Elvis Presley helped to make Rock and Roll music popular in the 50s and was a huge influence to many young kids who in the following decades would create their own bands and be an important part of the evolution of the music genre.
During his career, the American singer released 23 studio albums and 117 singles. Over the decades many famous artists talked about their love for Presley and one of them is the Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant.
To show more about how much he liked Elvis, Rock and Roll Garage selected the two Elvis Presley songs that Robert Plant said are some of his favorites.
The 2 Elvis Presley songs that Robert Plant listed as favorites
“I Feel So Bad”
One of the Elvis Presley tracks that Robert Plant loves the most is “I Feel So Bad”. The song was originally written and recorded by Chuck Willis in 1951. Presley covered the song 7 years later in 1961. The Elvis version reached number 5 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 in 1961.
When Plant was part of the BBC Radio 6 show “6 Music’s Festive Takeover” back in 2021 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), he said that the track was one of his favorites from The King and explained the reason why he likes the song.
“That’s the great Chuck Willis song recorded by Elvis Presley in 1961 in Nashville. Listening to that Nashville sound, do you hear that? Listen to that playing. It’s so clipped. I was very fortunate one time in the golden days when we all dreamed in color to meet Elvis. When I was in Led Zeppelin he wanted to know some stories about us.”
“He’d heard some things and the great thing to tell you, I hope it has resonance is that, that guy was so deep into the Blues. Being born and raised between Tupelo, Mississippi and Memphis, Tennessee, it was everywhere. So I mean, the radio was just one move of the dial and you went from Country to the Wolf and Chuck Willis”, Robert Plant said.
Elvis’ daughter wanted to tattoo Robert Plant’s autograph
Led Zeppelin had the chance to meet Elvis Presley in the 70s and his daughter Lisa Marie Presley was a huge fan of the British band. Robert Plant was asked in an interview with the Brazilian magazine Veja in 2020, if the King asked them for an autograph as the legend goes. But he revealed that it actually was Lisa Marie that wanted Plant’s autograph to make a tattoo.
“No, he didn’t ask for an autograph (Elvis). What happened was that I met his daughter several times. On one occasion, she wanted an autograph on her arm and then get a tattoo.”
“So I thought, “My God!” The ironic thing is that Lisa Marie is now a renowned artist. Would look pretty ridiculous if she had a Robert Plant tattoo on her arm. So no, I didn’t do the autograph on her arm,” Robert Plant said.
“A Big Hunk O’ Love”
Another Elvis Presley song that Robert Plant likes is “A Big Hunk O’ Love”. The track was originally written by Aaron Schroeder and Sidney Wyche, being released by Elvis in 1959.
Plant praised the track in an interview with Charlie Rose (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) back in 2005, saying: “A Big Hunk O’ Love” (is from) just before he went in the army in 1958. Fantastic song”.
The track topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks by the time it was released.
Robert Plant once was defeated in karaoke by an Elvis Presley impersonator
Over the decades Robert Plant toured around the world and had the chance to visit many countries. As he recalled in an interview with James Corden back in 2018, he curiously once was defeated in karaoke by an Elvis Presley impersonator.
“I wanted to sing and I’d had too much to drink. So the options were ABBA … no … and Elvis, that was on the thing. I put my name down, and a bloke from Taiwan also put his name down for Elvis. So we were competing.”
“It was all Chinese folk in there. Even though Taiwan is a taboo place for Communist Chinese people to even think about, I was neck and neck with this guy. Even the Chinese guys were going for this Taiwanese guy. But I was really, really good, But in Beijing 22 years ago, I was beaten by a Taiwanese Elvis impersonator,” Robert Plant said.