There are some songs, which in any location throughout the world, you can mention and people immediately recognise the song and with whom it is associated. "It's Now or Never" and Elvis Presley is one such example, which is both his second best selling single, and one of the best selling of all time.
The original studio master was recorded in RCA's Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee on 3 April 1960, and was just the ninth song he recorded after returning to civilian life from the army.
An article published in the New York Times suggests that having heard Tony Martin's rendition of "There's No Tomorrow", a song based on Italian standard "O Sole Mio", whilst stationed in Germany, Elvis decided he would also like to record a song based around that melody.
Having pitched the idea to his music publisher Freddy Bienstock, who then returned to his New York office with the intention of finding some songwriters to develop Elvis' idea, a task that Bienstock had been successful in many times previously.
On his return to New York, he found that the only songwriters in proximity were Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold, and just half an hour after being given the task of doing so had written the lyrics to "It's Now or Never". These quickly written lyrics would give Elvis a song which would reach the top of charts throughout the world!
In 1960, "It's Now or Never" was a number-one record in the U.S., spending five weeks at number one and in the U.K., where it spent eight weeks at the top in 1960, and an additional week at number one in 2005 as a re-issue It was a similar story in numerous other countries, selling in excess of 25 million copies worldwide, Elvis Presley's biggest international single ever.
It's British release was delayed for some time because of rights issues, allowing the song to build up massive advance orders and to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one, a very rare occurrence at the time.
Version One - 25 March 1961, Bloch Arena, Honolulu
Before Elvis' return to live performing on 31 July 1969, Elvis had sang the song on stage just three times, twice on the same day in The Ellis Auditorium on 25 February 1961, and this rendition, exactly four weeks later on 25 March in The Bloch Arena in Honolulu during his Pearl Harbor benefit show.
Version Two - 23 February 1970, Closing Show - Las Vegas
After Elvis had returned to the stage, he would occasionally tease the audience during his first Las Vegas season with the odd one-liner of the song, but the first time that he sang the song in full was at the closing show of his second Vegas season on 23 February 1970. To add to the excitement, he performed the song whilst playing electric guitar!!
The first 70's live renditions were close to the original, with just a basic arrangement reinforcing the unrehearsed nature of those early 70's performances. As the 70's progressed so did the arrangement and Elvis' live interpretation of the song.
Version Three - 27 January 1971, Midnight Show - Las Vegas
It would be almost a year before Elvis would sing the song on stage again, once more in Las Vegas during his January/February 1971 engagement. The song had clearly now been rehearsed, but still with the basic arrangement, although with the opening chorus has already now omitted, as it now would be permanently.
Version Four - 12 November 1971, The Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston
Version Five - 12 June 1972, Fort Wayne Memorial Coliseum
Version Six - 2 September 1974, Closing Show - Las Vegas
Version Seven - 15 December 1975 Closing Show - Las Vegas
The final time that Elvis would sing "O Sole Mio" before "It's Now or Never".
It was not until the back end of his December 1975 Las Vegas engagement that he started to include O Sole Mio the song which formed the basis of 'It's Now or Never'. This version also suffers from some people in the audience trying to attract Elvis' attention and someone attempting a sing-a-long!!
Version Eight - 29 December 1976 - Birmingham, Alabama - Includes Video Footage
The Italian lyrics now permanently sung by Sherrill Nielson. Elvis would first introduce the song as being from 1960, and then tenor Sheriil Nielson would start the song with the Italian "O Sole Mio" lyrics, before Elvis would join in at the normal juncture. The song's arrangement also had brass added during the chorus, whereas before it could only be heard at the songs finale, although even this arrangement would differ slightly from show to show.
Version Nine - 21 June 1977 - Rapid City, South Dakota
This version was filmed by the cameras of CBS for consideration as to inclusion in the TV special 'Elvis In Concert', but did not make the final edit.
Version Ten - 26 June 1977 - Market Square Arena, Indianapolis
The Final Live Version!
https://youtu.be/CwRIPughCCY