Why Elvis’ ‘Rock-A-Hula Baby’ Is Embarrassing

Elvis Presley‘s “Rock-A-Hula Baby” was released alongside one of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll‘s most famous songs. “Rock-A-Hula Baby” suffers by comparison, but it also fails on its own. It’s a strange fusion that never quite comes together. Here’s a look at why it a B-movie actor wrote the track.

Elvis Presley’s ‘Rock-A-Hula Baby’ was part of a forgotten trend

Elvis’ Blue Hawaii typified a specific point in American history. Hawaii became a state in 1959. Around that time, the rest of the United States showed a strong interest in Hawaii. The late 1950s and 1960s gave us Gidget Goes Hawaiian, the Christmas song “Mele Kalikimaka,” and a lot of tacky tiki bars. Elvis jumped on the bandwagon with a trio of movies: Blue Hawaii, Girls! Girls! Girls!, and Paradise, Hawaiian Style.

According to Elvis Australia, songwriter Ben Weisman revealed the origin of “Rock-A-Hula Baby.” “Music for the film Blue Hawaii was a challenge,” he said. “Because of the locate, I thought the music should have a Hawaiian flavor, but with a rock beat. At the time, the twist was very hot, and I found that the twist and the hula were perfect together.” That sounds nice in theory, but it didn’t work in practice.

“Rock-A-Hula Baby” sounds like the sort of imitation Hawaiian music one might hear at “It’s a Small World.” It’s kitsch, through and through. Is it rock? Only the widest possible definition of the song would make it qualify. There’s some guitar way in the background of the track, but that’s also true of plenty of other songs that aren’t rock ‘n’ roll.

Elvis Presley put out ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ at the same time

More than anything, the reason “Rock-A-Hula Baby” fails is because it was clearly penned by songwriters who thought the mere idea of adding some rock to an imitation Hawaiian song was enough to make a song good. It’s not. Elvis was one of the best vocalists ever, but he is barely trying here.

What makes the song seem worse is that it was released alongside “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” That ballad is timeless, which is why countless singers across countless genres have covered it. “Rock-A-Hula Baby,” in contrast, is the result of a short-lived trend.

A B-movie actor wrote ‘Rock-A-Hula Baby’

The track was co-written by Dolores Fuller, an actor from of Ed Wood movies who also gave us other embarrassing tracks like “Do the Clam.” During an interview with Elvis Australia, she was asked what it was lie to work with the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. “Well, you didn’t really work with Elvis,” she said. “If you were lucky, I was invited to the set, when they were shooting one of my songs. And Elvis was very well mannered, he called me ‘Ma’am.’ And he would come over to me and sometimes invite me over to some party that was going on, when he lived over in Bel Air. And sometimes I’d have lunch with him at the commissary. 

“But mainly you just worked with the publisher,” she said. “And all these teams of writers would submit their songs, and I’m lucky enough to have gotten 12 movies. ‘Rock-A-Hula Baby’ was probably the most important.” Fuller said she tried to make her Elvis songs fun.

With all due respect, the song couldn’t be less fun.