The credit here really, should go to Elvis Presley. He is the one who recorded the hit song in 1956, after all.
However, Elvis didn’t write the song, Otis Blackwell did. Blackwell also wrote hits like “All Shook Up” and Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Great Balls Of Fire”.
The Million Dollar Quartet wasn’t a formal group, but the name of an informal recording session with Elvis Presley (main singer), Jerry Lee Lewis (piano), Carl Perkins (guitar), and Johnny Cash, who mainly hung about but does have some vocals.
This version of “Don’t Be Cruel” is a rawer, slower, more relaxed take than the rock and roll hit version. The original is much better produced and recorded in many ways, but there’s something quite authentic about the jam session track.
Elvis had seen Jackie Wilson and sung in his style instead. The song is a typical 1956 rock n roll song but the talent in the group’s performance shines through.
The King!