As a musician and 30-something, I’ve played or listened to Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love” at least three thousand times. The 1961 love song has been a staple at countless wedding ceremonies and receptions in the decades since its initial release on the Blue Hawaii soundtrack.
Yet, every time I hear or sing the words to the first verse, I get thrown off by how clunky the rhyme pattern feels. Sure, there are abstract rhyme schemes that don’t follow a specific ABAB or AABB format. But something that feels like ABCD? In a mainstream song that topped the charts for a month straight? As it turns out, there is a reason behind the song’s odd cadence.
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“Can’t Help Falling in Love” Originally Had a Different Title
When I say I’ve played or heard “Can’t Help Falling In Love” at almost every wedding I’ve been to or worked at, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. There’s a reason why the song has stayed so popular all these years. It’s a classic love song sung by the ultimate heartthrob at the peak of his career. If the first half of the song gets people in a lovey-dovey mood, then the minor “like a river flows” section twists the heartstrings that much further. It’s a great track.
However, it started out with a much different title. According to Songwriting for Dummies, songwriters Luigi Creatore, Hugo Peretti, and George Weiss originally wrote Elvis’ future hit for a woman. The title was “Can’t Help Falling In Love With Him”. And just like that, all those awkward rhymes in the verses make sense. “Wise men say, ‘Only fools rush in’ / But I can’t help falling in love with him.” “Shall I stay? Would it be a sin / if I can’t help falling in love with him.” In this version, the rhyme pattern feels much more standard.
After Presley expressed interest in cutting a version of the song, the songwriters scrapped the female perspective and switched it to a first-person narrator. Nevertheless, the clunky cadence hasn’t stopped this track from holding its place as one of the most ubiquitous love songs of all time.
“Can’t Help Falling In Love” is triple-platinum in the U.K. and double-platinum in New Zealand. Presley’s Blue Hawaii version topped the U.K. charts but stopped short in the U.S. at the No. 2 spot, unable to beat Joey Dee and the Starliters’ “Peppermint Twist”. But no one really plays that one at their wedding, so which song really won?
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