How many of Elvis Presley's songs were originally his?

Question

A friend of mine told me that he never sang an original song, that even Love Me Tender was previously recorded by someone else. That doesn't sound right to me, so was hoping you could shed more light on why he might believe that.

Answer 1

He co-wrote a few of his songs, but, for the most part, his songs were written by other people. One has to remember, however, that Elvis came prior to the era of Bob Dylan and the Beatles; until the mid-sixties the duties of the singer and the songwriter were mostly regarded as separate. To me it really doesn't matter that Elvis didn't write many songs, he was still revolutionary in what he did. We can't hold something against him using standards for popular musicians that did not exist in his day. Frank Sinatra never wrote a lyric in his life, but he was undeniably brilliant at what he did; the same applies for Elvis.

Answer 2

elvis didn't even play guitar. his guitar had rubberstrings that made no sound. so he really just had a unique voice. not a lot of talent in songwriting