*(1971 RCA ''Help Me Make It Through The Night'' (Take 5, Take 6 Take 7 Complete) Elvis Presley

''Help Me Make It Through The Night'' (APA4-1273) (Take 5 FS, Take 6 FS, Take 7 Complete) (6:00 PM - 9:00 PM) Recorded Monday May 17, 1971 at RCA Studio B, Nashville, Tennessee Name (Or. No of Instruments) (General) Elvis Presley - Vocals James Burton - Guitar Chip Young - Guitar Charlie Hodge - Acoustic Guitar Jerry Carrigan - Drums Norbert Putnam - Bass David Briggs - Piano Charlie McCoy - Harmonica The Inperials consisting of Jimmie Murray, Terry Blackwood, Greg Gordon, Joe Moscheo, and Armond Morales - Backup Vocals Mary Holladay, Ginger Holladay, and Millie Kirkham - Backup Vocals "Help Me Make It Through The Night" is a country ballad written and composed by Kris Kristofferson and released on his 1970 album ''Kristofferson''. It was covered later in 1970 by Sammi Smith, on the album ''Help Me Make It Through the Night''. It has been covered since by many other artists from Tammy Wynette and Johnny Cash to Elvis Presley and Joan Baez. Smith's recording of the song (in May 1970) remains the most commercially successful, and best-known, version in the United States. Her recording ranks among the most successful country singles of all time in terms of sales, popularity, and radio airplay. It topped the country singles chart, and was also a crossover hit, reaching number eight on the U.S. pop singles chart. "Help Me Make It Through The Night" also became Smith's signature song. Inspired by Smith's success with the song, numerous other artists covered it soon thereafter, including Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Glen Campbell, Dottie West, Joan Baez, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Tony Roletti, Mariah Carey, Tina Turner, Ray Stevens, Willie Nelson, Ken Parker, Olivia Newton-John, Engelbert Humperdinck, Scott Matthew, Lena Zavaroni and Kelly Jones. Other artists who have recorded charting versions of the song include Gladys Knight & the Pips, John Holt, as well as translations by Claude Valade (in French) and S.T.S. (in Austrian German). The Michael Bublé version features American singer Loren Allred. In 2023, Tyler Childers released a cover of the song on his album Rustin' in the Rain. Kris Kristofferson said that he got the inspiration for the song from an Esquire Magazine interview with Frank Sinatra. When asked what he believed in, Frank replied, "Booze, broads, or a bible...whatever helps me make it through the night''. During his time as a struggling songwriter, Kris Kristofferson wrote and composed the song while staying with Dottie West and her husband, Bill, at their home on Shy's Hill Road in Nashville's Green Hills neighborhood. When he offered Dottie West the song, she originally claimed it was "too suggestive" for her. Eventually, she would record it before the year was out, and it is included on her album Careless Hands. However, by then, several others had recorded and released versions of it, some garnering great success. Later on, West said that not recording "Help Me Make It Through The Night" when Kristofferson originally offered it to her was one of the greatest regrets of her career. Source and more information see: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia *- Digitally Remastered © - Condor Records - ©