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Rolling Stones unreleased: One Night
Written by: Bartholomew/King Recorded: RCA Studios, Hollywood, USA, Aug.-Sept. 1978
More about The Rolling Stones’ version of One Night
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
Elvis and the Song’s Reinvention
When the Rolling Stones briefly tackled One Night during their 1978 Hollywood sessions, they stepped into the long shadow cast by a song already rich in reinvention. Their rough, nearly buried take—where Ian Stewart’s hard-pounding piano leads the charge and Mick Jagger’s scarcely miked vocal drifts in like a ghost—reflects how the tune has traveled through decades of reinterpretation. Before Elvis Presley ever made it famous, One Night had lived another life, one too bold for its time. Born within the raw energy of mid-1950s rhythm and blues, the song’s earliest incarnation carried a lyrical bite that mainstream audiences weren’t ready to accept. That tension between desire and acceptability would ultimately shape every version recorded thereafter, including Presley’s chart-topping adaptation and, years later, the Stones’ brief, unreleased attempt to capture its spirit.
Roots of A Provocative Classic
Long before Elvis transformed it, One Night emerged from the creative mind of Dave Bartholomew—a towering architect of early rock and roll—alongside Pearl King and Anita Steiman. Originally titled One Night of Sin and recorded in 1956 by Smiley Lewis, the song pushed boundaries with its suggestive wording and blues-driven swagger. Lewis delivered it with conviction, but its frank sensuality limited its commercial reach. Still, the track’s emotional grit and melodic pull made it impossible to ignore, and it caught the attention of a rising Elvis Presley, who recognized the potential beneath its taboo veneer.
Presley’s Transformation and Lasting Impact
Elvis faced a dilemma: the song’s structure and emotion captivated him, but its risqué lyrics clashed with the image his label wanted to maintain. Determined to make the song his own, he reworked the original’s provocative message into something more tender and pleading. Lines like “One night with you is what I’m now praying for” softened the edges while preserving the longing that defined the song’s core.
Although recorded in February 1957, Elvis’s version remained unreleased for over a year, finally emerging in 1958 to major success. The single cracked the Top 10 and became one of his signature performances, showcasing how adept he was at reshaping existing material. His smoldering delivery, backed by a bluesy arrangement, helped bridge the divide between R&B origins and the growing mainstream appetite for rock and roll.
That same lineage of reinvention underpins the Rolling Stones’ own forgotten 1978 recording—a loose, unpolished tribute that nods to the song’s long journey from taboo classic to timeless standard.
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