Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. In 1955, drummer D. J. Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage the singer for more than two decades. Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number one hit in the United States. With a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records, he became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, made him enormously popular—and controversial.
In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender. Drafted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. He held few concerts however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood movies and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii. Years of prescription drug abuse severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate, just 42 years of age.
Presley is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century. Commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, blues, and gospel, he is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music. He won three competitive Grammys, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.
Rock-A-Hula Baby
Elvis Presley Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Rock-a-hula, rock-rock-a-hula
Rock-a-hula, rock-rock-a-hula
Rock-a-hula, rock-rock-a-hula
Rock-a-hula, rock-rock-a-hula
Rock-a-hula, rock
Rock-a-hula, rock
A-hula, rock, a-hula, rock
The way she moves her hips to her fingertips
I feel I'm heaven bound
And when she starts to sway, I've gotta say
She really move the grass around
Rock-a-hula baby
Rock-a-hula baby
Got a hula lulu from Honolulu
That rock-a-hula baby of mine
Rock-a-hula, rock-rock-a-hula
Rock-a-hula, rock
Although I love to kiss my little hula miss
I never get the chance
I want to hold her tight all through the night
But all she wants to do is dance
Rock-a-hula baby
Rock-a-hula baby
Got a hula lulu from Honolulu
That rock-a-hula baby of mine
Rock-a-hula baby
Rock-a-hula baby
Rock-a-hula baby
Rock, rock, rock, rock
Rock-a-hula baby
Rock-a-hula baby
Rock-a-hula baby
Rock, rock, rock, rock
Rock-a-hula baby
Rock-a-hula baby
Got a hula lulu from Honolulu
That rock-a-hula baby of mine
Oh well, that rock-a-hula baby of mine
The song "Rock-A-Hula Baby" was one of the most popular songs recorded by Elvis Presley in 1961. It has a playful and catchy tune that easily catches the audience's attention. The lyrics express the singer's appreciation of a woman's Hawaiian hula dance, which has an alluring and mesmerizing effect on him. The main theme of the song is about the irresistible charm of a woman's seductive dance that he finds difficult to resist.
The opening lyrics "Rock-a-hula, rock-rock-a-hula" repeat throughout the entire song and can be interpreted as an invitation to dance or sway along with the music. It's like the singer is telling someone to join the fun and experience the seductive effect of the hula dance.
The lyrics in the second verse express the singer's desire to hold his hula miss closely, but she only wants to dance. This verse highlights the playful and flirtatious nature of the song. The repetition of the phrase "Rock-a-hula baby" throughout the chorus affirms that the singer is indeed smitten with his hula dancer.
Overall, "Rock-A-Hula Baby" is a fun and upbeat song that speaks to the seductive and playful nature of love and romance.
Line by Line Meaning
Rock-a-hula, rock-rock-a-hula
The singer is excited and repeating the phrase 'Rock-a-hula' as an expression of joy and energy.
The way she moves her hips to her fingertips
The singer admires the way his love interest dances and moves her body.
I feel I'm heaven bound
The singer is overwhelmed and feels like he is in paradise because of the way his love interest dances.
And when she starts to sway, I've gotta say
The singer is emphasizing how irresistible his love interest is when she starts to dance.
She really move the grass around
The singer is using a metaphor to say that his love interest's dance moves are so powerful that they can move the grass beneath her feet.
Got a hula lulu from Honolulu
The singer is talking about his love interest, who is from Honolulu and is a skilled hula dancer.
Although I love to kiss my little hula miss
The singer expresses his affection for his love interest and how much he enjoys spending time with her.
I never get the chance
The singer is frustrated because he wants to spend more time with his love interest but never gets the opportunity.
I want to hold her tight all through the night
The singer desires physical intimacy with his love interest and wants to hold her close all night long.
But all she wants to do is dance
The singer laments that his love interest seems more interested in dancing than in being intimate with him.
Lyrics © CARLIN AMERICA INC, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BENJAMIN WEISMAN, DOLORES FULLER, FRED WISE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@oleggorky906
@MrsSriggins83 Oh, 💯 percent agreed. Parker was a crook. But he did have the energy to get Elvis a contract, though some people believe that he was an illegal immigrant and feared being barred from re-entering America if he ever left there. The films brought in revenue to replace the money they couldn’t make on foreign tours.
This is purely speculative but some people believe that Parker left the Netherlands because he had committed a murder there. And indeed, there had been a murder in the small Dutch town he was from the night before he left. It is possible that he feared arrest by the police, but by no means a certainty that could be proven in open court. It’s odd in America that in such circumstances that years later he didn’t just come clean and ask for citizenship, based on the fact that he had built up a clientele of singers, boosting revenue for the economy. But in truth he also had gambling debts with Las Vegas crime syndicates so that might be why (some say this was the reason for Elvis becoming a house performer for one of the hotels there.)
The Colonel’s immigration problem is probably closer to the reason Elvis didn’t tour, nothing to do with him fearing arrest for drugs at customs like some people claim. He probably didn’t have a problem with them that early, and even if he did opiates are a controlled substance, not a banned one and if you have money you can quite easily get a prescription for one concoction or another which virtually most western countries would allow through when covered with a bona fide medical note. Heck, Shaun Ryder once took a demijohn full of methadone through one Caribbean airport, which got accidentally broken! 🤣
Regardless, Elvis was a great entertainer, and for all his faults Parker must have meant something to Elvis and certainly wasn’t all bad. As for me, the early rock ‘n’ roll is the high water mark for Elvis, 🕺but when I got to a certain age I got over my own musical snobbery enough to enjoy the films for the fun filled frolics that they were. As a result I understand your hubby’s puritanical outlook upon Elvis’s work, but I am glad that I laid mine to rest! 😀
@dannyzuehlsdorf3697
When my kids were little they loved to watch BLUE HAWAII and VIVA LAS VEGAS, and they listened to the King in the car as well. Raised right!
@marshavoiers327
My grandson is 2. The first time he heard this song, he literally stood up and started shaking his leg like Elvis. Look out , Elvis impersonators, My grandson has you all beat. LOL. He loves music and will stop dead in a store, when he hears a song he likes, and just starts dancing away. What a funny little guy we have.
@nerissajohnson3921
Cool
@doggiedukeandfriends
You need film that they grow so quick
@deanrideout1275
Brilliant
@deanrideout1275
Superb pure gold
@elizalove47
A Kiss from me to your grandson!
@randyrogers8568
A superb performance by the greatest entertainer to have ever walked this earth.
@jeddyhi
Elvis sure could wear a suit and tie. The man had a flare for style.
@MrRockabilly70
@jeddyhi. Good point. I love the suits he wore in the late 50's to early 60's. He dressed extremely well and was the best dressed man of his era.