"Burning Love" is a 1972 song written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander in April 1972 on his album Arthur Alexander, and covered by Elvis Presley four months later that same year as a single. Linde released a version of the song himself in 1973.
Arthur Alexander's original recording
Arthur Alexander, known for his influence on artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, recorded "Burning Love" during his final years at Warner Bros. Records. Alexander's version was released in April 1971 on his album Arthur Alexander, and was released as a single after Elvis's single.
Elvis Presley version
Elvis Presley's version was released as a single on August 1, 1972, with the B-side "It's a Matter of Time", and it reached number 36 in the country charts. Elvis had recorded it at RCA's Hollywood studios on March 28, 1972. It was his final Top 10 big hit in the American Hot 100 or pop charts, peaking at number 2.
Recording
Since July 1969, Presley had been performing a concert residency in Las Vegas with a select group of musicians called the TCB Band. In March 1972, the band and Presley went to RCA Studio C in Hollywood, California, to record a new album and practice for the next series of concerts. Bassist Emory Gordy was new to the group, joining veteran guitarists James Burton, John Wilkinson and Charlie Hodge, along with drummer Ronnie Tutt and pianist Glen Hardin. Presley's personal assistant Joe Esposito was also listed on guitar, Everyone else in the room insisted that the song had promise, so Presley gave it a good effort. The gospel quartet J. D. Sumner & the Stamps supplied backing vocals. The next day, a film crew shot footage of the band playing together, recording more songs including "It's a Matter of Time". It reached number 1 on Billboard<nowiki/>'s rival Cashboxs pop charts during the week of November 11, 1972. The song was Elvis's 40th and final Top Ten hit on the Billboard US charts.
The song was also released on an album titled Burning Love and Hits from His Movies, Volume 2 on November 1, 1972. Despite this album's subtitle, the only actual hit on the album was the title song. and the recollection of RCA engineer Rick Ruggieri in 2013.
- Rick Ruggieri – engineer in Hollywood
- Al Pachucki – engineer in Nashville
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Chart (1972)
! Peak<br>position
|-
| Australia
| style="text-align:center;"|37
|-
| Australian Go-Set Charts
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
| Belgium
| style="text-align:center;"|17
|-
| Canada RPM Top Singles
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
| Germany
| style="text-align:center;"|31
|-
|
|-
| Italy
| style="text-align:center;"|28
|-
| Netherlands
| style="text-align:center;"|17
|-
| New Zealand (Listener)
| style="text-align:center;"|9
|-
| South Africa
| style="text-align:center;"|7
|-
| Switzerland
| style="text-align:center;"|72
|-
| United Kingdom
| style="text-align:center;"|7
|-
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
| U.S. Billboard Easy Listening
|align="center"|9
|-
| U.S. Cash Box Top 100
|align="center"|1
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Chart (1972)
! style="text-align:center;"|Rank
|-
|US Cash Box
| style="text-align:center;"|63
|-
|}
Certifications
Other versions
A new backing track for the song was recorded in 1980, intended for the Guitar Man album. It went unreleased until 2000. The musicians on this session were Jerry Shook on guitar, Larry Byrom on electric guitar, Mike Leech on bass, David Briggs on piano, and Larrie Londin on drums.
In 2010, the Las Vegas show Viva Elvis by Cirque du Soleil included a radical reworking of the song. Only Presley's vocal was retained from the 1972 recording sessions. The guitar part was sampled from the Hives' "Walk Idiot Walk", added to a distorted bassline and rollicking, pounding drums. NPR described it as "a mind-blowing, left-field recasting" of the original.
In 2015, a new orchestral arrangement for the song was recorded accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and was released on album If I Can Dream.