This song was written by Dave Bartholomew and Pearl King. The original "One
Night of Sin" version of the lyrics, which Elvis recorded on January 24, 1957,
was a bit risqué for the times. This recording was not released until 1983. For
his single release, recorded at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on February 23,
1957, Elvis used altered lyrics, singing of "one night with you" he was "praying
for" instead of "one night of sin" he was "paying for". The intention was to
make the song part of the soundtrack of Elvis' second movie, "Loving You".
Thorne Nogar was the engineer with Dudley Brooks on piano, joining Elvis and
musicians Scotty Moore, Bill Black and D.J. Fontana, with vocal backing by The
Jordanaires. Take number 10 was so good that it was decided to drop it from the
"Loving You" soundtrack plan and make it a single release with "I Got Stung" as
the flip side. The single shipped on October 21, 1958.
In the USA "One Night" peaked at #4 on Billboard's pop singles chart during its
17-week run on that chart. It had a 15-week run on the R&B singles chart,
peaking at #10, and a 3-week run on the country singles chart, peaking at #24.
It peaked at #1 for 3 weeks on the British pop singles chart in its 12-week run.
Others who have recorded the song include: Billy Ray Cyrus, Bad Company, The
Corrs, Fats Domino, Etta James, Tom Jones, Sean Lennon, Mud, Albert King and
Kenny Rogers.