"Suspicious Minds" is a song about being trapped in a
mistrusting and dysfunctional relationship. Originally, and
most notably, a hit for Elvis Presley in 1969, "Suspicious
Minds" was widely regarded as the single that jump-started
Presley's career after his successful
'68 Comeback Special. It was his eighteenth and last
number-one single in the United States.
Rolling Stonelater ranked it #91 on their list of the
500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Written by Mark James aka Francis Zambon in 1968, who was
also co-writer of "Always On My Mind", which Elvis would later
record, the song first was recorded and released by James. Even
though James' recording initially was not commercially
successful, Elvis decided he could turn it into a hit on
reviewing the song as presented to him by Memphis Soul producer
Chips Moman, owner of American Sound Studio, in 1969.
Presley recorded "Suspicious Minds" along with at least
another two hit singles—"In the Ghetto" and "Kentucky Rain"—in
the so-called "Memphis sessions" of February 1969 at American
Sound Studio. He first performed the song at the Las Vegas
Hilton on July 31, 1969, and the 45 rpm single was released in
the fall. It reached number one in the United States in the
week of November 1 and stayed there for that week. It would be
Presley's final number-one single in the U.S. before his death
("The Wonder of You" in 1970, "Way Down" in 1977 and a
posthumous remixed release of "A Little Less Conversation" in
2002 all hit number one on the British charts, followed by
re-issues of several previous chart toppers in 2005). Mark
James' version of the song appears as the last song on the 1970
record entitled
Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Headby B. J. Thomas.
Future Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux sang
backing vocals on the track.
This song is part of the soundtrack for 2001's
Black Hawk Down. It also plays over the opening credits
to the Coen Bros. film
Intolerable Cruelty.
Notable in this song is a fadeout at about 3:52 into the
song, which lasts for about 15 seconds before fading back in.
This fadeout was intentional, as it helped convey a message of
relationship in the song.
It is also the sole Elvis Presley track that was released by
Time-Life in the 1997 6-CD boxed set, "Gold And Platinum: The
Ultimate Rock Collection".
Dee Dee Warwick, Dionne's sister, covered "Suspicious Minds"
while Elvis Presley's version was still on the charts.
Warwick's version was a minor U.S. hit, peaking at #80 in
1970.
Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter recorded the song for RCA
in 1970. Their version reached No. 25 on the Billboard country
chart in November of that year. The Jennings-Colter version was
re-released by RCA in 1976, topping out at No. 2, and was
included on the ground-breaking album
Wanted! The Outlawsthat same year.
Singer Ronnie McDowell sung the song for the 1979 film of
the soundtrack
ELVIS.
Candi Staton had a No. 31 UK hit with her revival in
1982.
In 1986, the band Fine Young Cannibals' cover version of the
song, which featured backing vocals by Jimmy Somerville,
reached #8 on the UK Singles chart. Six years later, country
singer Dwight Yoakam recorded his own version of the song for
the soundtrack to the movie
Honeymoon in Vegas, as well as a video. It was later
released on his compilation album
The Very Best of Dwight Yoakam.
In 2002, Gareth Gates released his remake as a single from
his debut album
What My Heart Wants to Say. This version, charted as a
double A-side with his duet with Will Young on "The Long and
Winding Road," hit number one on the UK Singles Chart.
In 2004, Pete Yorn released a live recording of the song on
his 2 disc album
Live From New Jersey.
In 2009, Rusted Root covered this on their studio album
Stereo Rodeo.
In October 2009, mashup artist Marco van Bastard released a
bootleg called "Suspicious Creep" using the Elvis Presley vocal
and the instrumental version of Radiohead's "Creep".
"Sitting Pretty"