About The Song
“King Creole” is a 1958 American musical drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and based on the 1952 novel A Stone for Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins. The film stars Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dolores Hart, Dean Jagger, and Vic Morrow, and follows a nineteen-year-old (Presley) who gets mixed up with crooks and involved with two women.
The title song, “King Creole”, was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and performed by Presley. The song was released as a single in 1958 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The film itself was a commercial success, grossing over $15 million at the box office.
Video
Lyrics
There’s a man in New Orleans
Who plays rock and roll
He’s a guitar man
With a great big soul
He lays down a beat
Like a ton of coal
He goes by the name of King Creole
You know he’s gone, gone, gone
Jumpin’ like a catfish on a pole
You know he’s gone, gone, gone
Hip shaking King Creole
When the king starts to do it
It’s as good as done
He holds his guitar
Like a Tommy gun
He starts to growl
From way down his throat
He bends a string
And “that’s all she wrote”
You know he’s gone, gone, gone
Jumpin’ like a catfish on a pole
You know he’s gone, gone, gone
Hip shaking King Creole
Well, he sings a song about a crawdad hole
He sings a song about a jelly roll
He sings a song about pork and greens
He sings some blues about New Orleans
You know he’s gone, gone, gone
Jumpin’ like a catfish on a pole
You know he’s gone, gone, gone
Hip shaking King Creole
Well, he plays something evil
Then he plays something sweet
No matter what he plays
You got to get up on your feet
When he gets the rockin’ fever
Baby, heaven sakes
He don’t stop playin’
‘Till his guitar breaks
You know he’s gone, gone, gone
Jumpin’ like a catfish on a pole
You know he’s gone, gone, gone
Hip shaking King Creole