Elvis recorded this song on March 23, 1961 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood for
the movie "Blue Hawaii". It was written by Fred Wise, Ben Weisman and Delores
Fuller, who tried capitalizing on the then popular dance, The Twist, calling it
a "twist special". At the session Scotty Moore, Hank Garland, and Tiny Timbrell
played guitar. Bob Moore played bass. D.J. Fontana, Hal Blaine, and Bernie
Mattinson played drums. Floyd Cramer and Dudley Brooks played piano. Dudley
Brooks also played celeste. Boots Randolph played sax. Alvino Rey was on steel
guitar. George Fields played harmonica. Fred Tavares and Bernie Lewis played
ukulele. Backing vocals were provided by The Jordanaires. Also providing backing
vocals were The Surfers, a group comprised of Patrick Sylva, Bernard Ching,
Clayton Naluai and Alan Nalaui. "Rock-a-Hula Baby" was released as the flip side
of "Can't Help Falling in Love" (another song from the movie) in December 1961.
In the U.S.A. "Rock-a-Hula Baby" peaked at #23 on the pop chart, while the
A-side made it to #2. "Rock-a-Hula Baby" shared the #1 spot with "Can't Help
Falling in Love" for 4 weeks in a 20-week run on the pop chart in the U.K.