By the autumn of 1972 the rock ‘n’ roll revival had gathered
pace to the point that Elvis, absent from this list for a decade, was for the
only time in his life kept off number one by Chuck Berry, with the new Rick
Nelson record not far behind. Fear of what else was about to happen?
“Burning Love” came after Presley’s epically point-missing
take on Mickey Newbury’s “An American Trilogy” and was clearly designed as one
last flourish of rock to prove he hadn’t lost it. The song was written by
Dennis Linde, who also played guitar (alongside James Burton) on the record,
with JD Sumner and The Stamps’ backing vocals more than up to the task. It was
originally written for Arthur Alexander, who released his version earlier in
1972, but Presley’s reading swiftly eclipsed Alexander’s.
Of course it wasn’t really the good old days returned; sonically
the record is too processed, smeared by flawless polish. But Presley’s vocal
was jarring enough to make the song sound like a requiem. He is extending a
dubious lyrical analogy between fire and sex, much as some allegedly
blasphemous gospel singers had done in the fifties when everything was still to
be achieved. But his quiver shreds the polite backdrop as he goes on to equate
sex with death. By the time he gets to the squealingly exhausted “Lord have
mercy, I’m burning a hole where I lay,” we appear to be witnesses to a Viking
funeral. To paraphrase the song sung by another RCA recording artist at the time,
he had five years, and possibly knew it (I further note that the three-chord
bridge of “Burning Love” is harmonically identical to the three-chord middle-eight
of “Perfect Day,” as sung by another RCA recording artist at the time).
Date Record Made
Number Two: 28 October 1972
Number Of Weeks At
Number Two: 1
Record At Number One: “My
Ding-A-Ling” by Chuck Berry
UK Chart Position: 7
Other Information: The
song and its B-side, “It’s A Matter Of Time,” both appear on a budget album
entitled Burning Love And Hits From His Movies, Volume 2. Of the other eight songs which make up
this twenty-three-minute record, none – not even “Tonight Is So Right For Love”
which harvests the same Offenbach stock as Donald Peers’ “Please Don’t Go” –
was even released as a single, let alone became a hit.
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