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June 10 / 11 1964
(+ 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)

Radio Recorders Studio B - Hollywood, California
Soundtrack Session for MGM's Girl Happy
Musical Director for MGM : George Stoll
Engineer : Dave Wiechman

Musicians:   Backup Vocals:
Guitar:
 Scotty Moore The Jordanaires: Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Ray
Guitar: Tommy Tedesco
 Walker
Guitar: Hilmer J 'Tiny' Timbrell  
Bass: Bob Moore  
Drums: D.J. Fontana  
Drums: Murrey 'Buddy' Harman  
Drums: Frank Carlson  
Piano: Floyd Cramer  
Saxophone: Homer 'Boots' Randolph  

Puppet On A String
SPA3 2010
 2001 June 10 1964 (Wed: 7.00pm - 11.40pm)
Take 1 FS
   "Missing from tape"
  
Take 2 FS   "Missing from tape"  
Take 3 Complete   "Start is missing from tape"  
Take 4 LFS      
Take 5 FS 0:24   Girl Happy (FTD)°°+Tape° (count-in)
Take 6 LFS 0:38   Girl Happy (FTD)°° (count-in)~Girl Happy At The Worlds Fair°
Take 7 Complete 2:48   Girl Happy (FTD)°°~Celluloid Rock 1-3°° (count-in)~Out In Hollywood
(FTD)°°~Girl Happy At The Worlds Fair°
Take 8 FS      
Take 9 LFS      
Take 10 Complete 2:48   Girl Happy (FTD)°°~Celluloid Rock 1-3°° (count-in)~Today, Tomorrow
And Forever 2°°
Take 11 M 2:39 (2:49 with count-in) Complete Elvis Presley Masters 11 (Sony)°°~The Ultimate Love Songs
(Franklin Mint Comp. Masters Collection 25)°°~Girl Happy (remastered
soundtrack)°°~Girl Happy (FTD)°°~Double Features - Harum Scarum
/ Girl Happy°°+Girl Happy (LP)°° (longer intro & different mix)
+Celluloid Rock 1-3°° (count-in)+The Mono Masters CD2 (Venus)°

Puppet On A String (movie version - transfer)
2401 (June 19 1964)
Take 1 (M)
 2:30 Mono transfer of 2001-07
 Acetate°

Puppet On A String (movie version)
2401  
Overdub (M)
 2:30 Different mix and overdubbed
piano at end
 Soundtrack°

The Meanest Girl In Town
SPA3 2008
 2002 June 10 1964 (Wed: 7.00pm - 11.40pm)
Take 1 LFS
   "Funny - Many mistakes"  
Take 2 FS      
Take 3 FS      
Take 4 FS 0:35   Girl Happy At The Worlds Fair°+Tape° (count-in)
Take 5 LFS 0:45   Girl Happy At The Worlds Fair°+Tape° (count-in)
Take 6 Complete 2:09 "Confusion at the end" Girl Happy At The Worlds Fair°+Tape° (count-in)
Take 7 LFS 1:07   Girl Happy (FTD)°°
Take 8 FS 0:27   Girl Happy (FTD)°°
Take 9 Complete 2:20   Girl Happy (FTD)°° (count-in)~Out In Hollywood (FTD)°°
Take 10 FS      
Take 11 Complete 2:27   Girl Happy (FTD)°°
Take 12 LFS      
Take 13 M 1:57 (2:13 with count-in) Comp. Elvis Presley Masters 11 (Sony)°°~Girls! Girls! & More Girls!
(Franklin Mint Comp. Masters Collection 17)°°~Girl Happy (remastered
soundtrack)°°~Girl Happy (FTD)°°~Double Features - Harum Scarum
/ Girl Happy°°+Acetate° (count-in)

The Meanest Girl In Town (movie version - transfer)
2402 (June 22 1964)
Take 1 (M)
 2:09 Mono transfer of 2002-13 with
longer outro
 Soundtrack°+Acetate° (with count-in for 2002-13)

Girl Happy
2003 June 10 1964 (Wed: 7.00pm - 11.40pm)
Take 1 LFS
 1:51 "Very slow" Girl Happy (FTD)°°+Tape°° (count-in)
Take 2 LFS 0:46   Girl Happy (FTD)°°
Take 3 LFS 2:24   Girl Happy (FTD)°°~Girl Happy At The Worlds Fair°+Tape° (count-in)
Take 4 Complete 2:24 "Bluesy" Girl Happy (FTD)°° (count-in)~Collectors Gold 1°°~Girl Happy At The
Worlds Fair°
Take 5 SFS      
Take 6 SFS   "Faster"  
Take 7 LFS      
Take 8 LFS      
Take 9 SFS      
Take 10 LFS      
Take 11 LFS      
Take 12 LFS      
Take 13 LFS (M) 2:32 "Hold" "Ending missing from tape"
(used for composite master of 'Girl
Happy')		 Girl Happy (FTD)°° (spliced with ending of Take 12)

Girl Happy (insert #1 - ending)
  June 11 1964 (Thur: 12.40am - 3.00am)
Take 1 Complete   (insert used for 2013 track)  
Take 2 Complete      
Take 3 FS      
Take 4 (M) 0:39 "Guitar notes missing from tape"
(used for composite master of 'Girl
Happy')		 Girl Happy (FTD)°° (end of track 24)+Tape°°
Take 5 Complete 0:32 "Hold" Memphis Tennessee (LP)°~Acetate° (spliced to end of 2003-13)

Girl Happy (insert #2 - intro)
  June 11 1964 (Thur: 12.40am - 3.00am)
Take NA1 Complete 0:13+ (intro used for composite master
of 'Girl Happy')		 Tape°° (1st 13 seconds of SPA3 2001)
Take NA2 Complete 0:20+ (intro used for composite 'end title'
of 'Girl Happy' - extra guitar intro
& different lyrics)		 Tape°° (1st 20 seconds of 'end title')

Notes

'Puppet On A String' has a slightly longer intro (foot tapping) on the Girl Happy LP that is not on any other official release, and also features a completely different mix not used on other releases with a slight echo on Elvis' vocals and the instruments and backing vocals more centralised.

The movie'version of 'Puppet On A String' is an edited, but speeded up, Take 11 with an overdubbed piano at the end and the backing vocals way back in the mix.

The end of Take 13 of 'Girl Happy' is missing from the session tape. On FTD's extended soundtrack of Girl Happy the end of another take is used (Take 12?) to make the take more complete.

The acetate of 'Girl Happy' on the bootleg LP Memphis Tennessee is most of 2003 Take 13 (with the count-in edited out), but also has an unknown 'Insert #1 ending' take (possibly Take 5) spliced at the end, that is different to the master 'Insert #1 ending' (Take 4). It would appear that this was initially intended to be the original spliced master as an acetate was cut.

'Insert #2 - intro' is the beginning of the song - "Girl happy, yes I'm girl happy, girl happy can't you see, girl happy, girl girl happy".

The second version of 'Girl Happy' heard in the movie however has a longer guitar intro before this and omits Elvis' lines during this part and is possibly a different 'Insert #2' take (NA2).

MGM transfers to acetate for movie purposes are numbered as follows:-
2401 - Puppet On A String
2402 - The Meanest Girl In Town
2403 - Girl Happy
2404 - Cross My Heart And Hope To Die
2405 - Spring Fever
2406 - Do Not Disturb
2407 - I've Got To Find My Baby
2408 - Fort Lauderdale Chamber Of Commerce
2409 - Startin' Tonight
2410 - Do The Clam
2411 - Wolf Call
2412 - Spring Fever
2451 - Wolf Call

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 Gary Bressler for acetate scans and audio.

Session Logs
Tape Legends
June 10 1964
Tape Legends - June 10 1964
Recording Information
Girl Happy
Girl Happy
Acetate
Puppet On A String
Acetate - Puppet On A String

Acetate
Puppet On A String (Takes 7 & 10)
Puppet On A String (Takes 7 & 10)
Acetate
The Meanest Girl In Town
Acetate - The Meanest Girl In Town
  


Music Sheets
Music Sheet
Puppet On A String
Puppet On A String
Music Sheet
The Meanest Girl In Town
The Meanest Girl In Town (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
Girl Happy
Girl Happy

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