Back in the heyday of drive-ins and sock hops, a 23-year-old Elvis Presley was dominating the music scene with an unprecedented string of 10 consecutive #1 hits. It was exactly 60 years ago when the handsome crooner from Tupelo, Miss., tried for number 11 with his sure winner, "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck."
Welcome to Music Friday when we like to bring you fun, throwback tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. In today's song, Presley wants his girlfriend to wear his ring around her neck. Of course, the ring would be on a chain — as was the custom in the 1950s — to signify they are going steady. No doubt, countless teen girls in the spring of 1958 imagined The King was singing to them.
Here's the first verse: "Won't you wear my ring around your neck / To tell the world I'm yours, by heck / Let them see your love for me / And let them see by the ring around your neck."
Written by Bert Carroll and Russell Moody, "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" was a big hit, but stalled at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, narrowly breaking Presley's string of #1s. All 10 of Presley's previous chart-toppers had been released during a two-year period.
Born in 1935, Elvis Aron Presley ascended to stardom in the mid-1950s with his good looks, silky voice and outrageous performance style. Not only did he top the charts during the 1950s and 1960s, but he also starred in more than 30 movies, including Jailhouse Rock (1957) and Viva Las Vegas (1964).
Presley met Priscilla Ann Beaulieu in 1960 and married her after a seven-and-a-half-year courtship. Presley proposed with a 3-carat diamond ring in December 1966 and the wedding ceremony took place one year later at the Aladdin hotel in Las Vegas.
The King, as he was known, would eventually become one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. His first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in September 1956 was watched by a record 82.6% of the nationwide viewing audience. Presley is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music, with more than 600 million records sold worldwide. His Memphis home, Graceland, is still a major tourist attraction.
Presley died in Memphis on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42.
Please check out the audio track of Presley singing "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...
"Wear My Ring Around Your Neck"
Written by Bert Carroll and Russell Moody. Performed by Elvis Presley.
Won't you wear my ring around your neck
To tell the world I'm yours, by heck
Let them see your love for me
And let them see by the ring around your neck
Won't you wear my ring around your neck
To tell the world I'm yours, by heck
Let them know I love you so
And let them no by the ring around your neck
They say that goin' steady is not the proper thing
They say that we're too young to know the meaning of a ring
I only know that I love you and that you love me too
So, darling, please do what I ask of you
Won't you wear my ring around your neck
To tell the world I'm yours, by heck
Let them see your love for me
And let them see by the ring around your neck
Well they say that goin' steady is not the proper thing
They say that we're too young to know the meaning of a ring
I only know that I love you and that you love me too
So, darling, please do what I ask of you
Won't you wear my ring around your neck
To tell the world I'm yours, by heck
Let them know I love you so
And let them no by the ring around your neck
And let them know by the ring around your neck
And let them know by the ring around your neck
Credit: Image of Elvis Presley in 1957 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ6-2067Location: NYWTS -- BIOG [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
