Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
New remaster and slight DES (Digitally Extracted Stereo)
"Return to Sender" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley and featured in the film Girls! Girls! Girls!. The song was written by Winfield Scott and Otis Blackwell to suit Presley's rock and roll musical style. The singer laments his relationship with a spiteful partner. Released on October 2, 1962, and published by Elvis Presley Music, the song became a commercial hit and received praise for its lyricism and melody.
The song peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, and was the UK Christmas number one in 1962. It was also the first Christmas number one in the Irish Singles Chart. In the United States, "Return to Sender" reached No. 2 on the American Billboard singles chart, kept out of the top spot by The Four Seasons' "Big Girls Don't Cry." However, the song reached No. 1 on the rival Cash Box and Music Vendor singles charts. "Return to Sender" also went to No. 5 on the R&B charts. The single was certified platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of one million units in the US.
"Return to Sender" was written especially for the soundtrack Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), which aimed to serve as a comeback for Elvis Presley.
Songwriter Otis Blackwell had already written several of Presley’s biggest hits, including "Don't Be Cruel" (1956) and "All Shook Up" (1957). Winfield Scott (songwriter) was a frequent collaborator with Blackwell, and writer of the hit song “Tweedle Dee” (1954). So it was logical for Freddy Bienstock, vice president of the record company Hill & Range, to turn to Blackwell and Scott to write songs for Presley's films, and for the Presley vehicle Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) specifically. Following the commercial disappointment of Presley's pop ballad "She's Not You" (1962), the record company wanted him to return to the rock and roll genre without alienating fans who enjoyed his crooning.
Scripts for Presley films would note places where a song was to be inserted into the film as well as suggested titles and genres for the songs. While other songwriters would adhere to those notes, Blackwell and Scott would not, because they were used to the creative freedom of the rhythm and blues field. They decided to write a great song without any concern about whether fitted into the film's storyline. After penning a track about fishing, entitled "Coming in Loaded", as well as other material they disliked, the two gave up on writing other songs until they found inspiration in a returned piece of mail. A demo that they had sent to a record company was returned to them with the words "Return to sender! No such person! No such zone!" stamped onto it. Blackwell and Scott decided to use those phrases as lyrics in a song about a failing relationship between "a spiteful woman and a heartbroken man". Ironically, within only nine months of its release, it was the use of the word "zone" that became an anachronism when the USPOD or United States Post Office Department (the forerunner of the United States Postal Service) replaced all zones in 1963 with the nationwide rollout of ZIP Codes, thus making the song seem dated before its time.
On March 27, 1962, Presley was handed the task of recording all thirteen songs on the Girls! Girls! Girls! soundtrack. He was unenthusiastic about the material and went through the recording process at a quickened pace. The Jordanaires, Dudley Brooks, D. J. Fontana, and Scotty Moore were in the studio, and other instrumentation on the album was provided by Boots Randolph on saxophone, Ray Siegel on bass guitar, Barney Kessel and Tiny Timbrell on guitar, and Hal Blaine and Bernie Mattinson on specialty drums. When he began singing "Return to Sender," Presley became more energetic. He found the song easy to perform and recorded it in just two takes, modelling his vocal stylings on Blackwell's. While watching Presley perform the track, Moore and Fontana felt that the "old magic" of the singer's earlier work had returned.
New remaster and slight DES (Digitally Extracted Stereo)
"Return to Sender" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley and featured in the film Girls! Girls! Girls!. The song was written by Winfield Scott and Otis Blackwell to suit Presley's rock and roll musical style. The singer laments his relationship with a spiteful partner. Released on October 2, 1962, and published by Elvis Presley Music, the song became a commercial hit and received praise for its lyricism and melody.
The song peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, and was the UK Christmas number one in 1962. It was also the first Christmas number one in the Irish Singles Chart. In the United States, "Return to Sender" reached No. 2 on the American Billboard singles chart, kept out of the top spot by The Four Seasons' "Big Girls Don't Cry." However, the song reached No. 1 on the rival Cash Box and Music Vendor singles charts. "Return to Sender" also went to No. 5 on the R&B charts. The single was certified platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of one million units in the US.
"Return to Sender" was written especially for the soundtrack Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), which aimed to serve as a comeback for Elvis Presley.
Songwriter Otis Blackwell had already written several of Presley’s biggest hits, including "Don't Be Cruel" (1956) and "All Shook Up" (1957). Winfield Scott (songwriter) was a frequent collaborator with Blackwell, and writer of the hit song “Tweedle Dee” (1954). So it was logical for Freddy Bienstock, vice president of the record company Hill & Range, to turn to Blackwell and Scott to write songs for Presley's films, and for the Presley vehicle Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) specifically. Following the commercial disappointment of Presley's pop ballad "She's Not You" (1962), the record company wanted him to return to the rock and roll genre without alienating fans who enjoyed his crooning.
Scripts for Presley films would note places where a song was to be inserted into the film as well as suggested titles and genres for the songs. While other songwriters would adhere to those notes, Blackwell and Scott would not, because they were used to the creative freedom of the rhythm and blues field. They decided to write a great song without any concern about whether fitted into the film's storyline. After penning a track about fishing, entitled "Coming in Loaded", as well as other material they disliked, the two gave up on writing other songs until they found inspiration in a returned piece of mail. A demo that they had sent to a record company was returned to them with the words "Return to sender! No such person! No such zone!" stamped onto it. Blackwell and Scott decided to use those phrases as lyrics in a song about a failing relationship between "a spiteful woman and a heartbroken man". Ironically, within only nine months of its release, it was the use of the word "zone" that became an anachronism when the USPOD or United States Post Office Department (the forerunner of the United States Postal Service) replaced all zones in 1963 with the nationwide rollout of ZIP Codes, thus making the song seem dated before its time.
On March 27, 1962, Presley was handed the task of recording all thirteen songs on the Girls! Girls! Girls! soundtrack. He was unenthusiastic about the material and went through the recording process at a quickened pace. The Jordanaires, Dudley Brooks, D. J. Fontana, and Scotty Moore were in the studio, and other instrumentation on the album was provided by Boots Randolph on saxophone, Ray Siegel on bass guitar, Barney Kessel and Tiny Timbrell on guitar, and Hal Blaine and Bernie Mattinson on specialty drums. When he began singing "Return to Sender," Presley became more energetic. He found the song easy to perform and recorded it in just two takes, modelling his vocal stylings on Blackwell's. While watching Presley perform the track, Moore and Fontana felt that the "old magic" of the singer's earlier work had returned.
