‘Dominick’: the song Elvis Presley begged not to be released posthumously

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‘Dominick’: the song Elvis Presley begged not to be released posthumously

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/song-elvis ... thumously/

Ben Forrest
Wed 29 October 2025 20:45, UK
Musical stardom, particularly on a level akin to Elvis Presley, is not afforded to many artists.

Those who do reach that upper echelon, however, do not do so with musical talent alone; they must also surrender their artistic principles to the wants and demands of the industry itself – something which Presley wasn’t always comfortable with.

Although, contrary to popular belief, Elvis Presley wasn’t the first artist to embrace the rock ‘n’ roll revolution back in the 1950s – preceded by the likes of Bill Haley, along with countless overlooked and underappreciated Black R&B artists – he was certainly a trailblazer in many other ways. Namely, he was the first real ‘rockstar’, worshipped by the younger generation and capable of exerting an unprecedented command over the pop charts. It is no surprise, therefore, that the music industry was dying to take advantage.

So, not only did Presley have to deal with a tireless recording, performing, and touring schedule, but it was quickly decided that he should be making films, too. Love Me Tender, from 1956, was the singer’s first film appearance, and its rather bizarre Confederate Army-based love rivalry storyline predicted the rest of Presley’s acting career in how contrived it was.

Typically, Presley’s film roles were merely a vehicle for his music, culminating in multiple soundtrack albums and an increased level of publicity, but even the singer himself began to resent his silver screen appearances as the years went on.

It is not so much that Presley didn’t want to act, it is just that he viewed himself as being above these cheap, cash-in flicks. Instead, ‘The King’ yearned to be considered in the same category as the likes of Marlon Brando and James Dean, although that never really panned out quite as he hoped. Back in 1968, for instance, Presley’s film career arguably reached its lowest ebb, seeing him star as a Navajo rodeo rider in Stay Away, Joe.

Aside from the obvious, poorly-aged nature of the film’s plotline – even if you haven’t seen it, I’m sure you can imagine its over-reliance on harmful stereotypes of First Nations – Presley was drawn to the project due to the fact that it would only require him to record three of his own songs. However, one of those songs, entitled ‘Dominick’, would see ‘The King’ serenade a bull, which he wasn’t overly pleased with.

Seemingly, Presley viewed the idea of singing to a bull as degrading, and it is easy to see why. Even the fact that, in the final film, Presley sings the track to two women (without a bull in shot) didn’t do much to quell his hatred of it. At the time, he told RCA’s vice president Harry Jenkins, “God, Harry, I don’t want to record this,” and made producer Felton Jarvis promise to resign the song to the vaults indefinitely, even posthumously. “Promise me they won’t put this out,” he apparently pleaded with the producer.

That plea seemed to work, too. Stay Away, Joe was among the only Presley films not supported by a soundtrack album, and ‘Dominick’ remained unreleased in an official capacity until 1994, on the Kissin Cousins/Clambake/Stay Away, Joe compilation album, by which time both Presley and Felton Jarvis were long gone. Still, the intensity of Presley’s beef (pun, regrettably intended) with that particular song was such that he would have much preferred it to have never seen the light of day.