Suspicious Minds

This article is about the song. For the anthology album, see Suspicious Minds (album). For the TV episode, see Suspicious Minds (Desperate Housewives).

"Suspicious Minds"
Song
B-side	"You'll Think Of Me"

"Suspicious Minds"
Song

"Suspicious Minds"
Song

"Suspicious Minds" is a song about being trapped in a mistrusting and dysfunctional relationship. Originally, and most notably, a hit for Elvis Presley in 1969, "Suspicious Minds" was widely regarded as the single that jump-started Presley's career after his successful '68 Comeback Special. It was his eighteenth and last number-one single in the United States. Rolling Stone later ranked it #91 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Song

Written by Mark James aka Francis Zambon in 1968, who was also co-writer of "Always On My Mind", which Elvis would later record, the song first was recorded and released by James. Even though James' recording initially was not commercially successful, Elvis decided he could turn it into a hit on reviewing the song as presented to him by Memphis Soul producer Chips Moman, owner of American Sound Studio, in 1969.

Presley recorded "Suspicious Minds" along with at least another two hit singles—"In the Ghetto" and "Kentucky Rain"—in the so-called "Memphis sessions" of February 1969 at American Sound Studio. He first performed the song at the Las Vegas Hilton on July 31, 1969, and the 45 rpm single was released in the fall. It reached number one in the United States in the week of November 1 and stayed there for that week. It would be Presley's final number-one single in the U.S. before his death ("The Wonder of You" in 1970, "Way Down" in 1977 and a posthumous remixed release of "A Little Less Conversation" in 2002 all hit number one on the British charts, followed by re-issues of several previous chart toppers in 2005). Mark James' version of the song appears as the last song on the 1970 record entitled Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head by B. J. Thomas.

Future Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux sang backing vocals on the track.

This song is part of the soundtrack for 2001's Black Hawk Down. It also plays over the opening credits to the Coen Bros. film Intolerable Cruelty.

This song is noted for it's change of Rhythm, in the Bridge section, from 4/4 to a slower 3/4 and back again to the faster 4/4 rhythm. The first verse repeats over and over again, until it completely fades out.

This song features a bass guitar, organ, strings, trumpets, trombones, and drums.

Notable in this song is a fadeout at about 3:52 into the song, which lasts for about 15 seconds before fading back in. This fadeout was intentional, as it helped convey a message of relationship in the song.

It is also the sole Elvis Presley track that was released by Time-Life in the 1997 6-CD boxed set, "Gold And Platinum: The Ultimate Rock Collection".

Gareth Gates version

"Suspicious Minds" served as the third single for Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates from his debut album,What My Heart Wants to Say. The song charted as a double A-side release, featuring a duet between Gates and Will Young on the classic Beatles song, "The Long and Winding Road". The single charted at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the third consecutive number one for Gates.

Tracklisting

1. "The Long And Winding Road" - 3:30
2. "Suspicious Minds" - 3:52
3. "I Get The Sweetest Feeling" - 3:29

Cover versions

Dee Dee Warwick, Dionne's sister, covered "Suspicious Minds" while Elvis Presley's version was still on the charts. Warwick's version was a minor U.S. hit, peaking at #80 in 1970. Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter recorded the song for RCA in 1970. Their version reached No. 25 on the Billboard country chart in November of that year. The Jennings-Colter version was re-released by RCA in 1976, topping out at No. 2, and was included on the ground-breaking album Wanted! The Outlaws that same year. Singer Ronnie McDowell sung the song for the 1979 film of the soundtrack ELVIS. Candi Staton had a No. 31 UK hit with her revival in 1982. In 1986, the band Fine Young Cannibals' cover version of the song, which featured backing vocals by Jimmy Somerville, reached #8 on the UK Singles chart. Six years later, country singer Dwight Yoakam recorded his own version of the song for the soundtrack to the movie Honeymoon in Vegas, as well as a video. It was later released on his compilation album The Very Best of Dwight Yoakam. In 1996, Bowling for Soup included their cover version in the album Cell Mates. In 2004, Pete Yorn released a live recording of the song on his 2 disc album Live From New Jersey. In 2008 Elio e le Storie Tese released their album Studentessi containing the song Ignudi fra i nudisti ("Naked amongst nudists") that they wrote listening "Suspicious Minds" backwards. The lyrics are usual Elio's screwball humour, almost unrelated to the original song if not for the fact that they are about a couple arguing, but not for jealousy and suspicion , simply over where to go on holiday, but quite surprisingly the tune is quite enjoyable and retains its 60's soul feel even played this way. In March 2009, Miss Kittin & The Hacker covered "Suspicious Minds" for their album Two. In 2009, Rusted Root covered this on their studio album Stereo Rodeo. In October 2009, mashup artist Marco van Bastard released a bootleg called "Suspicious Creep" using the Elvis Presley vocal and the instrumental version of Radiohead's "Creep". Rock band Glasvegas featured Florence (from Florence and the Machine) in a live cover at NME Music awards in 2009. Siobhan Magnus did a cover of this song on Top Eight Night American Idol Season Nine 2010. Clay Aiken recorded the song on his 2010 album Tried and True. In the 2010 video game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a cover of the song, performed by Blizzard Entertainment VP of Creative Design Chris Metzen, can be found in an in-game jukebox.