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U.S. Male

Rating:
4.5 / 5

Words & Music: Jerry Reed

Now, I'm a U.S. Male 'cause I was born
In a Mississippi town on a Sunday morn
Now Mississippi just happens to occupy a place
In the southeastern portion of this here United States
Now that's a matter of fact, buddy
And you know it well
So I just call myself the U.S. Male
That's M-A-L-E, son. That's me!

Now I said all that to say all this
I've been watchin' the way
You've been watchin' my miss
For the last three weeks you been hot on her trail
And you kinda upset this U.S. Male
You touch her once with your greasy hands
I'm gonna stretch your neck like a long rubber band
She's wearin' a ring that I bought her on sale
And that makes her the property of this U.S. Male

You better not mess with the U.S. Male my friend
The U.S. Male gets mad, he's gonna do you in
You know what's good for yourself son
You better find somebody else son
Don't tamper with the property of the U.S. Male

Through the rain and the heat and the sleet and the snow
The U.S. Male is on his toes
Quit watchin' my woman, for that ain't wise
You ain't pullin' no wool over this boy's eyes
I catch you 'round my woman, champ
I'm gonna leave your head 'bout the shape of a stamp
Kinda flattened out, so you'll do well
To quit playin' games with this U.S. Male

You better not mess with the U.S. Male my friend
The U.S. Male gets mad, he's gonna do you in
You know what's good for yourself son
You better find somebody else son
Don't tamper with the property of the U.S. Male

Sock it to me

All right...now I'm gonna tell it like it is son
I catch you messin' 'round with that woman of mine
I'm gonna lay one on ya. You're talkin' to the U.S. Male
The American U.S. Male

Recordingdate: 1968/01/16, first released on: single (album)

Musicians

Musicians who contributed to the first recording of U.S. Male:

(guitar)
(guitar)
(guitar)
(steel guitar)
(bass)
(drums)
(drums)
(piano)
(harmonica)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)

Availability

Find available albums with U.S. Male.

ElvisDayByDay wrote on April 23, 2008
Tough lyrics, but Elvis' rendition is a bit tame. If he had sung it like he belted out some of his fifties rockers it would have ranked higher on my favorites list.
old shep wrote on April 27, 2008
This Elvis hit single and Guitar Man marked an Elvis revival in the late sixties after a lean period in the charts. I think that Elvis handled this Jerry Reed song well, tongue in cheek and plenty of humour. Jerry Reed's guitar playing and Elvis' renewed enthusiasm make this an above average track.
dressingroomrehearsa wrote on June 20, 2008
always liked this song, after the sillyness of all those movies the man and his music started to get in shape again, but the sad point with this is: he was entering his last decade already...
Lex wrote on June 20, 2008
Finally a glimpse of the real Elvis again! Always loved the drawl with which Elvis sang it.
Steve V wrote on June 20, 2008
After years of lame singles to promote lame movies, this & Guitar Man marked the return of Elvis to making real solid music again. I remember this even getting spins on the jukebox at the candy store where I hung out. I felt proud once again to be an Elvis fan.
commoneverybody wrote on June 20, 2008
One of my ALL-TIME favorites. Elvis sings like he means it, with that great Southern accent.´I´m Gonna Stretch Your Neck Like A Long Rubber Band´ . WOW!!! Thats tough boy, that IS rock and roll!! .... This is SEX man!!
Ton Bruins wrote on June 20, 2008
She's wearin' a ring that I bought her on sale. And that makes her the property of this U.S. Male, sock it to me one more time... what a great song and great lyrics... pure rock'n roll and Elvis had surely fun to record this song !
JerryNodak wrote on June 20, 2008
Great single. I've always liked this more than 'Guitar Man.' Pure country-rock.
My boy, my boy wrote on June 21, 2008
Jerry Reed should have written more stuff for Elvis...This one is awesome !...The Jordanaires sound good too on it...They must have felt the young Elvis from 1956 performing with them for the very last time !
Deano1 wrote on August 23, 2010
A great song and and an even better performance by Elvis. Fun, sassy and coupled with it's flipside "Stay Away", it is one of my top ten favorite Elvis singles.
derekd wrote on August 23, 2010
Great single, at last Elvis was a leader again. Shades of Dixieland Rock on this rap type recording. This and Guitar Man were, in my mind, the singles that told the world, Elvis is still here. Wasn't it great to hear things getting better after those 2 ~ 3 years of second rate recordings.
Gorse wrote on December 25, 2012
A nice double header with the flip side Stay Away, this was a style and recording a little bit out of the ordinary for him. Slightly menacing but delivered tongue in cheek it should have charted higher than 28 in the USA, but did make the UK top twenty.
sugartummy wrote on May 26, 2013
Elvis starts the song slower than Reed with better effect. Sadly enough he found room for the Jordanaires to do their trick, whereas Reed did it without backing vocals. Still 5 solid stars for this one. Elvis doing a Jerry Reed song, a combination that just couldn't fail.
Natha wrote on June 29, 2013
After a few years of having mostly movie stuff this release hit me! It showed that the King was definitely on his way back to the music scene . . . and we were in for a surprise soon after that! Together with the fabulous Guitar Man single he showed the world that the King had not retired. I was never ashamed of being an Elvis fan, but with these two releases I was better understood.
alanfalk wrote on June 29, 2013
Great song, fun lyrics and good delivery by our man, but Rock isn't the only "real Elvis" ! What he himself really loved was gospel and baled typed songs, and less than two years back the great album How great thou' art and my favorite single Indescribably Blue was released, for me that shows that he was never really away and that he made great music throughout his entire career. I do agree that this song together with Big Boss Man was a return to the rock typed songs, but remember that that is only a part of the legend.
bajo wrote on June 29, 2013
I recall those years! To me the turnaround came when I first heard the Big Boss Man single. I knew he was back on track when I heard that single. Following up with Guitar Man made me even more confident! He appeared in the charts again and when U S Male came around it fullfilled a pattern. The rest is history! I treasure those three singles almost as much as his early hits and early sixties hits! I think all these three singles should have been given much more attention than what they got back then. But, times were different during those years! At least they were great recordings by our man.
kink56 wrote on June 29, 2013
This is the first single I ever bought. I remember hearing it on the radio. Great song.
ElvisSacramento wrote on June 30, 2013
This is such a brilliant, fun, catchy, electrifying and unique song and it should definitely be much better known than it actually is. It's easily one of my most favorite songs that Elvis ever recorded. Elvis' rendition of it was marvelous and it should have been a hit for Elvis too. I've never skipped it. It's a true masterpiece of a record for sure. Sadly, this song wasn't ever a hit for Elvis. I rate this song and Elvis' rendition of it both 5 Stars.
shawnrw wrote on December 12, 2013
Such a fun song. I know Jerry Reed wrote and recorded first but I really much prefer Elvis's version.
Pedro Nuno wrote on May 22, 2014
He was Back! Love this tune! To bad RCA didn't saw that, by then, they had almost a complete studio album from our man: with US Male, Big Boss Man, Hi Heel, Guitar Man, Love Letters, Just call me lonesome, and others. But it was a good turning point!
Rob Wanders wrote on May 22, 2014
great song. You can hear Elvis is enjoying himself with some great music and the presence of Jimmy Reed. They should have worked together more often. It gave Elvis a big impulse!
Lou A wrote on May 22, 2014
I loved this when it first came out and I bought the single . Then later on I sort of forgot about this track. Recently I've rediscoverd the song and it's a favorite again. Loads of presence on Elvis' vocal , not only on this , but Guitar Man , and Big Boss Man, Too Much monkey Businesss as well. Apparently Elvis had a great time at this session with Reed. It's a shame they didn't record together again.
sugartummy wrote on August 01, 2015
I know I'm not supposed to react on other statements, but Rob Wanders, it's Jerry Reed that was present as a guitar player on US Male, not Jimmy Reed. This was actually the second time that Jerry Reed was present. The year before he recorded Guitar man & Big Boss Man with Elvis.
Cruiser621 wrote on July 18, 2016
I remember hearing this song by accident I think on the radio and it surprised me to say the least; thought it a rather different song and it came across as something for real, especially from Elvis at the time. Damn fine song.
atomic powered poste wrote on October 19, 2018
Cool and fun song, Reed and Elvis fit perfectly. 5 stars.
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