Don't Be Cruel

Otis Blackwell wrote it in 1956. It was the first song that Presley's publishers, Hill and Range, brought to him to record, and Presley took a co-writing credit. Blackwell had already sold the song for $25. Freddy Bienstock, the publisher, said that in the early days Presley would alter lines he did not like, so the credit was not only a cut-in.

Presley recorded it on 2 July 1956 at the RCA Victor studio in New York, the same session as Hound Dog and Any Way You Want Me. Scotty Moore played lead guitar, Bill Black bass, D. J. Fontana drums and Shorty Long piano, with the Jordanaires on backing vocals. Steve Sholes is credited as producer, but the studio recordings show Presley choosing the song, reworking the arrangement on piano and insisting on 28 takes.

The single came out on 13 July 1956 with Hound Dog on the other side. Hound Dog rose to number two on the pop chart, and then Don't Be Cruel took number one on the pop, country and R&B charts. Together the two songs held number one for eleven weeks. It sold more than four million copies by the end of 1956 and over six million by 1961, and Billboard ranked it the number two song of 1956. In the UK it stayed a B-side, then reached number 24 in 1978 after his death. It entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002 and ranked number 197 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs. He sang it on all three of his Ed Sullivan Show appearances.