On Sept. 9, 1954, a young rockabilly singer played at the grand opening of a shopping center. He was paid $10 to perform on a flat-bed truck parked in front of the Katz Drug Store. The next day, he began a long session of recording at a local studio. He worked for hours on several song covers which were never released to the public.

Finally, things fell into place. The studio owner, Sam Phillips, thought highly of one cover tune, the 1948 r&b hit "Good Rockin' Tonight." Later that day, or maybe the next day, Elvis Presley recorded another cover tune, a pop tune he had heard sung in a movie, by Dean Martin. It was "I don't care if the sun don't shine." These two sides became Sun 210, released on September 25, 1954.

That night, Elvis appeared at the Eagle's Nest Club with the Tiny Dixon Band. The single record release, Elvis' second single, did not hit as big as Sam Phillips thought it might. Artistically, however, this Sun single represents one of the best performances of Elvis' career. This is the original Sun 210 single 45 rpm record. Condition of the grooves is VG, and both sides play through nicely, with all the excitement of early Elvis captured on vinyl. The label has some ring wear but no markings. There's a slight smudge on the author credit of "Good Rockin' Tonight." The artist credit is Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill.

It has the round punch marks which usually distinguish the Sun originals. Trail-off numbers in the deadwax are U-130-45-72.

Do you know an Elvis fan who has always longed for one of the actual records he made before he was famous? Sun was a small Memphis, Tennessee record label with very little distribution, so only a few of these records were manufactured. Elvis himself came into this studio to make a "vanity" record for his mother, probably with little expectation of fame. That would come much later when he was signed to RCA Victor Records. Owning this original Sun 210 is owning a fragile piece of genuine musical history.