Almanac Music: ‘I’ll Hold You in my Heart’ – Elvis Presley

 

‘I’ll Hold You in my Heart’

 

Elvis is a hot topic once again, with the release of the movie by Baz Luhrmann EPiC – Elvis Presley in Concert, and the accompanying soundtrack.  Both are doing very well in their respective charts around the world.

 

Who would think that forty-nine years after his death, the music and the artist keep us in touch with the greatest recording and performing artist of the twentieth century.

 

I would like to take you back to 1969, when Elvis decided to record for the first time in Memphis since his last recordings at Sun Studios in 1955.

 

It was at American Sound Studios, with a pedigree group of session musicians, and a producer by the name of Chips Moman.   The Studio already had a long string of successes with other artists.  It was a no-brainer for Elvis to use the studio.

 

As we know, Elvis was never a song writer, but he was excellent at reinterpreting songs. (Just look at his first recording at Sun Studios in 1954, with ‘That’s Alright Mama’ and ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’).  Although Moman was an excellent producer and was the shot in the arm Elvis needed, Elvis had a history of producing himself.   He knew what sound he wanted and would direct his musicians to get that sound.

 

One particular song was a country song first recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1947. The writers of that song being attributed to Vaughn Horton, Thomas C. Dilbeck and Eddy Arnold.  More about the writer(s) later.

 

If you listen to Eddy Arnold’s original recording, then to the recording Elvis made at American Sound Studios, you get a sense of Elvis as a producer. Elvis had known this country version from when it was first released.  Instead, he turns this maudlin hockey country song into a bluesy jam.  Elvis is playing around on the piano, and starts the song, with a deliberate false start.    He knows exactly what he wants the song to sound like, and the session musicians fall in behind him.  The song is completed in one take.   It was only a jam, but Chips Moman is pretty impressed.  Elvis’s personal ‘producer’ Felton Jarvis is equally impressed, and so the impromptu jam of ‘I’ll Hold You in my Heart’ ends up on the very successful album From Elvis in Memphis.

 

 

 

 

There is a very interesting background story to one of the writers, Thomas C Dilbeck.  I suspect he was the main writer.   Dilbeck is credited as having written over 110 songs.  His biggest hit was ‘I’ll Hold You in my Heart’.

 

Dilbeck’s first wife, Vivien, died in 1954, who he was devoted to.   He remarried in 1958.  On January 16, 1968 he shot and killed his second wife Mrs Hilde Dilbeck in a Los Angeles court house and wounded her two attorneys, an accountant, and a prospective witness of hers. Hilde was seeking a divorce. Dilbeck began serving a life term at the Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, California.   Still in custody he died in 1983 aged 77, and was buried beside his first wife, Vivien.

 

If you are interested in more details about the song and its background story, listen to the podcast at TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast · 27 November 2025

 

Also do a comparison of the two versions of ‘I’ll Hold You in my Heart’, either through YouTube or Spotify. You Tube versions below.

 

Elvis Presley version

 

Eddy Arnold version

 

 

Read more from Stan Kluzek Here.

 

 

Read more stories from Almanac Music  HERE

 

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