A possible reason for this was because the Billboard Hot 100 permitted A and B sides to chart separately during this time which sort of made the differentiation redundant. DJ's and listeners could fight it out among themselves over which side of a single became more prominent, leaving artists, managers, producers and A&R reps to not have to worry about such matters. Though it may not have altered the approach of some groups, in effect, every single had become a double A side. Even those that weren't worthy
Clearly there had been some debate in Elvis' camp over which of "One Night" and "I Got Stung" ought to get the feature role. (You'd think that sharing the A side would have decided such a non-issue, wouldn't you?) On some covers of the American single, "I Got Stung" has the larger print size; on others, it's "One Night". Much like "I Beg of You" and "Don't", there is a sense that he was catering to different sets of fans on each side. I generally prefer more uptempo music and often resent how a slow song (or 'ballad' if you must) can throw an album off. As such I ought to prefer "I Got Stung" of the two. I do not.
No, "One Night" is an easy choice here and it even exposes the folly of these half-baked double A's. Had it been released on its own, I would be giving it a stronger score than the one given bellow but it gets docked for having to carry the so-so number that has tagged along with it. While not exactly a top tier Elvis number, it rests comfortably in the next level along with fellow CHUM number ones "All Shook Up" and the recent "Hard Headed Woman". Being a cover of a sizable R&B hit for New Orleans singer Smiley Lewis, it has plenty of sleazy gospel which Elvis always seemed at home with. His manager and record company tried to talk him out of recording it but he insisted, with only minor alterations to the lyrics in order to make it less obviously about sex. It's as if devout Christians have trouble keeping their noses clean — not to mention other extraneous body parts.
By contrast, "I Got Stung" is a filler. Fine enough as the sort of B side that you listen to once, never play again and then hear on a compilation and think "oh, this isn't so bad". And while it isn't so bad, it isn't all that brilliant either. Compared to the down and dirty passion on the other side, the narrative of being stung as a metaphor for falling in love seems especially trivial. Those who held the puppet strings had no qualms about him recording this one (if anything, they probably pressed for it to be the headline song in favour of its much more controversial companion). The fact that it was quickly forgotten while "One Night" was considered highly enough to merit inclusion on Elvis' famed comeback special says it all.
I've spent much of this blog so far discussing when exactly Elvis started to go downhill but now I intend to move on a look for great double A-sides of his that had been hiding in plain sight. I expect that the bulk of them will have one top notch song backed by a very unremarkable track but I'm hoping there will be one that might be able to at least begin to approach the high quality of "Don't Be Cruel" / "Hound Dog" or "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" "Let's Spend the Night Together" / "Ruby Tuesday" or "Going Underground" / "Dreams of Children" or "Megablast" / "Don't Make Me Wait". It's a tall order but The King has pleasantly surprised me so far so he may just do it again. I'll keep you posted.
Score: 6
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