"Jailhouse Rock" is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller that first became a hit for Elvis Presley. RCA Victor released the song on a 45 rpm single on September 24, 1957, the song had a film release of Presley's motion picture under the same name, Jailhouse Rock. Rolling Stone magazine included it at number 67 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2004, it finished at number 21 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. On November 27, 2016, the Grammy Hall of Fame announced its induction, along with that of another 24 songs. In 2019, it ranked #31 in the list of Spain's most heard radio station. Rock FM 500's five hundred rockers of all time, as well as ahead as any other song of the 1950s. Presley's performance of the song in the film, choreographed as a dance routine involving himself and a large group of male prisoners, was featured among other classic MGM musical numbers in the 1994 documentary That's Entertainment! III. The film version differs from the single version of the song, featuring backing instrumentation and vocals not heard on the record.
Characters and themes
Some of the characters named in the song are real people. Shifty Henry was a well-known LA musician, not a criminal. The Purple Gang was a real mob. "Sad Sack" was a U.S. Army nickname in World War II for a loser, which was also the name of a popular comic strip and comic book character. According to Rolling Stone, Leiber and Stoller's "theme song for Presley's third movie was decidedly silly, the kind of tongue-in-cheek goof they had come up with for The Coasters. The King, however, sang it as straight rock & roll, overlooking the jokes in the lyrics and then introducing Scotty Moore's guitar solo with a cry so intense that the take almost collapses." Gender studies scholars cite the song for "its famous reference to homoerotics behind bars," while music critic Garry Mulholland writes, "'Jailhouse Rock' was always a queer lyric, in both senses." Douglas Brode writes of the filmed production number that it's "amazing that the sequence passed by the censors".
Releases and chart performance
The single, with its B-side "Treat Me Nice" was a US number one hit for seven weeks in the fall of 1957, and a UK number one hit for three weeks early in 1958. It was the first record to enter the UK charts at number one. In addition, "Jailhouse Rock" spent one week at the top of the US country charts, and reached the number one position on the R&B chart. Also in 1957, "Jailhouse Rock" was the lead song in an EP, together with other songs from the film, namely "Young and Beautiful," "I Want to be Free," "Don't Leave Me Now," and " Baby I Don't Care". It topped the Billboard EP charts, eventually selling two million copies and earning a double-platinum RIAA certification. In 2005, the song was re-released in the UK and reached number one for a single week, when it became the lowest-selling number one in UK history.
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Chart
Peak position
Chart
Peak position
Chart
Peak position
Chart
Peak position
Year-end charts
Sales and certifications
Versions by other artists
The Beatles regularly performed "Jailhouse Rock" starting in 1958 and continuing all the way through 1960 with John Lennon on lead vocal; no recording is known to survive.
Queen regularly performed the song in a medley along with many old rock and roll hits as early as 1970.
