Two months after the release of "Love Me Tender" / "Any Way You Want Me" RCA Victor shipped the soundtrack ep from the singer's first movie. "Love Me Tender" was released on November 21, 1956. On December 29th Billboard listed "Poor Boy" on their singles chart "Hot 100" for the first time. In total the extended player had a run of 11 weeks and peaked at number 35. Strangely though the magazine also listed the record on the "Top LPs Chart", where it reached number 22. After the "Best Selling EPs Chart" had been installed, "Love Me Tender" entered the hitparade on January 13, 1958, had a run of four weeks and reached number 9. In its initial sales period RCA Victor retailed 500,000 units, later the domestic sales grew to 1.25 million copies. In 1992 the RIAA honored this archivement with a Platinum Award. Worldwide "Love Me Tender" sold two million copies, which equals 300 million paid streams of the complete record. This soundtrack was the first extended player by Elvis, that featured new songs. The sales were impressive.

The cover was designed with a photo from the accordant movie and liner notes.

The ep is not available on the streaming platforms, because the songs can be found on the albums "Elvis' Golden Records" (1958), "For LP Fans Only" (1959) and "A Date With Elvis" (1959).

The recordings were made on August 24, 1956 at the 20th Century Fox Stage 1 in Hollywood/California. The sessions were produced by Lionel Newman and engineered by Bob Mayer and Ken Runyon. This time Elvis didn't record with his usual band, but with Vito Mumolo (guitar), Michael Rubin (bass), Richard Cornell (drums), Luther Rountree (banjo) and Dom Frontieri (accordeon). The harmony vocals were provided by The Ken Darby Trio (Rad Robinson, John Dodson and Charles Prescott). The engagement of the singers was a logical step, because all the songs were written and arranged by Ken Darby. Because he didn't want to make his involvement visible and had also agreed to grand Elvis 50% of the writer's royalties, he credited his wife Vera Matson and Elvis Presley. On September 4th and 5th there were additional recording sessions. The location and the personnel were the same, just Dom Frontieri was replaced by Carl Fortina.

In 2014 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "Love Me Tender", which also included stereo versions of the songs and outtakes. For a review tap HERE.

The ballad is based on the traditional "Aura Lee" and was recorded within just two takes. It's a very simple, somewhat boring ballad. Nevertheless it quickly became popular amongst the female fans and was re-released on "Elvis' Golden Records" (1958), "A Legendary Performer" (1974), "Pure Gold" (1975) and the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970). Live versions can be found on the albums "Elvis" (1968) and "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden" (1972).

The singer asks a lady to dance with him once more and does so with a lively, up-tempo country song. The music was recorded on September 4, 1956 within two takes, the following day Elvis added his vocals. The master is a mix of the takes 3 (music) and 4 (vocals). In 1959 "Let Me" was also released on the album "For LP Fans Only", in 1971 it could be found on the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Volume 2".

Here we have another happy country song. The lyrics could be summarized by "I don't need money as long as I have you". The groundwork of the master was take 3, as recorded on August 24, 1956. On September 4th a "partial verse track" was produced to which vocals were added the following day. The final version is a splice of the takes 3 and 6. To fit to the basic recording the tape ran 0.45% slower. In 1959 "Poor Boy" was also released on the album "For LP Fans Only", in 1971 it could be found on the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Volume 2".

This track is based on the traditional "There's A Leak In This Old Building", the master is a splice of the takes 4 and 9, as recorded on August 24, 1956. On the same day harmony vocals, hand clapping and finger snapping were taped. Here the takes 2 and 1 were used. In the end it was decided to do without the harmony vocals. In 1959 RCA Victor re-released the song on the album "For LP Fans Only", in 1971 it was also included on the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Volume 2".