Elvis Presley - It's Now or Never - 23 February 1970, Closing Show - First Time Performed Live 70's

There are some songs which in any location throughout the world you can mention and people immediately know who the song and with whom it is associated. 'It's Now or Never' and Elvis Presley is one such example which is both his second best selling single and one of THE best selling of all time.

The original studio master was recorded in RCA's Studio B in Nashville, Tennesee on 3 April 1960 and was just the ninth song he recorded after returning to civilian life from the army.

An article published in the NY Times suggeats that having heard Tony Martin's rendition of 'There's No Tomorrow', a song based on Italian standard 'O Sole Mio', whilst stationed in Germany Elvis decided he would also like to record a song based around that melody. Having pitched the idea to his music publisher Freddy Bienstock, he returned to his New York office with the intention of finding some songwriters to develop Elvis' idea, a task that Bienstock had been succesful in many time previously.

On his return to New York he found that the only songwriters in proximity were Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold and just half an hour after being given the task of doing so had written the lyrics to 'It's Now or Never'. These quickly written lyrics would give Elvis a song which would reach the top of charts throughout the world!
In 1960, "It's Now or Never" was a number-one record in the U.S., spending five weeks at number one and the U.K., where it spent eight weeks at the top in 1960 and an additional week at number one in 2005 as a re-issue, and numerous other countries, selling in excess of 25 million copies worldwide, Elvis Presley's biggest international single ever.

It's British release was delayed for some time because of rights issues, allowing the song to build up massive advance orders and to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one, a very rare occurrence at the time.

Before Elvis' return to live performing on 31 July 1969, Elvis had sang the song on stage just three times, twice on the same day in The Ellis Auditorium on 25 February 1961 and exactly four weeks later on 25 March in The Bloch Arena in Honolulu durung his Pearl Harbour benefit show.

After Elvis had returned to the stage he would occasionally tease the audience during his first Las Vegas season with the odd one-liner of the song but the first time that he sang the song in full was at the closing show of his second Vegas season on 23 February 1970.

There are a few clues which point to the song being unrehearsed and unfamiliar to the band. As an excellent show attended by Priscilla drew to a close Elvis asks "Do you guys know 'It's Now or Never'?" and towards the songs conclusion he can be heard correcting and guiding the band along.

This first 70's live rendition is close to the original with just a basic arrangement reinforcing the unrehearsed nature of the performance. As the 70's progresses so did the arrangement and Elvis' live interpretation of the song.

It would be almost a year before Elvis would sing the song on stage again, once more in Las Vegas during the Dinner Show of 28 January 1971, the song has clearly now been rehearsed but still with the basic arrangement the opening chorus has already been omited as it now would be permanently. Elvis would sing the song a further thirteen times in 1971, three times in 1972, all during the June tour and all after MSG and just once in 73 during the penultimate show of his Summer Vegas season during the 3 September Dinner Show.

During 1974 Elvis sang the song eleven times but only once outside of Nevada, in South Bend Indiana on 1 October.

Throughout 1975 it would start to appear more often within the shows but only on a show by show basis and was included in his final show of the year at the Pontiac Silverdome on New Years Eve.

In 1976 it would become an almost permanent fixture in the show but it was during the June/July tour in which the most signifcant changes to the arrangement would occur. Elvis would first introduce the song as being from 1960 and then tenor Sheriil Nielson would start the song with the Italian 'O Sole Mio' lyrics before Elvis would join in at the normal juncture and the song also had brass added during the chorus whereas before it could only be heard at the songs finale, although even this arrangement would differ slightly from show to show. This arrangement would continue until Elvis' final show on 26 June 1977 at The Market Arena, Indianapolis.