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Promised Land |
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Written by: Chuck Berry Recorded: December 15, 1973, Stax Studio, Memphis Released master is take 6. Single:w/ "It's Midnight", PB-10074, September 27, 1974 Also re-released as Gold Standard single, GB-10488, February 1976 Highest U.S. Charts Positions: #14 on Billboard's Hot 100 #25 on Cash Box's Top 100 1st LP release: Promised Land - January 1975 |
Click to download or buy "Promised Land" now from Amazon!  or download from iTunes: For other versions, see Lyrics and Downloads section below. |
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One of Elvis' most hard-driving rockers from the '70s, "Promised Land" comes barrelin' at ya like a midnight flyer outta Birmingham and doesn't let up! James is still wailin' away strong as the song fades out. This single was in the charts not long after the time that I was first becoming a fan, so it's hard to be objective. It's also hard to go wrong with Elvis doing a Chuck Berry tune! More to come later, meanwhile, check out the music and links! |
Other Spins(What did the critics and fans say?)"Promised Land", Presley sounds constricted, but the effect is appropriate and the tight performance is good. Robert Matthew-Walker, Elvis Presley: A Study in Music, 1979 Elvis appropriated Chuck Berry's 1964 classic about a cross-country trip and turned it into a metaphor for his own life on the road. Hot, driving rock (used with great effectiveness on the soundtrack of the 1981 film, This Is Elvis. The Complete Elvis, edited by Martin Torgoff, 1982 Check out other Elvis fans' opinions on the Elvis News page for Promised Land Check out other opinions at Rate Your Music "Promised Land" Links
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I left my home in Norfolk Virginia, California on my mind I straddled that Greyhound and rode into Raleigh and on across Caroline [Elvis' version leaves out these 2 lines from Chuck Berry's original:] Stopped in Charlotte and bypassed Rock Hill, and we never was a minute late We was ninety miles out of Atlanta by sundown, rollin' 'cross the Georgia state We had motor trouble that turn into a struggle halfway across Alabam' And that hound broke down and left us all stranded in downtown Birmingham Right away I bought me a through train ticket right across Mississippi clean And I was on that midnight flyer out of Birmingham smoking into New Orleans Somebody help me get out of Louisiana, just to help me get to Houston Town There are people there who care a little about me and they won't let the poor boy down Sure as you're born they bought me a silk suit and put luggage in my hand And I woke up high over Alberquerque on a jet to the promised land Working on a T-bone steak a la carte flying over to the golden state When the pilot told us in thirteen minutes he would set us at the terminal gate Swing low chariot, come down easy, taxi to the terminal zone Cut your engines and cool your wings and let me make it to the telephone Los Angeles give me Norfolk Virginia, Tidewater four ten o nine Tell the folks back home this is the promised land calling and the poor boy is on the line Working on a T-bone steak a la carte flying over to the golden state When the pilot told us in thirteen minutes he would set us at the terminal gate Swing low chariot, come down easy, taxi to the terminal zone Cut your engines and cool your wings and let me make it to the telephone Los Angeles give me Norfolk Virginia, Tidewater four ten o nine Tell the folks back home this is the promised land calling and the poor boy is on the line |
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