Elvis Presley - And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind - From the First Take to the Master

The second part of Elvis' legendary "Memphis Sessions" commenced on 17 February 1969 in American Sound at around 8pm with the recording of "Stranger in My Own Home Town" and three other masters followed plus an informal jam of It's My Way (Of Loving You) / This Time / I Can't Stop Loving You were recorded that evening.
The final song to be recorded that night and although officially listed as being recorded on 17 February was actually strictly speaking recorded on 18 February as "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind" was completed between 1 and 4am!
There is a longstanding story as to the circumstances surrounding Elvis' decision to record the song during this session and that it was recorded as a promise from Elvis to Neil Diamond that he would record one of his songs. This promise was apparently made because Chips Moman cancelled a booking he had commencing on 13 February 1969 in his American Sound recording studio - for Neil Diamond, to accommodate an initial ten day session for Elvis. According to Peter Guralnick in "Careless Love" he says:
"Had Elvis ever thought of recording at American? George asked when he sensed Elvis’ lack of enthusiasm for returning to Nashville and Felton’s lack of any real commitment to it. The Memphis studio had a funky sound, and Chips was a proven hit maker, not to mention the fact that he had some of the best musicians in the world working for him. Best of all, it was convenient-Elvis would scarcely have to leave the house. Marty stressed the musical possibilities-Chips had some great songwriters working for him, and it had become obvious by now that Freddy was either too busy building up his own publishing or could simply no longer deliver hit records. With good material, a studio that practically guaranteed hits, and his own more active participation in the project, Marty argued, maybe making records could go back to being fun and break away from some of the music business bullshit of Nashville.
Soon everyone was registering his support, even Felton, and in the end, as an informed source described it to Variety several months later, “Presley’s friends, Marty Lacker [and] George Klein, convinced the singer… so subtly that he finally ‘came up with the idea himself.’ ” At this point all that was left to do was to place a call to Chips, who did not hesitate for one moment to postpone an already scheduled Neil Diamond session for something in which he sensed both historic possibilities and a $25,000 payday. And so a ten-day session was set up at American, with a January 13 scheduled start."
Whether or not there is any substance to the "promise" is immaterial as Elvis recorded the song regardless and it may still have been Elvis' way of showing his gratitude which he would compound twelve months later by including "Sweet Caroline" in his live setlist"
"And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind" was written and recorded by Neil Diamond earlier the same year and Elvis' version was released on "Back In Memphis" in October 1970 and is a definite highlight of that particular album. The song was another hint as to the more mature material that Elvis was now prepared to tackle as beneath the lovely melody and beautiful lyrics the underlying theme is certainly of a more adult variety!
It took five takes before Elvis managed to record a complete take as he was having a particular problem with the very difficult key change into the bridge but after "nailing it" on take five the following take became the final take and the master. Ever the perfectionist however, Elvis re-recorded his vocal, probably on 22 February but as Keith Flynn notes on his "Elvis Presley Pages" website:
"Sessions III lists vocal repair of 'And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind' as being done on September 26, but this surely cannot be the case as the strings and backup vocals were overdubbed on May 7. The most likely date for the vocal repair of 'And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind' is February 22."
The original recording took place with just Elvis, Reggie Young on guitar, Bobby Emmons on organ, Tommy Cogbill on Bass, Booby Wood on Piano, Ed Kollis on and Harmonica and Gene Chrisman on Drums / Tambourine. Orchestral overdubs were added later on 7 May with strings in the afternoon and brass in the evening but it is unknown precisely when backing vocals were added.
All takes but the tuning up /rehearsal and take four have been released officially on FTD's "Back In Memphis" but in all cases were subjected to edits. Here you can listen to the complete process without those edits. In 2015 the song was selected as one of the second batch of songs to be subjected to re-recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and subsequently released on "The Wonder Of You" the following year and this is also included.