A Country Star ‘Hardly’ Remembered Writing This Elvis Song

Country music and Westerns sometimes collide in the most unexpected ways. For instance, a country singer once wrote the title song of one of Elvis Presley’s Western movies. The track barely sounds like an Elvis song. That track became the B-side to one of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s hit ballads from the ’68 Comeback Special. 

Several Elvis Presley songs were written by a country singer

Mac Davis was a country singer. His hits included “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” “One Hell of a Woman,” “Stop and Smell the Roses,” “I Never Made Love (Till I Made It with You),” and “Rock and Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life).” Davis also wrote several songs for Elvis, including “A Little Less Conversation,” “In the Ghetto,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” and “Memories.” 

The latter song had a B-side called “Charro.” The song was designed to promote the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Western movie Charro!, which might explain why it sounds like music from one of Clint Eastwood’s early movies. During an interview posted to the Elvis Information Network, Davis discussed “Charro.” “I can hardly remember ‘Charro’ — all I could remember was ‘You see behind the eyes of other men,'” he said.

Mac Davis told a weird story about the song

While Davis barely remembered writing “Charro,” he recalled an oddball story about the song. “This is a true story,” he said. “It had always been one of my dreams to hear a total stranger whistling a song that I had written-humming it or singing it or whatever. ‘Memories’ was a hit already. I was at the Palomino Club, which was a funky cowboy club out in the Valley. It’s no longer around. I loved it. 

“I was big buddies with ‘Big Tiny’ who was the doorman,” Davis added. “He got shot through the heart with an arrow once and lived — 6 foot 9, weighed about 400 pounds. So anyway I was back in the bathroom and I hear this guy whistling ‘Charro.’ Not ‘Memories’ but ‘Charro.’ I go, ‘What’s that song you’re whistling man?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know, something that Elvis did … ‘Charro’ or ‘Cheerio’ or something like that.'”

How Elvis Presley’s ‘Memories’ and ‘Charro’ performed

“Memories” was a modest hit for the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, perhaps because of its memorable role in the ’68 Comeback Special. The ballad reached No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for seven weeks. On the other hand, “Charro” did not impact the chart. Perhaps the mix of the “All Shook Up” singer and Spaghetti Western music was too unusual for the masses.

Both songs were absent from Elvis’ most famous compilation, Elvis: 30 #1 Hits. Perhaps that’s because neither of them were No. 1 hits! Elvis: 30 #1 Hits inspired a follow-up album called Elvis: 2nd to None. “Memories” appeared on that album while “Charro” did not, implying that Elvis’ estate thought “Memories” was more important to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s career. Elvis: 2nd to None reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 16 weeks.

“Charro” wasn’t a hit but the song showed that Elvis and Davis sometimes went for the unexpected.