January 19th

Musical birthdays today include filmmaker Richard Lester [who directed the Beatles in 'A Hard Day's Night' and Help!] (85), former Audience bassist Trevor Williams (72), Dolly Parton (71), original Deep Purple lead singer Rod Evans (70), producer and songwriter Tony Mansfield (62), conductor Simon Rattle (62), Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson (58), Ugly Kid Joe lead singer Whit Crane (49), Trey Lorenz (48), Marcy Playground frontman John Wozniak (46), and Japanese pop singer Risha Ishikawa (32). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Broadway musical performer John Raitt, born on this day in 1917... for Phil Everly, who would have been 78 today... for Janis Joplin, who would have been 74... for Robert Palmer, who would have been 67... for Carl Perkins, who died on this date in 1998... for Wilson Pickett, who passed away in 2006... and for Denny Doherty, who left us in 2007. 

Also on January 19th: Verdi's Il Trovatore premieres in Rome (1853)... The Platters' 'Smoke gets in Your Eyes' goes to № 1 on the US charts (1959)... The Beatles make their first national TV appearance in the UK, performing 'Please Please Me' on the variety show Thank Your Lucky Stars (1963)... The Monkees are at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'I'm  Believer', the group's only British № 1... The Beatles begin recording 'A Day In The Life' at Abbey Road Studios, recording four takes of the new song. According to John Lennon, the inspiration for the first two verses was the death of Tara Browne, the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune who ran a red light and crashed his Lotus Elan on the 18th of December 1966 in Redcliffe Gardens, London (1967)... 

Tracks from the White Album (including 'Helter Skelter') are played in the courtroom at the Sharon Tate murder trial to determine if any of the songs could have influenced Charles Manson and his followers to commit murder (1971)... Johnny Rotten is fired from the Sex Pistols for 'not being weird enough anymore' (1978)... Pink Floyd's The Wall becomes the № 1 album in the US ~ it will occupy the top spot for the next 4 months... The Pretenders self-titled debut album is released (1980)... Fleetwood Mac reunite to rehearse for their performance at Bill Clinton's first inaugural tomorrow. 'Don't Stop Dreaming about Tomorrow' was the Clinton campaign's principal theme song (1993)... The New Musical Express  reports that Paul McCartney is set to become the world's first English pop star billionaire in pounds. The NME estimates that McCartney is worth £725 million and is expected to become a Sterling billionaire thanks to sales from the forthcoming Beatles compilation hits album (2001).

January 18th

Musical birthdays today include Bobby Goldsboro (76), English session keyboardist Dave Greenslade (74), singer-songwriter & Nashville session man R. Stevie Moore (65), Hudson Brothers vocalist Brett Hudson (64), former Thompson Twins frontman Tom Bailey (63), producer and guitarist Jim O'Rourke (48), ex-Black Crowes lead guitarist Luther Dickinson (44), former BBMak vocalist Christian Burns (43), Hard-Fi frontman Richard Archer (40), R&B singer Estelle (37), and Joanna Newsom (35). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for sound engineer Ray Dolby, who would have been 84 today... for former Temptations lead singer David Ruffin, who would have been 76... for Greek bouzouki virtuoso & Rebetika pioneer Vassilis Tsitsanis, who died on this date in 1984... for former Agent Orange bassist Brent Liles, who passed away in 2007... and for Kate McGarrigle, who left us today in 2010. 

Also on January 18th: The Metropolitan Opera House in NYC hosts its first jazz concert. On the bill are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden (1944)... The Beatles break into the American Top 40 for the first time, as 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' enters the upper reaches of the Billboard chart at № 35. The song will go on to spend 7 weeks at № 1  (1964)... The Rolling Stones record 'The Last Time' and 'Play with Fire' at RCA Studios in Los Angeles, with Phil Spector contributing the memorable acoustic guitar figure on the latter track (1965)... The Jimi Hendrix Experience tape a performance of 'Purple Haze' for broadcast on Top of the Pops (1967)... Former members of Free (Paul Rodgers & Simon Kirke), Mott The Hoople (Mick Ralphs), and King Crimson (Boz Burrell) form Bad Company. The band goes on to score a US № 1 album with their debut release (1974)... Barry Manilow is at № 1 on the US charts with 'Mandy'. In Britain, the top spot is occupied by Status Quo with 'Down Down', the group's only № 1 of their 52 UK chart hits between 1968 and 1996 (1975)... Warren Zevon's album Excitable Boy is released (1978)... Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics is arrested on stage in Milwaukee and charged with the offence of public lewdness for simulating sex with a sledgehammer. Williams later files a multimillion dollar civil suit against the Milwaukee Police, claiming they sexually assaulted and beat her during the arrest, but a jury rejects her claims (1981)... Van Halen launch their aptly named 103-date '1984' tour with a show in Jacksonville, FL (1984)... Dionne Warwick's 'That's What Friends Are for' goes to № 1 in the US. All profits from the single will go to AIDS charities (1986)... At the age of 38, Stevie Wonder becomes the youngest living person to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At a ceremony held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC, other inductees include The Rolling Stones, The Temptations, Otis Redding and Dion DiMucci (1989)... Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson are divorced after less than two years of marriage (1996)... Tori Amos has the № 1 single in the UK with 'Professional Widow',  a song which has widely been interpreted as an attack on Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love (1997)... Animals in Michael Jackson's private zoo are declared to be in good health after officials pay a surprise visit to the singer's Neverland ranch. A medical officer from the US Department of Agriculture inspects the property following concerns voiced by the animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Jackson earlier moved out of Neverland and took up residence in Bahrain (2006)... An extensive collection of Beatles memorabilia goes on display in a new museum in Buenos Aires. Rodolfo Vazquez, a 53-year-old accountant, turned his mammoth Beatles collection into a museum with more than 8,500 objects, setting the new world record for the largest collection of Beatles memorabilia. Some of the items include a box of condoms bearing the names of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a brick from the Cavern Club, a chunk of the stage from the Star Club in Hamburg, and certified copies of the band members' birth certificates. Among his favorite items were 64 boxes of chewing gum in the form of Beatles records (2011).

January 17th

Musical birthdays today include Betty White [she sings, too!] (95), classical violinist Ulf Hoelscher (75), Chris Montez (74), Françoise Hardy (73), former Rolling Stones lead guitarist Mick Taylor (68), Yellow Magic Orchestra co-founder Ryuichi Sakamoto (65), jazz fusion bassist Jeff Berlin (64), Steve Earle (62), Paul Young (61), Susanna Hoffs (58), former Berlin guitarist John Crawford (57), Magnetic Fields lead singer Stephin Merritt (52), Richard Hawley (50), Kid Rock (46), and Kaiser Chiefs lead singer Ricky Wilson (39). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Eartha Kitt, who would have been 90 today... for Dalida, who would have been 84... for Slits lead singer Ariane 'Ari Up' Forster, who would have been 55... for composer Tomaso Albinoni, who died on this date in 1751... for early country fiddler Blind Alfred Reed, who died in 1956... for scat singer Billy Stewart, who was killed in a road accident on this day in 1970 at the age of 32... for rock impresario & TV presenter Don Kirshner, who passed away in 2011... and for Johnny Otis, 'The Godfather of Rhythm and Blues', who left us five years go today. 

Also on January 17th: Massenet's opera Manon premieres at the Opéra Comique in Paris (1884)...  The Beatles play at the Cavern Club at lunchtime and in the evening at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead. The latter show sells out completely, leaving 500 disappointed fans waiting outside... The Rolling Stones are the first of two opening acts for The Velvets at London's Marquee Club ~ tickets at the door are 4 shillings [$0.56](1963)... The Rolling Stones release their first EP, which includes ‘You Better Move On’, ‘Poison Ivy’, ‘Bye Bye Johnny’ and ‘Money’ (1964)... Simon & Garfunkel release the Sounds of Silence album... NBC buys The Monkees series, placing it on the autumn schedule (1966)... The Daily Mail runs a story about a local council survey in Blackburn, Lancashire that has found 4,000 potholes in the local roads ~ the article catches John Lennon's eye...  40-year-old London Symphony Orchestra member David Mason records the piccolo trumpet solo for The Beatles' 'Penny Lane' at Abbey Road Studios. He is paid £27, 10 shillings ($42) for his performance. In August, 1987, the trumpet he used sold at a Sotheby's auction for $10,846...  The Jimi Hendrix Experience record a session for Radio Luxembourg's program 'Ready Steady Radio'. The band run up a bar bill of £2.5 shillings, ($6.21), which they were unable to pay (1967)... The Beatles release the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album in Britain, and Led Zeppelin I comes out in America (1969)... A section of Bellevue Boulevard in Memphis is renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. The remaining length of road keeps its original name after protests from the Bellevue Baptist Church (1972)... Bob Dylan & the Band release Planet Waves... Joni Mitchell releases Court and Spark... Dean Martin's son Dino is arrested after attempting to sell two AK-47 assault rifles to an undercover FBI agent (1974)... Bob Dylan releases Blood on the Tracks (1975)...  Barry Manilow has the № 1 single in the US with 'I Write the Songs' (1976)... Donny Osmond takes part in a charity boxing match held in Chicago against former Partridge Family member Danny Bonaduce ~ Donny is knocked out in the third round (1994)... A long-lost recording featuring John Lennon and Mick Jagger is set to spark a bidding war at a forthcoming London auction. The acetate record was recorded in 1974 with Jagger singing the blues song 'Too Many Cooks' and Lennon playing guitar. The track had never been released because the two artists were signed to different record companies (2003).

January 16th

Musical birthdays today include operatic soprano Marilyn Horne (83), country singer Jim Stafford (73), Ronnie Milsap (71), Sade Adu (58), former Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb (55), ex-En Vogue vocalist Maxine Jones (52), Fozzy lead guitarist Rich Ward (48), former Teenage Fanclub drummer Brendan O'Hare (47), Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds (43), Strokes lead guitarist Nick Valensi (36), Ordinary Boys lead singer Samuel Preston (35), Front Line Assembly guitarist Jared Slingerland (33), A Lot Like Birds led singer Kurt Travis (33), and Slovenian pop singer Maja Keuc (25). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Ethel Merman, born on this day in 1908... for rockabilly singer Mac Curtis, who would have been 78 today... for Aaliyah, who would have been 37... for conductor Arturo Toscanini, who died on this date in 1957... for Alvin and the Chipmunks creator and producer Ross Bagdasarian, who passed away in 1972... for former Coasters bass singer Will 'Dub' Jones, who died in 2000... and for Van der Graaf Generator bassist Nic Potter, who left us four years ago today. 

Also on January 16th: With John Hammond as organizer and producer, the inaugural 'From Spirituals to Swing' evening takes place at Carnegie Hall, the first time that the venue hosts a jazz concert (1938)... Tennessee Ernie Ford has the № 1 single in the UK with 'Sixteen Tons' (1956)... The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool (1957)... The Beatles play two shows at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, the first of an 18-show engagement. Opening night is attended mostly by members of Parisian 'high society' dressed in formal evening attire. The French press has little good to say about The Beatles in the next day's papers, but the Fab Four don't care, since they have just received the news that their single 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' has hit № 1 in the US, selling 10,000 copies an hour in New York City alone (1964)... Fleetwood Mac, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Albert Collins all appear on the bill at the Fillmore West (1969)... Two days after it opened, the Bag One Gallery in London, England is raided by Scotland Yard. The police remove eight John Lennon lithographs under the Obscene Publications Act (1970)... ZZ Top's debut album, the ingeniously named ZZ Top's First Album, is released (1971)... Blue Öyster Cult's eponymous debut album is released... (1972)... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band appear at Villanova University, Philadelphia before an audience of 25 people. Due to a strike at the time by the campus newspaper The Villanovan, the concert had gone unadvertised ~ as far as is known, it is the smallest paying crowd Springsteen has played in front of since signing a Columbia Records contract in 1972 (1973)... Bob Dylan releases the album Desire (1976)... Sid Vicious ODs on heroin, falls through a ground floor window at the Sex Pistols' San Francisco hotel, and is rushed to hospital (1978)... Paul McCartney is jailed for nine days in Tokyo for marijuana possession after being found with 219g on his arrival at Narita Airport (1980)... David Bowie's schizophrenic half-brother Terry Burnes commits suicide by lying down on the railway lines at the Coulsdon South station in the London network. He is killed instantly by a passing train ~ he was 47 (1985)...  Presenter Jools Holland is suspended from UK Channel 4's music show The Tube for 6 weeks after using the phrase 'groovy fuckers' during a live trailer broadcast in a children's hour (1987)... 24 years after The Beatles first topped the chart, George Harrison goes to № 1 on the US singles chart with 'Got My Mind Set On You' an old favourite of George's that was originally recorded by James Ray in 1962. In the UK, Belinda Carlisle is at № 1 
with 'Heaven Is a Place on Earth'... Tina Turner earns herself a place in the record books when she performs in Rio de Janeiro before an audience of 182,000, the largest crowd ever to gather in South America to hear a single artist (1988)... Eric Clapton records his Unplugged session for MTV (1992)... Reports appear in the British press that Mick Jagger has lost the chance of a knighthood because of his philandering ways, British Prime Minister Tony Blair having doubts about the message it would send with regard to family values (2000)... Michael Jackson appears in court and pleads not guilty to seven charges of child molestation. The singer, who arrived 20 minutes late, is told off by the Santa Barbara judge, who says 'Mr Jackson, you have started out on the wrong foot here ~it is an insult to the court' (2004)... Bob Dylan and his brother David Zimmerman buy Aultmore House, a mansion in the Scottish Cairngorms National Park, near Nethybridge, Invernessshire (2007).

January 15th

Musical birthdays today include classical pianist Ruth Slenczynska (92), Louisiana Creole accordionist Queen Ida (88), producer & DJ Pete Waterman (70), reggae singer Sister Carol (58), Marillion bassist Pete Trawavas (58), Venom lead singer Conrad Lant AKA Cronos (54), Tool guitarist Adam Jones (52), Cult Jam leader Lisa Velez AKA Lisa Lisa (51), rapper Patrick '9th Wonder' Douthit (42), rapper D'Juan 'Young Dro' Hart (37), singer-songwriter Howie Day (36), rapper Armando 'Pitbull' Pérez (36), and singer-songwriter & electronic musician Sonny John Moore AKA Skrillex (29). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for British song & dance man Ivor Novello, born on this day in 1893... for jazz drummer Gene Krupa, born on this day in 1909... for Don van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart, who would have been 76 today... for Lynyrd Skynyrd co-founder Ronnie van Zant, who would have been 69... for jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden, who died on this date in 1964... for song & dance man Ray 'The Scarecrow' Bolger, who passed away in 1987... for bassist and longtime Elton John sideman Dee Murray, who died on this day in 1992... for songwriter Sammy Cahn, who died in 1993... for Harry Nilsson, who passed away in 1994... for pianist and songwriter Les Baxter, died in 1996... and for Kim Fowley, who left us two years ago today. 

Also on January 15th: Smetana's first opera Braniboři v Čechách [The Brandenburgers in Bohemia] premieres in Prague (1863)... The Everly Brothers make their US television debut on The Perry Como Show (1958)... At Berry Gordy's insistence, The Primettes change their name to The Supremes before signing their first Motown contract (1961)... Before an audience of around 2,000, The Beatles make their French live debut at the Cinema Cyrano in Versailles as a warm-up for their three week run at the Olympia in Paris beginning tomorrow (1964)... The Who release their first single, 'I Can't Explain'. Session man Jimmy Page accompanied Pete Townshend on the recording (1965)... Axis: Bold as Love, the second album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, is released in the US (1968)... Having returned to the studio, George Harrison has a five-hour meeting with John, Paul and Ringo in which he makes it clear that he is fully prepared to quit The Beatles for good. Harrison is unhappy with plans for live performances and with the current Let It Be film project (1969)... The MC 5's Back in the USA, today considered one of the watershed proto-punk albums, is released (1970)... Don McLean's 'American Pie' goes to № 1 in the USA. Meanwhile, Led Zeppelin's 'Black Dog' make its debut on the singles chart. The group's third stateside 45, it will peak at No.15. The song's title is a reference to a nameless black Labrador retriever that was wandering around the Headley Grange studio during recording (1972)... The Police kick off the North American leg of their 119-date Ghost In The Machine world tour at Boston Garden, with The Go-Go's as their opening act (1982)... Sean Lennon's updated version of his father's 'Give Peace A Chance' is released to coincide with the United Nation's midnight deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait (1991)... Benjamin Brafman, the lawyer who defended P Diddy against weapons possession charges, joins the legal team of Michael Jackson. The King of Pop is accused of several counts of child molestation (2004).

January 14th

Musical birthdays today include harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková (90), jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler (87), T-Bone Burnett (69), French rocker Étienne Daho (61), former Queensrÿche lead singer Geoff Tate (58), White Lion frontman Mike Tramp (56), singer-songwriter Ellis Paul (52), LL Cool J (51), Black Label Society frontman Zakk Wylde (50), Dave Grohl (48), and The Saturdays vocalist Frankie Sanford (28). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz trumpeter & bandleader Billy Butterfield, born on this day in 1917... for producer Allen Toussaint, who would have been 79 today...  for former Be-Bop Deluxe bassist Charlie Tumahai, and former Allman Brothers Band bassist Lamar Williams, both of whom would have been 68... for film musical actress Jeanette MacDonald, who passed away in 1965... and for New York Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan, who left us today in 1992. 

Also on January 14th: Mozart completes his String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, commonly known as the 'Dissonance Quartet' because of its unusually slow introductory movement (1785)... Puccini's opera Tosca premieres in Rome (1900)... Alban Berg's atonal opera Wozzeck premieres in Berlin (1925)... Charlie Watts makes his live debut with The Rolling Stones at the Flamingo Club in Soho, London (1963)... The Beatles make their French debut, arriving in Paris to begin an 18-night stand at the Olympia (1964)... Bob Dylan continues work on what will become the Bringing It All Back Home album; among other songs, he finally records 'Mr Tambourine Man', which he has been performing live since the Newport Festival of the previous July (1965)... David Jones legally changes his name to David Bowie in order to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees, just in time for the release of his single 'Can't Help Thinking about Me'. He would later say that he chose the name because he liked "That big American bear-killin' knife" (1966)... Over 25,000 people attend 'The Human Be-In: A Gathering Of The Tribes' at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The event is a harbinger of the Summer of Love, as well as of major outdoor rock concerts to come, and features The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother And The Holding Company (1967)... At the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, Diana Ross makes her final appearance with The Supremes. During the show, Diana introduces her replacement, Jean Terrell, who will lead the group to seven more Top 40 hits, including the Top 10 entries 'Up The Ladder To The Roof' and 'Stoned Love' later in the year (1970)... Paul Simon releases his self-titled debut solo album (1972)... Elvis Presley's concert 'Aloha from Hawaii' is transmitted live via satellite, and sets a record for the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history (1973)... David Bowie releases Low, the first of the Berlin Trilogy albums (1977)... The Sex Pistols play their last live gig, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco (1978)... Paul McCartney is at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Pipes Of Peace.' With this release, Macca makes chart history by becoming the first artist to have a № 1 as a solo artist, in a duo [with Stevie Wonder], in a trio [with Wings], and in a quartet [with The Beatles] (1984)... Bob Dylan gives the first public performance of his new song 'Wiggle Wiggle' to a bemused audience in State College, PA (1990)... Garth Brooks appears on Sesame Street, performing 'Together We Make Music' with a chorus of Muppets (1999)... A $100,000 statue honouring the late Johnny Ramone is unveiled by his widow Linda at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Johnny died from prostate cancer in September 2004 at the age of 55. Hundreds turn out for the ceremony, including Tommy Ramone, the only surviving band member. Dee Dee died of a drugs overdose in 2002, and Joey succumbed in 2001 to lymphatic cancer (2005).

January 13th

Musical birthdays today include operatic baritone Renato Bruson (81), santoor virtuoso Shivkumar Sharma (79), Yes vocalist Trevor Rabin (63), Megadeath bassist James LoMenzo (58), Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne (56), Madness frontman Graham 'Suggs' McPherson (56), Trace Adkins (55), 3OH!3 singer Nathaniel Motte (33), and ex-Vanilla Ninja vocalist Triinu Kivilaan (28). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for classical violinist Nathan Milstein, born on this day in 1904... for jazz guitarist Joe Pass, who would have been 88 today... for Stephen Foster, who died on this date in 1864... for Donny Hathaway, who took his own life today in 1979 at the age of 33... for Michael Brecker, who passed away in 2007... and for Teddy Pendergrass, who left us seven years ago today. 

Also on January 13th: Wagner completes his final opera Parsifal (1882)... The first public radio broadcast takes place when a performance of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana is sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC (1910)... The first country music television show, 'Midwestern Hayride', goes on the air at WLW in Cincinnati, OH (1948)... Chubby Checker takes 'The Twist' to № 1 for the second time [the first was in September, 1960], a unique feat in the history of the Billboard chart (1962)... Bob Dylan releases the album The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)... Dylan begins recording the landmark album Bringing It All Back Home at Columbia Studio A in NYC. Accompanied by just producer Tom Wilson and John Sebastian on bass, he spends most of the day laying down acoustic tracks (1965)... The Rolling Stones appear on The Ed Sullivan Show to perform their new single 'Let's Spend the Night Together'. The producers insist that Mick Jagger sing the words 'Let's spend some time together' instead... Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are both in the audience for a Jimi Hendrix Experience gig at the Bag O'Nails club in London (1967)... Johnny Cash records the Live at Folsom Prison album (1968)... The Beatles release the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album... Elvis Presley goes into American Sound Studios in Memphis to begin the sessions that will produce 'Suspicious Minds', his final US № 1. It is the first time that Elvis has recorded in his adopted hometown since his Sun Records debut in 1956 (1969)... Steel Mill featuring Bruce Springsteen become the unplanned headliners at the Matrix in San Francisco when scheduled lead act Boz Scaggs falls ill. Philip Elwood, rock critic for the SF Examiner who came to review Scaggs, writes a rave review of Steel Mill instead (1970)... Sarah Caldwell takes up the baton and becomes the first woman to conduct the NY Metropolitan Opera orchestra, leading the musicians in a performance of La Traviata (1976)... With a budget of only £1,500 borrowed from Stewart Copeland's brother Miles, The Police begin recording their debut album at Surrey Sound Studios outside of London with producer Nigel Gray (1978)... BBC Radio 1 announce a ban on 'Relax' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, after DJ Mike Read calls it 'obscene'; a BBC TV ban also follows. The song will go on to become a UK № 1 and spends a total of 48 weeks on the national singles chart (1984)... The off-Broadway musical 'The Fantasticks' closes after a run of 17,162 performances over nearly 42 years (2002)... An article in the New Musical Express says that more songs have been written about Elvis Presley than any other recording artist. It lists over 220 songs including: ‘Graceland’ by Paul Simon, ‘A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel’ by U2, ‘Calling Elvis’ by Dire Straits, ‘Happy Birthday Elvis’, by Loudon Wainwright III, ‘There's a Guy Works down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis’ by Kirsty MacColl, ‘I Saw Elvis in a UFO’ by Ray Stevens, ‘Elvis Has Left the Building’ by Frank Zappa, and 'My Dog Thinks I'm Elvis' by Ray Herndon (2005).