"Wooden Heart" is a pop song recorded by Elvis Presley. The composition is based on a German folk song "Muss i denn" (lit. Must I then) and it was featured in the 1960 Elvis Presley film G.I. Blues. The song was a hit single for Presley in the UK Singles Chart, reaching No. 1 for six weeks in March and April 1961.
Background The song was published by Elvis Presley's company Gladys Music, Inc. In the United States, it was released in November 1964 as the B-side to "Blue Christmas". Presley performed the song live during his Dinner Show concert at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas in 1975, a recording available on the Elvis Presley live album Dinner At Eight.
A cover version by Joe Dowell on the Smash Records label made it to number one in the US at the end of August 1961, knocking Bobby Lewis' "Tossin' and Turnin'" off the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 after seven weeks. Dowell's version also spent three weeks at number one on the Easy Listening chart.
"Wooden Heart", written by Fred Wise, Ben Weisman, Kay Twomey and German bandleader Bert Kaempfert, was based on the German folk song, "Muss i denn", originating from the Rems Valley in Württemberg, south-west Germany, and arranged by Friedrich Silcher. "Wooden Heart" features several lines from the original folk song. Marlene Dietrich recorded a version of the song in the original German sometime before 1958, pre-dating Presley, which appears as a B-side on a 1959 version of her single "Lili Marlene", released by Philips in association with Columbia Records. The Elvis Presley version was published by Gladys Music, Elvis Presley's publishing company. Bobby Vinton recorded his version in 1975 with those lines translated into Polish.
The Elvis Presley version features two sections in German, the first being the first four lines: "". The second section is towards the end and is based on a translation of the English version (therefore not appearing in the original German folk lyrics): ("Be good to me, be good to me, be to me how you really should, how you really should...").
Chart history Elvis Presley
Weekly charts Chart (1961)PeakpositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)1Austria 1Canada (CHUM Hit Parade)2New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade)3South Africa 1Spain 1UK Singles (OCC) 1 Chart (1964)PeakpositionUS Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004107 Chart (1965)PeakpositionUS Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100110 Chart (1977)Peakposition Chart (2005)Peakposition
Year-end charts Chart (1961)RankAustralia 3South Africa 1UK 3
Sales + Sales for Wooden Heart Region Sales Europe 3,000,000 Germany 600,000 Netherlands 90,000
Joe Dowell
+ Weekly chartsChart (1961)PeakpositionUS Billboard Hot 100Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - 1US Billboard Easy Listening1US Cash Box Top 1003
+ Year-end chartsChart (1961)RankUS Billboard Hot 10010US Cash Box 22
Gus Backus Chart (1960)Peakposition US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100102
Editions (US) "Blue Christmas" b/w "Wooden Heart" Released: November 1964, RCA 447-0720
Other versions Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: released on their 2015 album of previously unreleased material, Nobody's Children Bobby Vinton released the song as a 45 single on ABC Records in 1975. It reached number 58 in the US charts. The Lizards' Convention: released on the 1995 album Here's a Funny Fish, Hurrah!
References
External links Elvis News Network – G.I. Blues Joe Dowell biography "", lyrics and translation Joe Dowell Collection, McLean County Museum of History