Words & Music:
Jerry Chesnut
I play an old piano from nine till a half past one
Tryin' to make a livin' watchin' everybody have fun
Well, I don't miss much that ever happens on a dance hall floor
Mercy, look what just walked through that door
Well, hello T-R-0-U-B-L-E
What in the world you're doin' A-L-O-N-E?
Say, good L-double O-K-I-N-G
I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E
I was a little bitty baby when my papa hit the skids
Mama had a time tryin' to raise nine kids
Told me not to stare 'cause it was impolite
And did the best she could to try to raise me right
But mama never told me 'bout nothing like Y-O-U
Say, your mama must have been another something or the other too
Say, hello good L-double O-K-I-N-G
I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Well, you talk about a woman I've seen a lot of others
But too much something' and not enough another
You've got it all together like a lovin' machine
Lookin' like glory and walkin' like a dream
Mother Nature's sure been good to Y-O-U
Well, your mama must have been another good lookin' too
Say, hey, good L-double O-K-I-N-G
I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Well, you talk about a trouble-makin' hunka pokey bait,
The men are gonna love and all the women gonna hate
Reminding them of everything they never gonna be
Maybe the beginning of the World War III
Oh, the world ain't ready for nothin' like a Y-O-U
Well, I bet your mama must have been another something or the other too
Say hey good L-double O-K-I-N-G
I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Recordingdate: 1975/03/11, first released on: Today (album)
Musicians
Musicians who contributed to the first recording of T-R-O-U-B-L-E:
(guitar)
(guitar)
(guitar)
(bass)
(drums)
(piano)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(clavinet)
Availability
Find available albums with T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
G-R-E-A-T ! Just amazing song. Elvis is fantastic on March 1975.
Good song. Still gets some people confused with "Trouble" from King Creole.
I like the Today album a lot,Elvis sounds very good here and it has a heavy drum and bass in it.
An absolute amazing rocker recorded by Elvis in March 1975 for his under appreciated LP "Today". This song is equal if not superior to his best 1970's rock n' roll songs, "Burning Love", "Promised Land" and "For The Heart" and takes one back to the days of "Hard Headed Woman", "I Got Stung" and "I Need Your Love Tonight". This one is mean, fast and in a word, "perfect".
The Today album is a firm favourite,this song made little impact on the UK charts whch was unfortunate as it was a good record
This DOES have a great rythym track and I feel I'm on my own here but the song itself just isn't that great. It's fun but the melody really isn't anything special in my view. I've never gotten too excited about listening to it but it was definitely a step in the right direction for Elvis. Much as I love the slower ballads and the country stuff I would like to heave heard a lot more up tempo vibrant material like this as well. But a better song than this. Sorry!
Great song which became a huge country hit for Travis Tritt in the 90's. Why wasnt it a big hit for Elvis when released? I dont know, I thought it was his last great rock record. I remember playing it for my rock friend in 1975 thinking he would love it. He preferred the flip Mr Songman. Go figure. But I would have preferred having more songs like this than all the country ballads which made up most of his LPs and made for a lackluster listen.
In the 70s, Elvis could still "Rock" and this song, proves it !! Definately one of his best recordings ! I wish he had recorded more songs like this ! Some of my Favorite Rockers from the 70s: T-R-O-U-B-L-E, Promised Land, Burning Love, For the Heart, Way Down, and the pop classics, Moody Blue, If you Talk in your sleep, The Wonder of you, I'm Leavin, I've got a thing about you baby, among many more ! The 70s was a good decade for Elvis in the studio.
a fine rocker for those days. although Elvis was joking about its many words imitating an overspeeded record player in one of these shows ;-) but yes, he should have gotten more of these uptempo songs. must have been a huge dissapointment for him, that it gained so less attention in the charts after promoting it so hard while on tour...
I like this one, along side Promise Land & Burning Love it showed that Elvis could still do a little rock 'n roll. Yes, it should have been a bigger hit, but looking back i wonder how many fans & even non fans gave it a miss thinking the orginal 'Trouble' from Kc had been re-release?
This is a very fine rocker imo from Elvis! I loved it from the first time I heard it! Strange that it didn't catch more attention! A sparkling opener on a very good album, the Today album! Elvis was in very good voice and spirit during those sessions!
T.R.O.U.B.L.E also spells AWESOME!!!! A fine 70's rocker. I loved hearing this track blaring out from the A.M. Radio in the mornings back when it was first released. Great memories.
There seems to be some re-writing of history when it comes to the success of Elvis' version and Travis Tritt's version. On the U.S. pop chart, Elvis hit #35, while, Travis' version did not chart. On the adult contemporary chart, Elvis hit #42 and Tritt's version did not chart. On the U.S. country chart, Tritt hit #13 and Elvis beat him by two spots, hitting #11. Elvis' version also managed a #26 placing on the Canadian pop chart and Canadian country chart and a #31 ranking on the British charts. Now Tritt's LP that was titled "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" (#27 on the Top 200 LP chart and #1 country LP) was a bigger success than "Elvis Today"(#57 LP, #4 country LP); but as far as singles, Elvis wins the head to head match-up.
This is a G-R-E-A-T performance of our man and the lyrics are lots of fun. I do enjoy this very much and Elvis was in very good voice during the recording sessions for Elvis Today. This should have been a top ten hit at the time and Elvis did good promotion for the single during his concerts in the first half of 1975. Four stars from me.
another great song i really enjoy this one.i don't remember at the time this being promoted very well here in the uk but i could be wrong.but that year there was a major tv promotion for elvis's 40 greatest hits, this was a double album and at the time this was a massive hit here in the uk ( it would be interesting on what kind of figures this would be ) not sure if RCA were involved in this or if it was for KTELL or someone else.five stars for t.r.o.u.b.l.e. should have been a hit on the back of the 40 greatest hits.
This is such a stellar, electrifying, energetic, groovy, catchy, fun and unique Elvis song and Elvis easily has the very best renditions of it. This song should've been a smash hit for Elvis here in the United States, but it wasn't.
"T-R-O-U-B-L-E" with the Flip side "Mr. Songman" was a solid 2 sided hit, but sadly it was a "mild" hit single in 1975. More great singles were to come, but Elvis was mostly charting on the Country Music charts, at this time, as Pop radio played less and less of his good attempts, at hit singles. I think the few "single" clunkers and spotty albums took its toll.
Difficult to sing along to. Travis Tritt made his version louder, but lacking any soul in playing and singing. Elvis nailed it. Of course he did.
One of the best 70's rockabilly numbers!
The first thing you hear from elvis while listening to this song (or the today lp) is the king pull up his nose (or whatever you say in english) witch shows the lack of perfection that makes a lot of his 70's recordings less attractive than they could have been. The band rocks, elvis is focused, but far from fantastic. It's still an enjoyable recording, but it could have been a great one with an elvis that really cares.
A great performance that was underrated. I've heard it called a 'return to rockabilly'.
I always couple this song with Promised Land as 2 great rockers from the mid 1970's.He did a great version of this in Las Vegas August 1975 with some acceptable amateur film (if one searches) where he shows some interesting moves at the end of the song.