Just in time for Easter RCA Victor released
the gospel single "Crying In The Chapel" / "I
Believe In The Man In The Sky". On April 24,
1965 the a-side entered Billboard's "Hot 100" at
number 79, was listed for 14 weeks and peaked at
number 3. On May 1st "Crying In The Chapel" also
entered the "Easy Listening Chart". Here it
reached the number one spot and kept it for
seven consecutive weeks. In 1986 the RIAA
honored the domestic sales with a Gold Award,
seven years later the status was updated to
Platinum. Outside the US the single also sold
well, in Great Britain, Spain and Australia it
became a number one hit. In total RCA Victor
sold 3.75 million units, which equals 562.5
million paid streams. Commercially this release
is a real comeback for the king, no other 45
since "Return To Sender" / "Where Do You Come
From" (1962) had sold that well.
The single is not available on the streaming
platforms, but the songs can be found on the
album "His Hand In Mine" (1960) and "How
Great Thou Art" (1967).
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,
"Crying In The Chapel" accumulates 29 million streams,
"I Believe In The Man In The Sky" still
stayes below the million mark.
The picture on the front cover was made in
1964 to promote the movie "Girl Happy". RCA
Victor used the backside to advertise the gospel
album "His Hand In Mine" (1960) and the gospel
ep "Peace In The Valley" (1957).
Crying In The Chapel
The ballad was written by Artie Glenn, the first
recording was made in 1953 by his his son
Darrell. Elvis had recorded three takes of
"Crying In The Chapel" on October 30, 1960 for
his gospel album "His Hand In Mine", but wasn't
pleased with the results. Besides that there
were some insecurities regarding the copyright
and so it was decided to put the recordings in
the vaults. By 1965 the legal problems were
solved and a payment of 10,000 USD convinced the
king to approve the release of take 3. "Crying
In The Chapel" isn't a gospel song, it's more a
kind of pop ballad that uses the scenery of a
small chapel. Without doubt the song is well
written and well performed. RCA Victor released
it as a bonus track on the album "How Great Thou
Art" (1967) and also used it on the boxed set
"Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1"
(1970).
I Believe In The Man In The Sky
In contrast to "Crying In The Chapel" I would
regard "I Believe In The Man In The Sky" as a
real gospel. The first recording was made by
Bill Kenny in 1953, the song was written by
Richard Howard. Elvis needed four takes on
October 30, 1960 to deliver a perfect master.
RCA later released it on "His Hand In Mine"
(1960) and "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold
Award Hits Volume 2" (1971).
Verdict
This single proved that Elvis could still
score a hit, even in the glory days of The
Beatles. All he needed was the right kind of
material. The success of "Crying In The
Chapel" became the kickoff for the album
"How Great Thou Art" and the comeback of the
king.
(C) RCA Victor