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It’s Now or Never (song)
| “It’s Now or Never” | ||||
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Original 45 picture sleeve
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| Single by Elvis Presley | ||||
| B-side | “A Mess of Blues“ “Make Me Know It” (UK) |
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| Released | July 5, 1960 | |||
| Recorded | April 3, 1960 | |||
| Studio | RCA Victor (Nashville) | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 3:15 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Elvis Presley singles chronology | ||||
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| Elvis Presley UK singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| “It’s Now or Never” (audio) on YouTube | ||||
The song is one of the best-selling singles by Presley (20 million copies), and one of the best-selling physical singles of all time. It was recorded by Bill Porter at RCA Studio B in Nashville. It is written in E major and has a tempo of 80 BPM.
In 1960, “It’s Now or Never” was a number-one record in the U.S. for Elvis Presley, spending five weeks at number one and the UK, where it spent eight weeks at the top in 1960 and an additional week at number one in 2005 as a re-issue, and numerous other countries, selling in excess of 20 million physical copies worldwide, Elvis Presley’s biggest international single ever. Its British release was delayed for some time because of rights issues, allowing the song to build up massive advance orders and to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one, a very rare occurrence at the time. “It’s Now or Never” peaked at number seven on the R&B charts.
Background
“It’s Now or Never” is one of two popular songs based on the Italian song of the Neapolitan language, “‘O Sole mio” (music by Eduardo di Capua);
the other being “There’s No Tomorrow“, recorded by U.S. singer Tony Martin in 1949, which inspired Presley’s version. The lyrics were written by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold. The song was published by Elvis Presley’s company Gladys Music, Inc.
In the late 1950s, while stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, Presley heard Martin’s recording. It is also likely that he was inspired to record this because of his fondness for Mario Lanza who had first popularized “‘O Sole Mio” to American audiences and who had died the year before “It’s Now or Never” was recorded. According to The New York Times, quoting from the 1986 book Behind the Hits, “he told the idea to his music publisher, Freddy Bienstock, who was visiting him in Germany… Mr. Bienstock, who many times found songwriters for Presley, returned to his New York office, where he found songwriters, Mr. [Aaron] Schroeder and Wally Gold, the only people in that day. The two wrote lyrics in half an hour. Selling more than 5 million records, the song became number one in countries all around and was Presley’s best selling single ever… a song [they] finished in 20 minutes to a half hour was the biggest song of [their] career.”
Barry White credited this song as his inspiration for changing his life and becoming a singer following his release from prison.
In the promotional video for the Beatles‘ 1968 single “Hey Jude,” the members of the band jokingly perform a few lines of the song.
Versions
A live version featuring “‘O Sole mio” is available on the 1977 live album Elvis in Concert. “‘O Sole mio” is sung by tenor Sherrill Nielson.
In early 2005, the song was re-released along with the other Presley singles in the UK, and again reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for the week of 5 February 2005. The re-release held the record for the lowest selling number-one single in UK chart history until Orson‘s “No Tomorrow” in 2006.
The song also appears in the TV mini-series Elvis.
Chart performance
United States
“It’s Now or Never” entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at No. 44 on July 18, 1960. After climbing to No. 14 and then a two-week stay at No. 3, the song climbed to No. 1 for a five-week stay, beginning August 15. In that same week, the B-side to the single, “A Mess of Blues” – peaked at No. 32 independently. During its run at the top of the US charts, “It’s Now or Never” kept “Walk, Don’t Run” by The Ventures at No. 2
before succumbing to “The Twist” by Chubby Checker on September 19.
Presley fell to No. 3, spending a further seven weeks inside the top 40 before dropping out on November 14 (the same week that his follow-up, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?“, debuted on the chart).
As an A-side, Presley’s former bass player’s group Bill Black Combo charted with their version of “Don’t Be Cruel” around the same time.
United Kingdom
In the UK, the single gained an eventual release in late October 1960, following copyright discussions. It became the first song to enter the new Record Retailer charts at No. 1 – later adopted as the UK Singles Chart. During an eight-week run at the top, Presley was held off strong competition from Shirley Bassey (“As Long As He Needs Me“)
and The Drifters (“Save the Last Dance for Me“) before claiming the coveted Christmas number one for 1960.
A week later, he was deposed by Cliff Richard and the Shadows‘ “I Love You“.
Presley dropped to No. 2 and would leave the top 10 as “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” began its ascent to No. 1. After 18 weeks, “It’s Now or Never” left the UK top 40 on 15 March 1961. Due to the single’s delayed UK release, “A Mess of Blues” had already attained A-side status and peaked at No. 2 on 21 September 1960.
“It’s Now or Never” would be one of several songs to return to the UK top 40 in the wake of Presley’s death, reaching No. 39 on 3 August 1977.
On 5 February 2005, the song returned to the top of the UK charts for one more week as part of a week-by-week reissue series of his former chart-toppers. This gave Presley his 21st UK number one single, his fourth of the new millennium. Overall, “It’s Now or Never” has managed 22 weeks in the UK top 40.
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
All-time charts
Sales and certifications
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John Schneider version
| “It’s Now or Never” | ||||
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| Single by John Schneider | ||||
| from the album It’s Now or Never | ||||
| B-side | “Stay” | |||
| Released | May 1981 | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 3:22 | |||
| Label | Scotti Brothers | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| John Schneider singles chronology | ||||
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American country music singer and actor John Schneider released in 1981 a cover of the song as his first single and the title track of his debut album It’s Now or Never. Schneider’s version was a top five hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Chart performance
| Chart (1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 7 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 5 |
| New Zealand (RIANZ) | 49 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 14 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 5 |
| Year-end chart (1981) | Rank |
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| US Top Pop Singles (Billboard) | 82 |
Uses in popular culture
An instrumental version is used in a scene from Masahiro Shinoda‘s 1964 film Pale Flower.
Presley’s version appears in a 2017 TV commercial for Jose Cuervo.
At the 20th anniversary concert of the Suntory Hall in Japan in 2006, Italian tenors Vincenzo La Scola and Giuseppe Sabbatini and American tenor Neil Shicoff sang a bilingual version of the song together. For their respective solo parts, the two Italians sang the original Neapolitan lyrics, while Shicoff sang two segments of “It’s now or never”; and all three joined together for the final chorus with the Neapolitan lyrics.
Josh Groban covered the song for his 2020 album Harmony.
Jose Feliciano – It’s now or never
Angelina Jordan – It’s Now or Never (Allsang på grensen 2017)
It’s Now or never cover on guitar by Eric
Latin Jazz Relaxing Music Quartet – It’s now or never
It’s Now or Never – Cover on Yamaha PSR S970
It’s Now or Never – Violin Cover by Susan Holloway
Cha Cha It’s Now Or Never
Renée & Renato – It’s now or never
Al Martino- It’s now or never-O sole mio
Pale Flower Film
| Pale Flower | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Masahiro Shinoda |
| Written by | Masaru Baba Masahiro Shinoda |
| Story by | Shintaro Ishihara |
| Produced by | Masao Shirai Shigeru Wakatsuki |
| Starring | Ryō Ikebe Mariko Kaga Isao Sasaki Takashi Fujiki Chisako Hara |
| Cinematography | Masao Kosugi |
| Edited by | Yoshi Sugihara |
| Music by | Toru Takemitsu |
| Distributed by | Shochiku |
| Release date | 1964 |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Pale Flower (乾いた花, Kawaita hana) is a 1964 Japanese film noir directed by Masahiro Shinoda. The film is about Muraki (Ryō Ikebe) a Yakuza hitman just released from prison. At an illegal gambling parlor, he finds himself drawn to a mysterious young woman named Saeko (Mariko Kaga). Though Saeko loses large sums of money, she asks Muraki to find games with larger and larger stakes. The two become involved in an intense mutually destructive relationship. Film critic Roger Ebert gave Pale Flower four stars and put it on his list of Great Movies.
Plot
Muraki, a hardboiled Yakuza gangster, has just been released from prison after serving a sentence for murder. Revisiting his old gambling haunts, he meets Saeko, a striking young upper-class woman who is out seeking thrills, and whose presence adds spice to the staid masculine underworld rituals. Muraki becomes her mentor while simultaneously coping with the shifts of power that have affected the gangs while he was jailed. When he notices a rogue, drug-addicted young punk hanging around the gambling dens, he realizes that Saeko’s insatiable lust for intense pleasures may be leading her to self-destruction.
Production
Director Shinoda was influenced by Charles Baudelaire‘s Les Fleurs du mal while making the film. Shinoda chose the subject of yakuza as he felt the yakuza world is the only place where a Japanese ceremonial structure is sustained.
Release
When screenwriter Masaru Baba saw Shinoda’s film focus on visual and sound, he complained to the managers at the company Shochiku. This led to a nine-month delay of the film’s release.
Home video
Homevision released a Region 1 DVD of Pale Flower on November 18, 2003. The Criterion Collection released a DVD and Blu-ray edition of the film that features a video interview with Masahiro Shinoda as well as commentary by film scholar Peter Grilli .
Legacy
In 2012, filmmaker Ashim Ahluwalia included the film in his personal top ten (for The Sight & Sound Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time poll), writing: “Why can’t all film noir be like Pale Flower?“
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