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May 17 / 18 1971
(+ 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
Producer: Felton Jarvis
Engineer: Al Pachucki
(6.00pm - 9.00pm / 9.00pm - 12.00am / 1.00am - 4.00am)

Musicians:   Backup Vocals:
Guitar:
James Burton The Imperials: Jimmie Murray; Terry Blackwood; Greg Gordon; Joe
Guitar: Chip Young Moscheo
Guitar: Charlie Hodge Mary Holladay; Ginger Holladay; Millie Kirkham
Guitar: Joe Esposito  
Drums: Kenneth Buttrey  
Piano: David Briggs  
Bass: Norbert Putnam  
Percussion: Jerry Carrigan  
Organ: Charlie McCoy  

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
APA4 1269
  May 17 1971 (Mon: 6.00pm - 9.00pm)
Take 2 Jam 11:20
  Elvis Fool (FTD)°°+Elvis Back In Nashville 3°°

Help Me Make It Through The Night
APA4 1273
  May 17 / 18 1971 (Mon / Tue)
Take 1 FS+FS 1:14 (preceded by rehearsal) Elvis Back In Nashville 3°° (2nd FS only)+Elvis Now (FTD)°°
Take 2 FS 0:13   Elvis Now (FTD)°°+Elvis Back In Nashville 3°°
Take 3 Complete 3:13   Elvis Now (FTD)°°+Elvis Back In Nashville 3°° (count-in)~Great Country
Songs (DSD)°°
Take 4        
Take 5 FS 0:04   Elvis Now (FTD)°° (not listed)
Take 6 FS 0:34   Elvis Now (FTD)°° (count-in & extra dialogue)~I Sing All Kinds (FTD)°°
Take 7 Complete 3:02   Elvis Now (FTD)°° (count-in & extra dialogue)~I Sing All Kinds (FTD)°°
Take 8 FS 0:19   Elvis Now (FTD)°°
Take 9 FS 0:17   Elvis Now (FTD)°°
Take 10 FS+Comp 3:43   Unedited Masters - Nashville '71 (Venus)°° (complete)+Elvis Now (FTD)°°
Take 11 Complete   (used for spliced master)  
Take 12        
Take 13        
Take 14 LFS 1:43   Elvis Now (FTD)°° (not listed)
Take 15 Complete 3:11   Elvis Now (FTD)°°
Take 16     (used for spliced master)  
         
Spliced (M) 2:51 Spliced from Take 11 and ending
of Take 16
Undubbed master
Pure Diamonds Vol 1°~Rough Cut Diamonds°+American Sound - From
The Acetates (Madison)°°+Elvis Back In Nashville 1°°
         
Overdub M 2:45 String overdubs on June 22 Complete Elvis Presley Masters 22 (Sony)°°~Country Legend (Franklin
Mint Complete Masters Collection 18)°°~Elvis Now (FTD)°°~(20 Bit)°°
~Welcome To My World°°+The Definitive Country Album°° (edited)
+Unedited Masters - Nashville Revisited (Venus)°° (3:21 - with count-in
& dialogue from Take 11)

Until It's Time For You To Go
APA4 1274
  May 17 / 18 1971 (Mon / Tue)
Take 1        
Take 2        
Take 3        
Take 4        
Take 5 2xFS+
Complete
5:08 "Lady Banana" Today, Tomorrow And Forever 4°°+Elvis Back In Nashville 3°° (complete
only - 4:21)+Elvis Now (FTD)°°
Take 6 FS 0:09   Elvis Now (FTD)°°
Take 7 Complete 4:15   Elvis Now (FTD)°°
Take 8 (M) 4:05 Undubbed master Pure Diamonds Volume 1°~Rough Cut Diamonds° (count-in / faded)
+Elvis Back In Nashville 1°°
         
Overdub M 4:28 String overdubs on June 22 Complete Elvis Presley Masters 22 (Sony)°°~Loves Lost (Franklin Mint
Complete Masters Collection 12)°°~Elvis 75 CD3°°~Complete Single
Collection 7°°~Elvis Now (FTD)°°~(20 Bit)°°~70s Box 1°°+The Mono
Masters CD4 (Venus)° (4:02)+The Definitive Love Album°° (edited - 2:49)
+Unedited Masters - Nashville 1971 (Venus)°° (unedited)

Lady Madonna
WPA5 2572
  May 17 / 18 1971 (Mon / Tue)
Jam   1:47
  Complete Elvis Presley Masters 28 (Sony)°° (1:19)~70s Box 3°° (1:19)
+Elvis Now (FTD)°°+Elvis Back In Nashville 3°°

Lead Me, Guide Me
APA4 1275
  May 18 1971 (Tue: 1.00am - 4.00am)
Take 1        
Take 2        
Take 3        
Take 4        
Take 5        
Take 6 M 2:42 Master is without overdubs He Touched Me (FTD)°°~Complete Elvis Presley Masters 22 (Sony)°°
~Hymns From The Heart (Franklin Mint Complete Masters Collection 34)°°
~I Believe - The Gospel Masters 3°°~He Touched Me (24 Bit)°°~Ultimate
Gospel (DSD)°°~Peace In The Valley 2°°~American Sound - From The
Acetates (Madison)°°+Acetate° (no backing vocals +The Definitive
Gospel°° (edited)+Keep Rollin' On (Venus)°° (dialogue at end)+Unedited
Masters Volume 1 (Venus)°° (count-in & dialogue at end)+Elvis Back In
Nashville 2°°

Notes

Tape reel #3 from this session is missing, and would most likely have included the session for 'Lead Me, Guide Me'.

Tape reel #4 exists, but the only things left is some scattered (unexciting) talk. Most of the tape has been cut from the reel. This is about the time when the accident of Elvis kicking a gun through the front of Chip Young's guitar.
It's also where Ernst Jørgensen believes that 'Lady Madonna' was lifted from.

In the booklet for FTD's Elvis (Fool) classic album it has March 17 incorrectly listed as the date when this second jam of 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right' was recorded.

The master of 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' is spliced from takes 11 and 16. Both of these takes, including the spare parts of the takes not used for the master, are missing from the session reel.

The unedited master of 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' is listed as being on the Venus bootleg Unedited Masters - Nashville 1971 but it's actually Take 10 on there, which was first released on FTD's classic album of Elvis Now. The Venus release also has the count-in for Take 11 after the song which was edited out of the FTD.

An edited (1:57) version of 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' , with two omitted verses ("I don't care who's right or wrong, I won't try to understand..." to "...And it's sad to be alone, help me make it through the night"), was released in 1987 on the BMG Ariola release The Definitive Country Album.

An edited (2:49) version of 'Until It's Time For You To Go', with omitted verse (First "Don't ask why, don't ask how..." to "And still I'll stay,until it's time for you to go..."), was released in 1987 on the BMG Ariola release The Definitive Love Album.

'Help Me Make It Through The Night' and 'Until It's Time For You To Go' on the bootlegs Pure Diamonds Volume 1 and Rough Cut Diamonds are all probably just the left channel only (centred) of a stereo acetate of the fully overdubbed master. By eliminating the right channel on the same tracks on Elvis Now and the 70s Box I was able to get the exact same results. This is possible because backing vocals (and occasionally strings) tend to be panned 100% right on the original mixes from these sessions, so you can often eliminate them by cutting out the right channel, with no discernable bleed.

The same scenario probably applies to the acetate of 'Lead Me, Guide Me' which has no backing vocals present.

An edited (2:05) version of 'Lead Me, Guide Me' with omitted verses ("I am lost if you take your hand from me..." to "Lord just open my eyes that I may see..."), was released in 1987 on the BMG Ariola release The Definitive Gospel Album.

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.

All outtakes and undubbed masters used on the Sony 4xCD set Elvis Back In Nashville have been completely remixed and remastered from scratch.

Thanks to Adrian V Stokes regarding the edited versions of songs on the BMG Ariola set of Definitive albums.

Session Logs
 
Recording Information
May 17 1971
May 17 1971
 


Music Sheets
Music Sheet
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
Help Me Make It Through The Night
Help Me Make It Through The Night
Music Sheet
Until It's Time For You To Go
Until It's Time For You To Go

Music Sheet
Lady Madonna
Lady Madonna (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
Lead Me, Guide Me
Lead Me, Guide Me
 

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