I had a hard time deciding which version to use…Chuck Berry’s who wrote the song or the Elvis version. This is the version I know the best. The many reasons I really like this version is the clavinet and Ron Tutt’s drumming…and of course, that guy named Elvis does a good job. He also did a really good job on the charts. Altogether he had 109 songs in the Billboard 100, 25 top ten hits and 7 number 1 hits.
I heard this song a lot growing up along with his other hits.
Promised Land peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100 and #9 in the UK Charts. Chuck Berry wrote this when he was serving time in jail for violating the Mann Act. He had to borrow an atlas of the US from the prison library to plot his hero’s journey from Virginia to California.
Promised Land
I left my home in Norfolk Virginia
California on my mind
I Straddled that Greyhound,
and rolled in into Raleigh and all across Carolina
Stopped in Charlotte and bypassed Rock Hill
And we never was a minute late
We was ninety miles out of Atlanta by sundown
Rollin’ out of Georgia state
We had motor trouble it turned into a struggle,
Half way ‘cross Alabam
And that ‘hound broke down and left us all stranded
In downtown Birmingham
Right away, I bought me a through train ticket
Ridin’ cross Mississippi clean
And I was on that midnight flier out of Birmingham
Smoking into New Orleans
Somebody help me get out of Louisiana
Just help me get to Houston town
There are people there who care a little ’bout me
And they won’t let the poor boy down
Sure as you’re born, they bought me a silk suit
Put luggage in my hands,
And I woke up high over Albuquerque
On a jet to the promised land
Workin’ on a T-bone steak a la carte
Flying over to the Golden State
Oh when The pilot told me in thirteen minutes
We’d be headin’ in the terminal gate
Swing low chariot, come down easy
Taxi to the terminal zone
Cut your engines, cool your wings
And let me make it to the telephone
Los Angeles give me Norfolk Virginia
Tidewater four ten O nine
Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin’
And the poor boy’s on the line
The Grateful Dead really cook when they do this song.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I have heard some of their live versions of this…they do sound good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting. I had never actually heard the Elvis version…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the Chuck Berry version but this one is the first one I heard. I love the clavinet and it stuck with me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like Elvis’s version a lot. He was in a good period at this time musically. Too bad he couldn’t stay away from the jump suits and capes- and Col. Parker and the bad food.
LikeLiked by 2 people
They were his vices no doubt. Around this time is when it started to slowly go down I think… 75-76
LikeLiked by 1 person
phenomenal musical charting history. (Chuck Berry ain’t no slouch either!) i remember when elvis saturated the radio and hollywood. watched every movie that came on the 3 channels. honestly, this is the first time i listening to an elvis song in a really really long time…
LikeLiked by 1 person
This song was a really good cover. This is one I like as well as the original.
I remember the movie where he was on the motorcycle going around and around the cylinder at the carnival.
LikeLiked by 1 person
i cannot remember a single plot, well one was at a beach, but i remember loving elvis, he was a cutie but not a player like some of these other beach boys from the 60s movies
LikeLiked by 1 person
I watched some of them also. It’s been a long time since I saw one though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As much as I like Chuck Berry’s version – the Elvis version is the best! It’s one of the examples of how Elvis could take someone else’s songs and make it his own. Another great example of this is his version of Jerry Reed’s Guitar Man. Elvis at his peak!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes this track is alive…its great. He interpreted songs great.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t remember hearing this one. The video skipped over the second bar of lyrics.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh heck…I didn’t listen to the full video. It’s a good version .
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a A good song for my upcoming roadtrip setlist.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Perfect road song…
LikeLike