EC's most frequently played songs

[And No Coffee Table]

I was going to post a list of the 10 songs Elvis has performed live most frequently, according to the setlists at the wiki site, but I thought it might be more fun if people had a chance to guess the songs first.

Anyone want to try? (Not you, Azmuda.)

1. (1301 known performances)
2. (1204 known performances)
3. (1172 known performances)
4. (942 known performances)
5. (751 known performances)
6. (721 known performances)
7. (664 known performances)
8. (649 known performances)
9. (610 known performances)
10. (561 known performances)

[Paul B]

That is a real teaser! OK I'm just guessing here from experience and supposing it'l mainly be older songs

Pump It Up
Detectives
Accidents
Alison
Man Out Of Time (that's a loo break one for me - sorry!)
Peace Love & Understanding
Oliver's Army
Red Shoes
Lipstick Vogue
er...She!

Guess I don't get the unspecified prize then.

[The imposter]

This sounds like fun..

1 Watching The Detectives
2 Alison
3 Peace, love & Understanding
4 Pump it Up
5 Chelsea
6 Radio Radio
7 Lipstick Vogue
8 Red Shoes
9 Accidents Will Happen
10 The Beat

[terryhurley]

Hmm.

1. Peace, Love and Understanding
2. Pump It Up
3. Watching The Detectives
4. I cant stand up
5. Chelsea
6. Alison
7. Radio Radio
8. Mystery Dance
9. Lipstick Vogue
10. Olivers Army

[Jeremy Dylan]

1. Alison
2. PLU
3. Watching the Detectives
4. Pump It Up
5. Oliver's Army
6. Red Shoes
7. Radio Radio
8. Accidents Will Happen
9. Chelsea
10. High Fidelity

[buzz]

Great fun for a bleak Tuesday morning. How about...

1.Pump It Up
2.Watching the Detectives
3.Alison
4.Peace, Love & Understanding
5.Can't Stand Up
6.Accidents Will Happen
7.Oliver's Army
8.Chelsea
9.Red Shoes
10.Good Year for the Roses

[krm]

wait a few days with the answer please! I will give it a try but time is scarce now!

[woz]

ANCT, this is a good one.

1. Detectives
2. Alison
3. Pump it Uo
4. What's so Funny 'bout Peace Love & Understanding
5. Red Shoes
6. Chelsea
7. Radio Radio
8. The Beat
9. I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down
10. High Fidelity

[bronxapostle]

wait a few days with the answer please! I will give it a try but time is scarce now!

GREAT thread ANCT! and krm, awesome suggestion: to let it sit a few days before revealing. i can offer up my stats and see if indeed my first 100 are a good statistical measure of it all. i'd like to recheck my count when i have more time later! here's my top 10, each with above thirty performances. i will name 11-15 also. here goes:

01. ALISON - 63
02. PUMP IT UP- 62
03. WATCHING THE DETECTIVES - 60
04. PEACE LOVE & UNDERSTANDING - 50
05. CLUBLAND - 42
06. ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN - 37
07. MAN OUT OF TIME - 32
08. RED SHOES - 31
09. CHELSEA - 31
10. EVERYDAY I WRITE THE BOOK - 31

the next five are:

RADIO RADIO - 30
MYSTERY DANCE - 27
NEW LACE SLEEVES - 26
BEYOND BELIEF - 26
ALMOST BLUE - 22

again, this was a VERY quick count. i will verify my numbers once again and amend as needed.

[Man out of Time]

Good idea, and I see there is a new section of the Wiki on known performances. I have drawn up this list without reference to the Wiki (honest)

1. Pump It Up
2. Chelsea
3. PLU
4. Detectives
5. Alison
6. Oliver's Army
7. Red Shoes
8. Shipbuilding
9. Accidents Will Happen
10. Everyday I Write The Book

MOOT

[bronxapostle]

Good idea, and I see there is a new section of the Wiki on known performances. I have drawn up this list without reference to the Wiki (honest)

1. Pump It Up
2. Chelsea
3. PLU
4. Detectives
5. Alison
6. Oliver's Army
7. Red Shoes
8. Shipbuilding
9. Accidents Will Happen
10. Everyday I Write The Book

MOOT

okay MOOT!! out of all the people who listed so far, you are the first to have EIGHT of ten from my small statistical sample. everyone else was at seven tops. let's see how this shakes out. the tension builds. good clean fun ANCT! geez...if you included your user name, you'd have NINE of the ten i've seen the most!

[so lacklustre]

1 pump it up
2 peace love and under
3 alison
4 accidents wi
5 watching the d
6 Chelsea
7 shipbuild
8 clubland
9 hi fidelity
10 I can't stand up

[bronxapostle]

come on sulkylad, krm, docinwestchester, jmm, popeofpop and topbalcony. we want to see your picks!

[docinwestchester]

I'm terrible at these sort of things, but here goes:

1. Alison
2. PIU
3. PLU
4. WTD
5. Accidents
6. Chelsea
7. Oliver's Army
8. Radio, Radio
9. Everyday I Write The Book
10. Mystery Dance

[bronxapostle]

NOT TERRIBLE AT ALL DOC. 10 SOLID PICKS!

[docinwestchester]

NOT TERRIBLE AT ALL DOC. 10 SOLID PICKS!

The top 3 or 4 are pretty obvious, I think.

[The Gentleman]

I'm going to guess Detectives for the #1 spot, with probably "Alison" #2. In both cases, they are songs he plays regardless of the style of accompanyment, be it rock, country, jazz/art, classical, EC/SN, or solo. Some of the other mainstays might be ubiquitous at his rock shows, but much less in other settings.

[krm]

1. PL&U
2. Pump it up
3. Detectives
4. Olivers army
5. Mystery dance
6. Alison
7. Clubland
8. Everyday I write the book
9. Blame it on Caine
10. Good year for the roses

[And No Coffee Table]

Thanks for playing, everyone.

The correct answers are:

1. Watching The Detectives (1301 known performances)
2. Alison (1204 known performances)
3. Pump It Up (1172 known performances)
4. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? (942 known performances)
5. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea (751 known performances)
6. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes (721 known performances)
7. Accidents Will Happen (664 known performances)
8. Radio, Radio (649 known performances)
9. Mystery Dance (610 known performances)
10. Clubland (561 known performances)

And here's the rest of the Top 30:

11. Everyday I Write The Book (558 known performances)
12. You Belong To Me (548 known performances)
13. Oliver's Army (539 known performances)
14. Shipbuilding (533 known performances)
15. Beyond Belief (456 known performances)
16. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down (433 known performances)
17. Lipstick Vogue (425 known performances)
18. Man Out Of Time (424 known performances)
19. I Want You (396 known performances)
20. Veronica (378 known performances)
21. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror (376 known performances)
22. Almost Blue (371 known performances)
23. Temptation (367 known performances)
24. High Fidelity (361 known performances)
25. Uncomplicated (360 known performances)
26. Green Shirt (358 known performances)
27. I Hope You're Happy Now (323 known performances)
28. New Lace Sleeves (311 known performances)
29. The Beat (307 known performances)
30. God's Comic (299 known performances)

Not surprisingly the Top 10 is dominated by the oldest songs. All songs in the Top 9 were first played in 1977 or 1978, and #10 was premiered in 1980.

It's a good thing I didn't offer a prize, because I don't really know how to determine the winner.

Four people — The imposter, Jeremy Dylan, bronxapostle, and docinwestchester — named 8 of the Top 10 songs.

The imposter, woz, and The Gentleman were the only ones who correctly named "Watching The Detectives" as the #1 most performed song.

The Top 4 appeared somewhere on every list, but woz is the only one who managed to name them in order.

[Paul B]

To quote Bruce (Forsyth not Thomas - or Springsteen) 'Good game, good game'.

[Dr. Luther]

I'm actually fairly surprised that Alison is number 2.

[History History]

It would be interesting to split the frequency between countries - I bet Oliver's Army would get a higher rating in the UK as it was a big hit here.

[Wolverinefan]

I'm really glad that Elvis plays so many of his biggest hits so regularly at his concerts. Many of my favourites are in the top 20 of that list, so I never need to worry too much about what else is on the setlist - the rest is a bonus for me.

I haven't explored all of EC's back catalogue yet, but have the feeling that maybe his songs from the 70s and 80s will always be my favourites.