Written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman for Elvis, who recorded it on June 25, 1961
at RCA Studios in Nashville. Working the session that day were Scotty Moore,
Hank Garland and Neal Matthews on guitar. Bob Moore was on bass. D. J. Fontana
and
Buddy Harman played drums. Floyd Cramer played piano and organ. Gordon Stoker of
The Jordanaires also played piano. Boots Randolph was on claves and The
Jordanaires and Millie Kirkham were vocal backup. "Little Sister" was released
in August 1961. In the U.S.A. it had 13-week run on the pop singles chart,
peaking at #5. In the U.K. it hit #1. Years later in concerts, Elvis sometimes
sang this song in a medley with the Beatles hit "Get Back". Elvis can be seen
singing the medley in the concert documentary film "Elvis: That's The Way It Is,
Special Edition". In 1988 Dwight Yoakam had a successful country music video
with this song. Using the same tune LaVern Baker recorded an "answer" record
called "Hey Memphis" in 1961.