Mark James: Suspicious Minds

The other night I was watching one of TNT’s newest shows, “Memphis Beat,” and lead character Detective Dwight Hendricks (played by Jason Lee) finished off the show by singing Elvis Presley’s last number one record, “Suspicious Minds.” That got me thinking about the original version of the tune and how it would fit the First Friday theme. The song was written by Mark James under the pseudonym Francis Zambon in 1968. James also recorded the tune under his own name.

Elvis released the song after his 1968 comeback TV special that reminded American’s of the King of Rock ‘N Roll’s influence on the artists that eclipsed his popularity in the mid 1960s. The song was recorded in Memphis at American Sound Studios along with his hits “In the Ghetto” and “Kentucky Rain.” Everyone curl your upper lip and repeat after me, “Thank you, thank you very much.” In a couple weeks, we’ll honor the 33rd anniversary of Elvis’ death on August 16, 1977. For more on that, see my January 8th post. “Elvis has left the building.”