Fun in Acapulco

Fun in Acapulco is the seventh soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2756, in November 1963. It is the soundtrack to the 1963 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on January 22 and 23 and February 27, 1963; and at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 26 and 28, 1963. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. Content The third of his tropical "travelogue films" for Paramount Pictures (after Blue Hawaii and Girls! Girls! Girls!) finds Elvis frolicking in Mexico. The established stable of songwriters for Presley delivered songs to match, with titles like "Marguerita", "El Toro", "You Can't Say No In Acapulco", and "The Bullfighter Was A Lady". Included as well was the 1937 standard "Guadalajara" by Pepe Guízar. With the change from the normal routine, and with the addition of brass arrangements inspired by the contemporaneously popular sound of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Presley engaged the material with greater enthusiasm than on recent soundtrack outings. Four of these songs would be included on the 1995 compilation Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II: the title track, "Mexico", "Marguerita", and the song released as the lead single, "Bossa Nova Baby". "Bossa Nova Baby" arrived in stores one month prior to the soundtrack, coupled with the track "Witchcraft" by rhythm and blues songwriter and arranger Dave Bartholomew and a hit for The Spiders in 1956. The fact that the bossa nova craze of the 1960s was a Brazilian phenomenon rather than a Mexican one mattered little, as the single peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as reaching as high as the 20th spot on the R&B singles chart. Recording The main sessions for the Fun in Acapulco soundtrack were held between January 22 and 23, 1963, at Radio Recorders Studio B in Hollywood, California. These were preceded by a full day of rehearsals on January 21 as well as a half-day on January 22. Aside from Presley's bandmates Scotty Moore and D. J. Fontana as well as The Jordanaires, no members of the Nashville A-Team joined him. Instead, the core band featured frequent Hollywood collaborators Hilmer J.