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I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone
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Wikipedia article
"'I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone'" (sometimes called "'You're Right, I'm Left, She's Gone'") is a song written by Bill Taylor and Stan Kesler and originally recorded by Elvis Presley for Sun Records.
Released as a single in April 1955 (with "Baby Let's Play House" on the opposite side), the song made it into the top 10 of U.S. 'Billboard's C&W Best Sellers in Stores chart.
Composition
The song was written by Bill Taylor and Stan Kesler, members of a Sun Records band called Snearly Ranch Boys.
Recording
The commercial (released) version was recorded by Elvis in FebruaryMarch 1955 at Sun Records' Studio in Memphis. The recording features Elvis' regular sidemen Scotty Moore on guitar and Bill Black on bass. Both are credited on the record's label (as Scotty & Bill). According to Songfacts, the drummer's name was Jimmie Lott and he was "brought in" for this recording by Sam Phillips.
Description and critical analysis
The song's lyrics deal with a heartbreak, but in a humorous way. The singer says to his friend that the friend was right in warning him that the girl would break his heart. But the singer still had to find out for himself if she was "the one" for him.
According to Susan M. Doll in her book 'Understanding Elvis', the song "features a common characteristic of country music the passive acceptance of the singer's fate and the subsequent melancholy it brings," as the person who sings the song "passively resigns himself to the fact" that his girl is gone.
Musically, it is a rockabilly ballad. Originally Elvis Presley recorded it in a blues arrangement, but the version that was released was "something of a novelty", which "was more in line with the commercial considerations of the day".
Mike Eder in his 'Elvis Music FAQ' finds the recording too polished and too similar to other Elvis' songs of that time:
At about the one-minute mark, the song features Elvis' "trademark hiccup vocal break".
Track listing
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| title1 = I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone
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| writer1 = Bill Taylor, Stan Kesler
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| title2 = Baby Let's Play House
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| writer2 = Arthur Gunter
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Charts
Other recordings
Jerry Lee Lewis, Hayden Thompson, Billy Joe Royal, Billy Fury, Billy Swan, Tom Jones, and Teddy Thompson have also recorded the song.
References
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