I hope I’ve been clear that these silly Elvis songs are in no way bad. In fact, thus far, I’ve loved every one of them. And today’s is no exception. But before we get to that, let’s talk about the film, Fun in Acapulco. It involves Elvis losing his job in an exotic location so that he has to take a job singing in a club, but it all works out and he leaves with the girl. I told you the title of the movie, because that description works for basically every Elvis movie.

But there is something special about this film. Elvis did all of his acting in the US because he was banned in Mexico. In 1957, Elvis was quoted as saying that he didn’t like Mexico and would rather kiss three African American women than one Mexican woman. Such was Elvis’ talent that he could offend two groups of people in a single sentence. But this apparently caused there to be groups of young people who were pro-Elvis and anti-Elvis. And at the premieres of a couple of his films, there were fights between the two sides. In one case almost a hundred people were arrested. So Elvis wasn’t allowed in the country and his films were banned. But the film crew was able to shoot everything but Elvis in the film and then stick him into the middle of it afterwards.

The song is “Bossa Nova Baby” by the great Leiber and Stoller. And the performance is wonderful. That bigot sure can sing and dance!