The Platters or Elvis?
That seems a little bare, so I’ll add:
A co-worker got me The Platters Forever Gold. Damn, those are some good love songs. And, surprisingly, I know all of the words to most of the songs. Go out and get it, there’s a whole lotta good out-of-tune singing to be done!
I didn’t even know the Platters had recorded it. This discography doesn’t list a single release, but an album titled The Wonder of You was released in 1976. That’s six years after the Elvis version.
Guy name Ray Peterson had a hit with in in 1959; Elvis’s top 40 version was 1970. The Platters didn’t chart with it, but it has to have predated Elvis’s cover.
The Platters were still releasing original music in 1976? I’m quite surprised by this.
I confirm this to be the case, according to allmusic.com
However, the Platters version of “The Wonder of You” appears to be a different song–except so far as I can tell, they are in fact the same song. The Peterson and Elvis version is credited to Baker Knight. The Platters version is credited to Edward Heynman and Victor Young. Anybody know what’s going on here?
The earliest instance of the Baker Knight song is Ray Peterson’s 1959 single, which also appeared on his 1960 album Tell Laura I Love Her (So that’s who Ray Peterson is!)
It then came out in ‘64, covered by The Letterman (known best for "Goin’ Out of My Head/Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.") The Platters version appeared on album in 1968, followed by contemporaneous covers in 1970 by country singer Billy Joe Spears and Elvis Presley.