home
Recording Sessions
Essential lists
Essential Magazines
Elvis Movies
Elvis The Story
Video footage
Elvis website links
July 2 1961
(+ means you need both    ~ means same material    °° means stereo or binaural    ° means mono)
(SFS = Short False Start | FS = False Start | LFS or BD (Breakdown) = Long False Start | PB (Playback) or Complete = Complete Take)

RCA Studio B - Nashville, Tennessee
Soundtrack Session for Mirisch Company (United Artists) Follow That Dream
Producer : Hans Salter
Engineer : Bill Porter
(7.00pm - 10.00pm)

Musicians:   Backup Vocals:
Guitar: Scotty Moore The Jordanaires: Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Ray
Guitar: Hank Garland Walker
Guitar: Neal Matthews Millie Kirkham
Bass: Bob Moore  
Drums: D.J. Fontana  
Drums: Murrey 'Buddy' Harman  
Piano: Floyd Cramer  
Claves: Homer 'Boots' Randolph  

Angel
M2WW 0873
  July 2 1961 (Sun)
Take 1 LFS 1:28   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 2 Complete 2:55   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Silver Screen Stereo (FTD)°°~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°~Especially
For You°°
Take 3     (not announced by mistake)
 
Take 4 FS+Comp 2:49   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 5 Complete 2:51   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 6 Complete 2:43   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 7 M 2:41   Complete Elvis Presley Masters 7 (Sony)°°~Hollywood Hijinks (Franklin
Mint Complete Masters Collection 29)°°~Comp. Single Collection 10°°
~Command Performances°°~Double Features - Flaming Star / Wild In
The Country / Follow That Dream°°~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°+Elvis in
Follow That Dream (MRS)°°~The Comp Movie Masters 60-62 2 (MRS)°°
+Follow That Dream (FTD)°~(EP)°

Angel (dubdown)
  July 2 1961 (Sun)
Dub (M) 2:43 Dubdown to track of Take 7 -
Elvis' vocals removed
 

Angel (vocal overdub)
  July 2 1961 (Sun)
Take 1 LFS 1:21 Vocal overdub of track - binaural Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 2 LFS 1:20 (aborted - unused) Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°

Follow That Dream
M2WW 0874
  July 2 1961 (Sun)
Take 1 FS 0:25   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 2 Complete 1:50   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°~Elvis Aron Presley 2°° (count-in)~Elvis
Aron Presley 2°° (cassette°° - no count-in)(1:58)~25 Grandes Exitos°°
Take 3 Complete 2:12   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
(count-in) (tape fault)+Today, Tomorrow & Forever 2°°~Follow That
Dream (FTD)°° (no fault)
Take 4 Complete 1:45   Command Performances°°+Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That
Dream Sessions... Plus°°~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 5 FS+FS 0:40   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
Take 6 M 1:39 (Stereo master lost) Complete Elvis Presley Masters 7 (Sony)°~Hollywood Hijinks (Franklin
Mint Complete Masters Collection 29)°~Follow That Dream (FTD)°~(EP)°
~Complete Single Collection 10°~Keep Following That Dream°
~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°~Double Features - Flaming Star
/ Wild In The Country / Follow That Dream°
+Elvis in Follow That Dream (MRS)°°~The Comp Movie Masters 60-62 2
(MRS)°° (digitally extracted stereo)

What A Wonderful Life
M2WW 0875
  July 2 1961 (Sun)
Take 1 Complete 2:42   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°° (count-in)~Collectors Gold 1°°
Take 2 FS 0:31   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°° (count-in)~Collectors Gold 1°°
Take 3 FS+LFS 0:51   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 4 FS+LFS 0:58   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 5 LFS 1:28   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 6 Complete 2:08 (ending cut from tape along with
stereo master)
Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
+Follow That Dream (FTD)°° (spliced with unused ending of Take 7)
Take 7 M 2:29 Master faded
(Stereo master lost)
Complete Elvis Presley Masters 7 (Sony)°~Hollywood Hijinks (Franklin
Mint Complete Masters Collection 29)°~Follow That Dream (FTD)°~(EP)°
~Keep Following That Dream°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°
~Double Features - Flaming Star / Wild In The Country / Follow That
Dream° (faded)+Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream
Sessions... Plus°° (unused ending only - after Take 6)
+Elvis in Follow That Dream (MRS)°°~The Comp Movie Masters 60-62 2
(MRS)°° (digitally extracted stereo)

I'm Not The Marrying Kind
M2WW 0876
  July 2 1961 (Sun)
Take 1 FS 0:32   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
Take 2 FS 0:34   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 3 FS 1:10   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 4 FS 0:51   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 5 LFS 1:34   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
+Elvis For Everyone (FTD)°° (spliced with Take 6)
Take 6 Complete 1:54   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°~Especially For You°°+Elvis For Everyone
(FTD)°° (spliced with Take 5)
Take 7 FS+FS 0:53   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
Take 8 M 1:52 (Stereo master lost) Complete Elvis Presley Masters 7 (Sony)°~Hollywood Hijinks (Franklin
Mint Complete Masters Collection 29)°~Follow That Dream (FTD)°~(EP)°
~Keep Following That Dream°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°
~Double Feat's - Flaming Star / Wild In The Country / Follow That Dream°
+Elvis in Follow That Dream (MRS)°°~The Comp Movie Masters 60-62 2
(MRS)°° (digitally extracted stereo)

A Whistling Tune
M2WW 0877
  July 2 1961 (Sun)
Take 1 FS+FS 0:34   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
Take 2 FS 0:31   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°
Take 3 FS+Comp 2:43   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°~Especially For You°°
Take 4 (M) 2:12 Undubbed master
(2:21 with count-in)
Follow That Dream (FTD)°°~Collectors Gold 1°° (edited - 1:57)
+Double Features - Flaming Star / Wild In The Country / Follow That
Dream°° (complete)+Acetate° (count-in)
         
Overdub M 2:16 Whistling overdub of Take 4 by
Ray Walker (Stereo master lost)
Follow That Dream (FTD)°+Summer Of '61 (FTD)°° (recreated stereo)

Sound Advice
M2WW 0878
  July 2 1961 (Sun)
Take 1 Complete 1:55   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
~Follow That Dream (FTD)°°~Especially For You°°
Take 2 FS 0:32   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
+Elvis in Follow That Dream (MRS)°°~The Comp. Movie Masters 60-62 3
(MRS)°°
Take 3 FS+FS 0:21   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
+Elvis in Follow That Dream (MRS)°°~The Comp. Movie Masters 60-62 3
(MRS)°°
Take 4 FS+LFS 1:46   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
+Elvis in Follow That Dream (MRS)°°~The Comp. Movie Masters 60-62 3
(MRS)°°
Take 5 FS 0:51   Keep Following That Dream°°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°°
+Elvis in Follow That Dream (MRS)°°~The Comp. Movie Masters 60-62 3
(MRS)°°
Take 6 M 1:47 (Stereo master lost) Complete Elvis Presley Masters 7 (Sony)°~Hollywood Hijinks (Franklin
Mint Complete Masters Collection 29)°~Follow That Dream (FTD)°
~Keep Following That Dream°~Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus°
~Double Features - Flaming Star / Wild In The Country / Follow That
Dream°~Elvis For Everyone (FTD)°
+Elvis in Follow That Dream (MRS)°°~The Comp Movie Masters 60-62 2
(MRS)°° (digitally extracted stereo)

Notes

The stereo masters of 'Follow That Dream', 'What A Wonderful Life', 'I'm Not The Marrying Kind', 'A Whistling Tune' and 'Sound Advice' are all lost. In one of Paul Dowling's interviews, Ernst Jørgensen said that the stereo master of 'Angel' had survived because "they spliced Angel and 'A Whistling Tune' back on one of the outtake tapes. I don't know why but they did."

Take 2 of 'Follow That Dream' was released on the Argentinian CD 25 Grandes Exitos but is wrongly listed as the lost stereo saster (Take 6) on that release.

An extended Take 2 of 'Follow That Dream' , without count-in, can be found on the cassette version of the box-set Elvis Aron Presley.

Take 4 of 'Follow That Dream' was first released on Command Performances but is incorrectly listed as Take 2 on that release and in Ernst Jørgensens book A Life In Music. We get Take 4 again on FTD's Follow That Dream extended soundtrack (with count-in), but it is wrongly listed in the "In & Outakes" section that Take 4 is unreleased.

The stereo master of 'Angel' on FTD's Follow That Dream extended soundtrack runs at too slow a speed. It definitely drags and sounds like an analogue tape transfer error. The same version of this song on Double Features, Command Performances or the Japanese Complete Single Collection set does not have this fault, and neither does the version on Sony's Complete Elvis Presley Masters collection.

Take 7 of 'What A Wonderful Life' is cut from the tape along with the ending of Take 6 - All that exists is the unused ending of Take 7 where the master was faded. Take 6 on FTD's Follow That Dream extended soundtrack is edited at the end by using "... got friends, anywhere the rainbow ends, it's a wonderful life, life's good to me" from earlier in Take 6 (0:32 - 0:41) and is then spliced with the unused ending of Take 7.

Take 4 of 'A Whistling Tune' (stereo master without overdubs) on Collectors Gold and FTD's Follow That Dream extended soundtrack is edited - It can be found complete on Double Features.

The "recreated" stereo master of 'A Whistling Tune' was done by isolating Ray Walkers's whistling from the mono master on FTD's Follow That Dream extended soundtrack and overlaying it to the stereo Take 4 from Double Features, but as the Double Features master isn't as long as the mono master, it folds back to mono in the last few seconds.

It is unknown who is singing on the two demo's of 'What A Wonderful Life' on FTD's Summer Of '61 '(It's A Wonderful Life' and 'This Is The Life') but it could possibly be one of the writers (Sid Wayne or Jerry Livingston) of the song.

The complete session actually sounds better, although edited, on the Kwimper bootleg CD Keep Following That Dream, and complete on the Memory (Czech Fan Club label) release Follow That Dream Sessions... Plus which were both released in 2000.

Elvis sings a few lines of 'On Top Of Old Smokey' in the movie, and this can be found on the FTD Follow That Dream extended soundtrack.

In March of 2007, Sony decided to go through all of Elvis' masters. They retransferred everything and remastered all tracks including repairing as many clicks, pops, bad edits and dropouts as they could. They have used these newly mastered recordings on their new releases since 2007 including budget soundtracks, Legacy releases, the 30 disc Complete Elvis Presley Masters collection and the Franklin Mint package.

Thanks to Luuk Bonthond regarding extended versions of songs on the cassette version of Elvis Aron Presley.

Session Logs
Recording Information
July 2 1961
July 2 1961
Acetates
Follow That Dream
Follow That Dream
Demo Acetate
This Is The Life / It's A Wonderful Life
This Is The Life

Demo Acetate
Angel
Angel
Stereo Masters
Follow That Dream
Stereo Masters Shipping Receipt
Proposed Double Features LP
Follow That Dream / Kid Galahad
Proposed 'Double Feature' Follow That Dream & Kid Galahad LP (Thanks to Graceland)


Music Sheets
Music Sheet
Angel
Angel
Music Sheet
Follow That Dream
Follow That Dream
Music Sheet
What A Wonderful Life
What A Wonderful Life (Thanks to Christopher Brown)

Music Sheet
I'm Not The Marrying Kind
I'm Not The Marrying Kind (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
A Whistling Tune
A Whistling Tune (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
Sound Advice
Sound Advice (Thanks to Glen Johnson)

 
Music Sheet
On Top Of Old Smokey
On Top Of Old Smokey (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
 

back