Elvis Presley, “Wooden Heart,” and G.I. Blues

A charming specialist in the Army, on his clean military uniform, serenading a puppet. Sounds weird, but familiar? Well, that’s one of Elvis Presley’s scenes in his 1960 movie, “G.I. Blues.” On the said act, Elvis sings for a puppet show on the spot to help the operator. A female puppet joins Presley along the performance and even gets jealous when she noticed the man’s eyes focused on Lily.

“Wooden Heart”

“Wooden Heart” is based from a German folk song written by Fred Wise, Ben Wiseman, Kay Twomey, and bandleader Bert Kaemfert. It features several lines from the original track. Though it became popular when it was used in the movie, it wasn’t released as a single in the USA until November 1964 as the B-side to his Blue Christmas album. It stayed in the UK charts at number one for six weeks.

Joe Dowell’s cover placed the song on top of the charts in 1975.

G.I Blues

Directed by Norman Taurog, G.I. Blues is an American Musical Comedy film that rocked the cinemas in 1960. Aside from Paramount Pictures studio, the movie was also shot in some parts of Germany. In 1960, it won the second place of the Laurel Award under the Top Musical category.

In the film, Elvis takes the role of an Army specialist named Tulsa Mclean. He is a tank crewman with a singing career, who dreams to run his own nightclub when the time comes that he has to leave the army. Tulsa then formed a band and performed in different German bars, nightclubs, and even on the Armed Forces stage.

One day, Tulsa placed a bet with his friend Dynamite. He bet that he can spend one night with a club dancer named Lili, who is known to be a hard-to-get lady. The Army specialist then used his charm to catch Lily’s attention. After some efforts, Lily finally begins to fall for him.

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