Words & Music:
Jay Livingston
Ray Evans
Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa, man have named you
You're so like the lady with the mystic smile
Is it only 'cause you're lonely man have blamed you
For that Mona Lisa strangeness in your smile
Do you smile to tempt a lover Mona Lisa
Or is it your way to hide a broken heart
Many dreams have been brought to your doorstep
They just lie there and they die there
Are you warm, are you real Mona Lisa
Or just a cold and lonely lovely work of art
La la la la......
For that Mona Lisa strangeness in your smile
Do you smile to tempt a lover Mona Lisa
Or is it your way to hide a broken heart
Many dreams have been brought to your doorstep
They just lie there and they die there
Are you warm, are you real Mona Lisa
Or just a cold and lonely lovely work of art
Recordingdate: 1959, first released on: A Legendary Performer, Volume 4 (album)
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Elvis sings & plays it in a slow pace like Nat King Cole, instead of the faster version recorded at Sun by Carl Mann.
Obviously this private recording is nowhere near the Nat King Cole studio performance, but it is an acceptable tuneful attempt done purely for his own entertainment. Worth the occasional spin, so I give it 3 stars.
The young Elvis singing privately this famous song. He nor RCA ever intended to release this 'recording'. So we cannot judge this as such. I loveto hear him fooling around with the team singing other songs than his songbook at the time. It also shows he had a variety of musical interest and that came out in his later years. So rating this 'recording' not to compare to the fantastic Nat King Cole hit. It is fun though
Really nice to have and hear this. It shows how broad Elvis' taste in music was and how he never really turned his back on the Dean Martin/Nat King Cole side of his musical aspirations.
Elvis' home recorded performance of this classic song is terrific, but I wish that Elvis had recorded this song professionally in the studio instead. Nat King Cole's smash hit rendition of this gem is the best rendition of it by far.
It's not terrible for what it is, but it is a lousy homerecording. Whit all the great music out there, who would ever listen to this more than ones in his life? No voting.