"Mystery Train" (Elvis Presley)

Before the song "Heartbreak Hotel" made him a household name, Elvis Presley had cut several sides for producer Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis between 1954-55.  His final recording for Sun and his first #1 charting single was the country song "I Forgot to Remember to Forget."  
But I want to discuss the flip side of that single: "Mystery Train."
I'll start by saying, as a child of the late 70s, the image of Elvis that was burned into my brain at an early age was the puffy, sweaty Elvis in sequined jumpsuits who struggled to remember lyrics.  You know, the kind of caricature that you'd find some two-bit impersonator with a beer gut and pair of mutton chops trying to pull off at a drive-thru wedding chapel a couple of miles off the Strip.  Even as a kid, I had no time for that kind of Lost Wages kitsch, so I kind of turned my nose up at Presley's whole catalog and career.
It wasn't until I got a bit older and started exploring my dad's record collection that I first heard a couple of Presley's early recordings, and they blew me away.  They were raw and boundless in their fusion of country and R&B.  Not what I'd been conditioned to expect at all.
What surprised me most was that nothing sounded contrived.  
(Slightly derivative?  Maybe.  Insincere?  Not in the least.)
I guess the cynic in me was expecting the music to sound transparently money-grubbing—kind of like when producers in the 2000s started tossing together the hottest rapper of the moment with the hottest pop-country star of the moment on duets that played to the lowest common denominator of both fan bases.  (I'll let you, dear reader, do a Google search for yourself to find examples.)
But what I heard instead was three blue-collar guys from Memphis, jamming on their favorite country tunes in the style of their favorite R&B tunes, and vice versa.  And it not only worked, but it was electrifying.
Which brings me to 1955's "Mystery Train," a straightforward blues tune that was originally written and performed by blues artist Junior Parker for Sun Records in 1953.  Presley, lead guitarist Scotty Moore, and bassist Bill Black take the basic structure of Parker's song and then "countrify" it with that galloping rhythm/riff, which worms its way into your core within the first 3 seconds of the intro.
What I love about this track overall is the recorded-live feel—not to mention that glorious 1950s slap-back reverb on all of the instruments.
But Presley's vocal truly steals the show.  From effortlessly hitting those high notes on Train! Train! down to the low notes that cap every stanza, it's a helluva performance.  The icing on the cake is the little oooh-woo! he lets out at the end, sounding like a train whistle trailing off into the night.  It's obvious he was having the time of his life.