This was written for my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but is not part of the book's current plan. For now, anyway. A shorter previous version appeared as a section in one of my weekly 10 Songs entries.
WANDA JACKSON: Let's Have A Party
Written by Jesse Mae Robinson
Produced by Ken Nelson
Single, Capitol Records, 1960
Among songs primarily associated with Elvis Presley, there aren't many I'd say were done better by anyone else. Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton's Forgotten Original of "Hound Dog" is the biggest exception. Chuck Berry recorded the definitive "Promised Land," though I don't really think of that as an Elvis song to begin with (because I heard Berry's version first). "Blue Suede Shoes" is a draw between Elvis and Carl Perkins. Arthur Alexander's "Burning Love" is incredible, but it can't beat Elvis. Otherwise? If King Elvis I laid claim to a song, it was his song.
Each of the above instances cites a song Elvis covered. The only time someone improved on a song that Elvis did first was when Wanda Jackson covered "Let's Have A Party." I guess it helps that it wasn't an iconic Elvis hit to begin with; it was a track from the soundtrack of the 1957 Elvis movie Loving You. Loving You was one of Presley's best films, but the song wasn't released as a single in America. It wasn't an obscurity, but nor was it as well known as a "Jailhouse Rock" or a "Don't Be Cruel." It was therefore ripe for rediscovery and reinvention in other capable hands.
I first heard Wanda Jackson in 1992 on We're Your Friends For Now, the early '90s precursor to This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. Dana played Jackson's "Funnel Of Love," and I was immediately intrigued by it.
I didn't hear her recording of "Let's Have A Party" until 1999. Paul McCartney did his own rockin' version of the song for his excellent mostly-covers album Run Devil Run, and a promo EP bundled with that album at Sam Goody/Musicland stores offered the original versions of four of Macca's cover choices: Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps' "Blue Jean Bop," Ricky Nelson's "Lonesome Town," Fats Domino's "Coquette," and Wanda Jackson's "Let's Have A Party."
McCartney does the song well. Elvis, of course, also does it well. Wanda Jackson's version is definitive. The King's take on "Party" is majestic and agreeable, and it rocks. But compared to Wanda Jackson full-tilt wail, it's like Elvis is issuing a formal invitation to a party. Wanda sounds like she's at the damned party right then and there, shakin' a chicken in the middle of the room with reckless abandon. One hopes there will be smooching. Hoo-weeee! It wasn't for nothing that Wanda Jackson was called the queen of rockabilly. King, meet Queen. The kingdom is secure.
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