Baby Let's Play House

"Baby Let's Play House" is a song written by Arthur Gunter and recorded by him in 1954 on the Excello Records label[2][3][4] and covered by Elvis Presley the following year on Sun Records.[5]

"Baby Let's Play House"
Song by Elvis Presley
A-side"I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone"
ReleasedApril 25, 1955
GenreRockabilly[1]
Length2:15
LabelSun 217
Songwriter(s)Arthur Gunter
Elvis Presley singles chronology
"You're a Heartbreaker"
(1954)		 "Baby Let's Play House"
(1955)		 "Heartbreak Hotel"
(1956)

Elvis Presley version

Presley's version differs greatly from the original: Elvis started the song with the chorus, where Gunter began with the first verse, and he replaced Gunter's line "You may get religion" with the words "You may have a Pink Cadillac", referring to his custom-painted 1955 Cadillac auto that had been serving as the band's transportation at the time.

Baby Let's Play House was on the fourth issue of a Presley record by Sun,[6] and became the first song recorded by Elvis to appear on a national chart, when it made #5 on the Billboard Country Singles chart in July 1955.[7] The Elvis's version also starts out with the words oh baby being repeated multiple times. The words oh baby is also repeated in the ending of the song. This lyrics and melodies are not found in the original Arthur Gunter's version.

Personnel
  • Elvis Presley - lead vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar
  • Scotty Moore - electric lead guitar
  • Bill Black - double bass

Charts

Other cover versions
  • Buddy Holly recorded a cover of this song in 1955 at the Jim Beck Studio in Dallas. Holly's cover, titled as "I Wanna Play House with You" was cut as a demo for Columbia Records and sounds very much like the Elvis version.
  • The song was also recorded by Australian Lonnie Lee on Leedon Records in early 1960. The version was not unlike Elvis' in many respects. It was very popular at Lee's shows and a version of him singing it in 1960 on Australia's first Rock'n'Roll TV Show, 'Six O'Clock Rock' is still extant.
  • John Lennon used the line, "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man," from this song for the opening line of The Beatles song "Run for Your Life" from their 1965 album Rubber Soul. He performed the song in 1957 with his group The Quarreymen, a short clip of them performing it has circulated amongst bootleggers for years.[12]
  • The Newbeats released a version of the song on their 1965 album, Big Beat Sounds by The Newbeats.[13]
  • Ace Cannon released an instrumental version on his 1967 album Memphis Golden Hits.
  • Tom Petty included a cover of the song on the 1995 box set Playback. Petty acknowledges Elvis's influence over him after briefly meeting Presley at the age of ten in the summer of 1961 on the set of Follow That Dream.
  • The song was lip synched by Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the 2005 TV biopic Elvis: The Early Years, in a scene of Presley's 1955 Odessa Auditorium performance.
  • In 2008, a Spankox remix of it made #84 in the UK.[14]
  • In 2014, Drake Bell released a cover of "Baby Let's Play House" on Muzooka.com.[15]
  • Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page cites this song as his first rock and roll influence.
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References
  1. "Elvis Presley Songs". How Stuff Works. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
  2. Colin Larkin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Grenfell, Joyce - Koller, Hans. MUZE. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
    Colin Larkin (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of the Blues. Virgin. ISBN 978-0-7535-0226-6.
  3. Colin Larkin (September 1998). The Virgin encyclopedia of fifties music. Virgin.
  4. Martin Hawkins (November 2006). A shot in the dark: making records in Nashville, 1945-1955. Vanderbilt University Press & Country Music Foundation Press.
  5. "Facts about Elvis - Elvis Presley's life - Elvis news: New Elvis Presley Remix "Baby Let's Play House" Available for Download on iTunes TODAY! 6/3/2008" Archived 2010-02-02 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved July 21, 2008
  6. Presley releases Archived 2012-07-22 at Archive.today
  7. The Blue Moon Boys - The Story of Elvis Presley's Band. Ken Burke and Dan Griffin. 2006. Chicago Review Press. page 47. ISBN 1-55652-614-8
  8. "Italiancharts.com – Elvis Presley – Baby Let's Play House". Top Digital Download.
  9. "Spanishcharts.com – Elvis Presley – Baby Let's Play House" Canciones Top 50.
  10. "Swedishcharts.com – Elvis Presley – Baby Let's Play House". Singles Top 100.
  11. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  12. Lily, Marianne. "The Quarrymen - Baby, Let's Play House". YouTube. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  13. The Newbeats, Big Beat Sounds by The Newbeats Retrieved April 28, 2015
  14. "The Official Charts Company - Baby Let's Play House". The Official Charts Company. 4 April 2014.
  15. "Drake Bell". Muzooka. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2014.


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