(let me be your) teddy bear / loving you

Elvis Presley went to the top of three charts with the cuddly first single from his second movie.  'Loving You' was adapted from Mary Agnes Thompson's short story 'A Call For Mitch Miller'.  Writer and director Hal Kanter spent some time with Presley before shooting began:  "I was going to accompany Elvis for his farewell concert on the Louisiana Hayride. It was supposed to be his farewell concert on the Louisiana Hayride. And that was one of the primary reasons that I went to Memphis, not only to meet Elvis himself, but also see him in action and to learn as much about his method of operation as I possibly could and eventually to incorporate some of what I'd learned in the film itself. Because I had not only written the screen play, I was now to direct it."  The title for the film changed from 'Lonesome Cowboy' to 'Something for the Girls'  to 'Running Wild' before the studio settled on 'Loving You' after the song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.  Many songs were written especially for the film.  Producer Hal Wallis : 'I was fascinated by the way Elvis recorded, never bothering with arrangements, he and his boys noodled , improved, ad-libbed, and worked out numbers for hours. Finally, he would rehearse a number straight through. Night after long night I watched and listened, fascinated. I never said a word, just observed'.







http://www.elvis.com/






Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe had written '(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear' for Presley and Wallis insisted on including it in the film.  Walter Scharf produced the sessions with Presley on lead vocal and acoustic guitar; Scotty Moore on electric guitar; Tiny Timbrell on acoustic guitar; Bill Black on bass guitar; D.J. Fontana on drums; Dudley Brooks on piano; and The Jordanaires on backing vocals.  Dudley Brooks recalls: "I had a lot to do with a song called 'Teddy Bear', you know, the song was unfinished, it had no bridge, you know he had the first part '. I just want to be your loving teddy bear, put a chain around my neck and lead me anywhere, oh let me be your teddy bear'.Now the next part 'I don't want to be a lion, cause lions play too rough, I don't want to be your tiger, cause tigers ain't the kind who loves enough'.  I had a lot to do with that part, I should have got a writer's credit on that.  Elvis was gonna straighten that out with me, but he never got the chance to I don't think." The melody owes a lot to the traditional blues song Boll Weevil. 

(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear was his third single to top the pop, country, and R&B charts.  It was his third of four chart toppers that year.   It spent seven weeks on the pop chart, and one week on both the country and R&B charts.

Oh baby let me be your lovin' teddy bear
Put a chain around my neck, and lead me anywhere
Oh let me be (oh let him be)
Your teddy bear

I don't want to be your tiger
Cause tigers play too rough
I don't want to be your lion
Cause lions ain't the kind you love enough

I just want to be your teddy bear
Put a chain around my neck and lead me anywhere
Oh let me be (oh let him be)
Your teddy bear

Baby let me be around you every night
Run your fingers through my hair
And cuddle me real tight
Oh let me be (oh let him be) 
Your teddy bear

I don't want to be your tiger
Cause tigers play too rough
I don't want to be your lion
Cause lions ain't the kind you love enou-ou-ou-ough

Just want to be your teddy bear
Put a chain around my neck and lead me anywhere
Oh let me be (oh let him be) your teddy bear
Oh let me be (oh let him be) your teddy bear
I just want to be your teddy bear (ooh)






The Leiber and Stoller song 'Loving You' was the b-side of the single.  It peaked at number twenty-eight on the pop chart.  Ben Weisman remembers the sessions for 'Loving You':  "Elvis was usally in control of his own recording sessions, and he usally didn't have much trouble getting a good vocal performance,but once in agreat while he would have trouble hooking it-like on the 'Loving You' session.  I remember he sang that song 'Loving You' over and over. Freddy Bienstock was in the control room watching,and Elvis just couldn't seem to get it good enough to satisfy himself.He must have had thirty two takes before he finally accepted one of them...During the early period of those sessions, he would get so carried away, he would forget to sing directly into the mike. His close friends, the studio musicians, would start dancing around him, creating a great deal of excitement. It made a tremendous impression on me, and the feeling is still with me today. Little did I know that because of that meeting, I would end up writing fifty-seven songs for Elvis - more than any other songwriter. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined the impact he was about to make on the world."


I will spend my whole life through
loving you, loving you.
Winter, summer, spring-time, too,
loving you, loving you.
Makes no difference where I go or what I do.
You know that I'll always be loving you.

If I'm seen with someone new,
don't be blue, don't be blue.
I'll be faithful I'll be true;
always true, true to you.
There is only one for me, and you know who.
You know that I'll always be loving you.








'Loving You' 
full movie