaus", which was adapted in 1827 by Friedrich Phillip Silcher (1789-1860). 133 years later Fred Wise, Ben Weisman, Kay Twomey and Bert Kaempfert turned the track into "Wooden Heart". Strangely though they didn't use the original lyrics, but translated the new English ones back into German. They did it in the style of a cheap translation tool, so the German lyrics appear downright stupid to any native speaker. Elvis recorded the tune for his movie "GI Blues" on April 28, 1960 within four takes. The accordant soundtrack album became a number one hit, was certified by the RIAA with a Platinum Award and moved 7.5 units worldwide. In Europe and Asia "Wooden Heart" was also released on a single, which sold 2 million units in Germany alone. In 1964 and 1965 the track finally was issued in the US, this time on the flipsides of "Blue Christmas" (1964) and "Puppet On A String" (1965). In 1970 "Wooden Heart" was re-released on the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1".

This one also is an adaption of an old folksong. This time it's "Aupres De Ma Bonde", a French children's song, which was also sung by the French infantry in the era of Ludwig XIV. Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennet used the old melody for "I Love Only One Girl", recorded by Elvis on June 29, 1966 within two takes for his movie "Double Trouble". RCA released it on the accordant soundtrack album, later their subsidiary CAMDEN re-issued it on "Burning Love And Hits From His Movies". While the soundtrack stagnated at number 47 and never sold more than 1.6 million copies, the budget album moved over two million units and was certified Platinum. So far, so good. But where is the connection to Germany? Well, the singer loves a girl in every town and sings "I'm proud of my Brunhilda in Frankfurt on the Rhein, she's a lot of woman and all of her is mine. But she can lift a Steinway as easy as a Stein". WTF?!? In Germany we have two cities called "Frankfurt", one of them is located on the river Oder, the other one on the river Main. But on the Rhein there is no Frankfurt in sight. Of course I don't know the German women Tepper and Bennet had met, but the average ones are not reminiscent of Hulk. So the whole thing is just as funny and clever, as describing Americans as trigger-happy cowboys. 

Joy Byers wrote the song for the motion picture "Viva Las Vegas", Elvis recorded it on July 9, 1963. He needed five attempts to get it right. RCA first released it on the accordant soundtrack ep, later it was made the title of a compilation of movie tunes. While the "Viva Las Vegas" ep sold just 500,000 copies, the album "C'mon Everybody" was retailed four times as much and earned the king a Gold Award. In the song Elvis sings "...there ain't nothing wrong with the long-heared music like Brahms, Beethoven and Bach" and adds "...but I was born with a guitar in my hand and I was born to rock!" So the connection to Germany is the mentioning of the three composers. It's not much, but somehow the longplayer has to be filled.

The next tune has to offer a bit more. Because "GI Blues" was set to play in Germany, some teutonic sounds were needed. So Sid Wayne, Abner Silver and Joseph Lilley took Johann Strauss' "Geschichten Aus Dem Wienerwald" and turned it into "Tonight's All Right For Love". Johann Baptist Strauss lived from 1825 to 1899 and was the son of a man by the same name, who also was a composer and lived from 1804 to 1849. "Geschichten Aus Dem Wienerwald" is a series of five waltzes, first performed in 1868. On May 6, 1960 Elvis taped 17 takes as well as two workpart-takes. The master was spliced of take 10 and workpart-take 2. In the song the vocalist tries to seduce a lady by singing about the romantic night. In Germany "Tonight's All Right For Love" was released on the "GI Blues" soundtrack, but in the US the fans had to wait until 1974, when RCA finally issued the track on the compilation album "A Legendary Performer - Volume 1". Back in 1960 the US version of "GI Blues" had featured "Tonight Is So Right For Love", an adaption of Offenbach's "Barcarole" from "Hoffmanns Erzaehlungen". Jakob Offenbach lived from 1819 to 1890, after he had moved to Paris, he adjusted his name to Jacques Offenbach. The opera "Hoffmanns Erzaehlungen" premiered in 1881 in Paris under the name of "Les contes d'Hoffmann". This song was supposed to be released globally in the film and on the album, but in several European countries there was a copyright on the classic melody and so another tune had to be reworked. Paramount filmed both songs in front of the same backdrop and RCA produced two versions of the soundtrack. So both companies could alter their products according to the legal situation in the various countries.

Like the previous song, "Today, Tomorrow And Forever" is based on a German melody. This time it's Franz Liszt's "Liebestraum", to which Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye added new lyrics. Liszt lived from 1811 until 1886. The "Liebestraum" or "Liebestraum Nr. 3" is part of a series of piano-pieces, released by Liszt in 1850. For the movie "Viva Las Vegas" Elvis and Ann-Margret recorded two duet-takes on July 11, 1963. To produce a solo version the musicians taped four instrumental takes, which were filed as number 3 to 6 (the producer simply continued the numbering). In the end the king didn't use the music tracks and recorded his solo version live with the band. In total he tried six times, the final attempt was chosen as master. In 1964 it was released on the "Viva Las Vegas" ep, seven years later the song re-appeared on Camden's budget album "C'mon Everybody".

Of course the title song of the only Presley flick, that's supposed to take place in Germany cannot be left out. It was written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, the king recorded it on April 27, 1960. The master is a splice of take 7 and take 10 (workpart). Because Elvis plays an American soldier, who is stationed in Germany, the song has a military rhythm and features some German words as well as spoofs of the language and behavior. ("...they all wearing signs saying KEEPEN SIE OFF THE GRASS").

As written before, the German editions of the "GI Blues" album and the movie featured "Tonight's All Right For Love", while the US versions included "Tonight Is So Right For Love". The German fans got to hear "Tonight Is So Right For Love" in 1972 on the album "Burning Love And Hits From His Movies" while the American followers got to hear "Tonight's All Right For Love" in 1974 on "A Legendary Performer - Volume 1". Of course it's a logical decision to present both songs on this album.

This song is from a flick called "Speedway", released in 1968. Elvis recorded it on June 20, 1967 within three takes. On the Billboard Chart the album didn't make it past number 82 and with global sales of a million copies it became the worst selling Presley album so far. Because MGM finally cut the tune from the film, RCA labeled it as "bonus song". The link to Germany is the melody, which Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennet borrowed from Brahms' "Wiegenlied". Johannes Brahms lived from 1833 to 1897, his "Wiegenlied" is a scoring of the poem "Guten Abend, gut' Nacht".

The final song on the album was written by the German composer and orchestra leader Hans Last, who re-named himself "James Last" to appeal to an international audience. It worked quite well, his career went from the 1960s to the 2010s. At times the records of "The James Last Orchestra" generated more than 30% of Polydor's profits. In 1969 the orchestra released an instrumental track called "No Words". A little later Carl Sigman added lyrics and the song, now called "Fool", was recorded by Wayne Newton. Elvis covered the tune on March 28, 1972 within two takes. On May 8th Felton Jarvis added brass and strings, but the king didn't like the overdubs and had them removed. In March 1973 "Fool" was released on the b-side of "Steamroller Blues", but its popularity made it peak at number 12 of Billboard's "Easy Listening Chart". Because the song was well known in Europe, RCA made it the a-side here. In Great Britain "Fool" became a top20-hit, worldwide the single (regardless what was considered to be the a-side) sold two million copies.

The album closes with the tracks of the exended player "Elvis Sails". Back in 1958 RCA wanted to capitalize on the hype regarding the singer's military service in Germany and so they compiled recordings of the press conference and an interview, which were made shortly before Elvis and his comrades were shipped to Bremerhaven. The plan worked well, even though Elvis didn't sing a single note, the extended player reached number 2 of the "EP Chart" and was re-pressed until the 1960s. However, two decades later the ep-format was as dead as the king and without music streaming the stuff wasn't available anymore. So Helmut Radermacher thought, that the addition of the tracks might be an incentive to buy "Elvis In Germany".