Elvis made a lot of records he was proud of. This was not one of them.
It happened on October 1, 1967, at RCA’s Studio B in Nashville. Elvis was there to cut a song for his coming movie “Stay Away, Joe,” a light comedy that opened in theaters on March 8, 1968. The song had a short name and a very strange backstory.
By the time the session was done, Elvis had reportedly turned to his producer, Felton Jarvis, with a flat request. “Promise me they won’t put this out,” he reportedly said. And for years that promise held.
So what could make Elvis want one of his own recordings locked away?
Start with who the song was written for. Not a sweetheart. Not a movie co-star. The songwriters, Sid Wayne and Ben Weisman, built the number so that Elvis would sing it to a bull. The bull even had a name. The song is called “Dominick,” and yes, Dominick is the bull.
Here’s the recording Elvis tried to keep hidden.
The song Elvis asked to have buried
Give it a listen and you can almost hear why he felt the way he did. It’s goofy and gentle and a little silly, a long way from the records that made his name.
There’s one more twist. In the finished movie the bull isn’t even in the scene. The song was written for Elvis to serenade Dominick, but by the time cameras rolled the moment had changed, and he ends up singing it to two women instead.
The moment as it played in the movie
That clip is a fan upload of the film scene, so you can see for yourself how it landed on screen.
For a long time the movie was the only place you could find it. “Dominick” stayed off every record Elvis put out. The promise Jarvis made in that studio stuck fast.
Then, in 1994, long after both Elvis and Jarvis had passed away, the song finally slipped out into the world. It turned up on a soundtrack CD that gathered music from three of his films. A recording one of the biggest stars in history had begged to bury was suddenly there for anyone to buy.
It’s a funny, human little story. A man who could sell out any room in the country, fighting with everything he had to keep one soft, silly tune away from his fans.
Was he right to be embarrassed? Or is “Dominick” a sweet, overlooked curiosity that finally got its day? That’s the fun of being able to hear it at last.
Press play on the audio above and listen to the song Elvis swore should never see daylight, then watch how the odd little number actually fit into the movie.