Elvis Presley performed the song in the 1958 motion picture King Creole, and his recording was included on the soundtrack of the same name. "Trouble", featuring Scotty Moore on guitar, was one of only three songs written by Leiber and Stoller for the feature. Presley's performance in the film alludes to Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley. "If you're looking for trouble," he intones, "then look right in my face. Because I'm evil. My middle name is Misery." Music critic Maury Dean suggests that "Trouble," with Presley's "growling snarl," is one of the earliest proto-punk rock songs.[1]
Ten years later, Presley opened his 1968 comeback special with this number. With dark, moody lighting highlighting his sneer, the sequence alluded to Presley's checkered past and "dangerous" image and served to prove that the singer was still "sexy, surly and downright provocative."[2][3] The piece then segued into "Guitar Man" against a "Jailhouse Rock" backdrop featuring male dancers in cells.
In the 2022 film Elvis, Presley is portrayed as performing “Trouble” at Russwood ParkinMemphis, Tennessee on July 4, 1956, but the truth is that he did not sing the song at that concert because it hadn't been written yet. They used it in the movie because the lyrics fit the scene depicted. As we know, “Trouble” was not played by Elvis before he recorded it in 1958 for his film, King Creole.[4]
Presley performed the song several times on tour in the early 1970s and unofficial recordings of these performances have circulated. In 1975, Presley recorded "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" for a single, but this is a completely different song.
Indeed, the key feature of the song is the use of stop time, or pauses in the music, during the first half of the progression. This musical device is commonly heard in New Orleans jazz, when the instrumentation briefly stops, allowing for a short instrumental solo before resuming.
Figure skating world champion Javier Fernández performed part of his Elvis Presley free program to "Trouble" during the 2016–17 season,[8] when he won his fifth consecutive European Championships gold medal. The program also included sections of "Fever" and "Jailhouse Rock".
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