Elvis covers Dylan: The soundtrack to “Spinout”   Elvis Presley’s 22nd movie.   RCA Records (1966)   Dylan once said that Presley’s cover of “Tomorrow Is A Long Time” was “the one recording I treasure the most.”   The song originally appeared on the album, Spinout. According to Ernst Jorgensen’s book, Elvis Presley: A Life In Music – The Complete Recording Sessions, it was recorded at RCA’s Studio B, Nashville, in late May, 1966.

According to  Jorgensen’s’ book,    Presley got into  the song via  Charlie McCoy, who had previously  participated in the  Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde sessions.   McCoy played the album Odetta Sings Dylan before an Elvis session, and Presley “had become taken with ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’.” Although it had been covered  by other artists, Dylan had not yet released a version.

Scotty Moore, Chip Young, and McCoy  grabbed their acoustic guitars, while Bob Moore played electric bass.    A tambourine was then added. “By take three, they had completed a gorgeous – and for Elvis, extraordinarily long – five-minute master.

“Elvis’ discography also includes covers of these Dylan songs ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’, ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and ‘I Shall Be Released’.

“When I first heard Elvis’s voice, I just knew that I wasn’t going to work for anybody, and nobody was going to be my boss … Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail. I thank God for Elvis Presley.” -Bob Dylan

Dylan had this to say about Presley’s death:

It was so sad. I had a breakdown! I broke down… one of the very few times I went over my whole life. I went over my whole childhood. I didn’t talk to anyone for a week after Elvis died. If it wasn’t   for Elvis and Hank Williams, I couldn’t be doing what I do today.

“My mouth feels like Bob Dylan’s been sleeping in it.”   -Elvis Presley

On his recovery from a serious 1997 illness Dylan told the world, ‘I really thought I’d be seeing Elvis soon.

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