On August 28, 1962 RCA Victor released an extended player with the soundtrack of Elvis' latest movie "Kid Galahad". Because of the diminishing popularity of the format Billboard no longer offered a special chart for eps. Therefore the magazine selected "King Of The Whole Wide World" and listed the record on their singles chart "Hot 100". On September 22nd the soundtrack was ranked at number 69, it stayed on the chart for seven weeks and peaked at number 30. On the domestic market "Kid Galahad" sold 500,000 copies and therefore was awarded with Gold by the RIAA. Outside the US another 500,000 units were retailed, so in total RCA Victor was able to sell a million copies, which translates to 150 million paid streams of the complete extended player. Compared to the previous ep "Follow That Dream" the sales were lower, but everybody knew that the format was going south fast and furious.

The cover showed different promo shots for the movie, which emphasized on the king's role as a boxer. While the sleeve of "Follow That Dream" had shown Elvis with his natural hair color, he now was back to dye his hair black. The backside also promoted the eps "Peace In The Valley", "A Touch Of Gold" and "Follow That Dream" as well as the king's latest album "Pot Luck With Elvis".

Today the extended player is not available on the streaming platforms. But Sony Music Entertainment offers the CAMDEN albums "C'mon Everybody" and "I Got Lucky" (both originally released in 1971), which include all the songs from "Kid Galahad".

In 2004 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of the extended player. For a review tap HERE.

The recordings were made on October 26th and 27th, 1961 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. The sessions were produced by Jeffrey Alexander and engineered by Thorne Nogar. Elvis' band consisted of Scotty Moore (guitar), D.J. Fontana (drums), Hilmer J. Timbrell (guitar), Bob Moore (bass), Murrey Harman (drums), Dudley Brooks (piano) and Homer Randolph (saxophone). The backup vocals were provided by The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Hoyt Hawkins, Neal Matthews and Ray Walker). Neal Matthews also played guitar, Ray Walker did the whistling on "A Whistling Tune".

According to this tune everything is fine as long as you can sing a song. Elvis recorded the composition by Ruth Batchelor and Bob Roberts on October 26, 1961, but none of the 31 takes met his taste. So he taped another four takes on the next day and selected the final one for release. In Germany RCA Victor issued "King Of The Whole Wide World" on a single, which peaked at number 26 of the national chart. In 1971 the song was also released on the CAMDEN album "C'mon Everybody".

This is another song on the motto "Don't worry and enjoy your life". It was written by Fred Wise and Ben Weisman and recorded by Elvis on October 27, 1961 within ten takes. It's a nice tune, it was re-released in 1971 on the "C'mon Everybody" album.

On October 26, 1961 Elvis recorded nine takes, later another seven. The master was spliced of take seven of the second session and take nine of the first one. "Riding The Rainbow" is another happy-go-lucky-tune by Fred Wise and Ben Weisman. RCA Victor released it on the album "I Got Lucky" through their budget label CAMDEN.

In Germany this was the b-side of "King Of The Whole Wide World". On October 26, 1961 Elvis needed 21 takes to record a satisfactory version of the ballad. The authors are Sherman Edwards and Hal David. In 1971 CAMDEN used "Home Is Where The Heart Is" for the budget album "I Got Lucky".

The song was written by Dolores Fuller, Ben Weisman and Fred Wise. On October 27, 1961 Elvis recorded six takes and selected the final attempt for release. But then he decided to tape another two takes, revoked his decision and chose the 8th take as master. In 1963 RCA Victor coupled "I Got Lucky" on a single with "Girls! Girls! Girls!" for the German market. Of course CAMDEN also put the song on a budget album. Guess on which one! 

Elvis already had recorded the song by Edwards/David on July 2, 1961 for "Follow That Dream". The fourth take became the groundwork for the master, to which Ray Walker added the whistling. In the end the track was neither used in the film, nor on the soundtrack ep. After it was decided that Elvis should perform the song in "Kid Galahad", he didn't simply use his old recording, but taped "A Whistling Tune" a second time on October 26, 1961. This time he wasn't able to produce a satisfactory take. The master finally was a splice of the takes 1 and 8. CAMDEN released the song on the budget lp "C'mon Everybody" in 1971.