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In contrast to the previous movies, RCA didn't release the title song ("King Creole") on a single, but went for "Hard Headed Woman"  and "Don't Ask Me Why" instead. "Hard Headed Woman" entered the "Hot 100" on June 30, 1958 at number 15, had a run of 16 weeks and peaked at number 2. On the same day Billboard also started to list the track on the "Hot R&B Singles Chart". Here it stayed for 10 weeks and reached number 6 ("Most Played R&B By Jockeys") and number 2 ("R&B Best Sellers In Stores"). "Don't Ask Me Why" entered the "Hot 100" on July 7th at number 65, had a run of nine weeks and peaked at number 25. In the US the single sold more than a million times, so the RIAA presented a Gold Award to Elvis as early as 1958. In 1992 the organization updated the status to Platinum. Worldwide "Hard Headed Woman" / "Don't Ask Me Why" sold 3 million units, which translates to 450 million paid streams. Commercially Elvis was back to the level of "Don't" / "I Beg Of You", but still below the sales of his previous movie singles.

The single is not available on the streaming platforms, but both tracks can be found on the album "King Creole" (1958). In 2016 the complete Presley catalogue was restored and remastered by Vic Anesini for a boxed set of 60 compact discs called "The Album Collection". Sony Music Entertainment provides the streaming platforms with the same versions of the individual tracks, albeit in 24 bit/90 khz flac. That means, if the platform of your choice supports high resolution audio, you can enjoy the songs in the same quality Sony used to scan and master them. On Spotify, which has a market share of approximately 30% and is the only platform that publishes streaming figures, "Hard Headed Woman" accumulates 25 million streams, "Don't Ask Me Why" clocks in at 1.2 million.

Of course RCA Victor used a promo photo for "King Creole" and they also didn't forget to mention the accordant motion picture.

 

Hard Headed Woman

The singer tries to prove his theory, that hard headed women are the root of all evil with several episodes from the Bible. The lyrics are funny, the melody and rhythm are straight rock'n'roll. The brass-element adds something unique to the song. Elvis performs it with a lot of power, almost aggression. It's a very good track and certainly one of the king's best movie tunes. It was written by Claude DeMetrius and recorded by Elvis on January 15, 1958. The king needed ten takes to archive a satisfactory master. RCA Victor released "Hard Headed Woman" on the extended player "A Touch Of Gold - Volume 1" (1959) and on the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970).

Don't Ask Me Why

The ballad re-appeard on the ep "A Touch Of Gold - Volume 3" (1960) and the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Volume 2" (1971). It was recorded on January 16, 1958 within 12 takes. "Don't Ask Me Why" was written by Fred Wise and Ben Weisman.

 

Verdict

With a rocker on the a-side and a ballad as a bonus this single is another strong release by Mr. Presley.

 (C) RCA Victor