"Burning Love" is a song written by Dennis Linde and originally recorded by country soul artist Arthur Alexander, who included it on his 1972 self-titled album. It was soon covered and brought to fame by Elvis Presley, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious Minds" in 1969 and his last Top 10 hit in the American Hot 100 or pop charts.
Elvis Presley's cover version became much more popular than the original version, and was released as a single on August 1, 1972, with the B-side "It's a Matter of Time", and it reached the Top 40 on the country charts, peaking at #36. Elvis had recorded it at RCA's Hollywood studios on March 28, 1972. It was his last big hit. The electric guitar opening and riffs were overdubbed and played by Dennis Linde himself.
For the week of October 21, 1972, "Burning Love" rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, being kept from #1 by Chuck Berry's novelty song "My Ding-a-Ling." However, it reached #1 on Cashbox's Top 40 Charts for the week of November 11, which gave him 20 US #1 hits. The song was Elvis's 40th and last Top Ten hit on the US charts. It was also one of the last real rock songs in the last years of his life; from 1972 to 1977 the majority of his songs were ballads, and many of those placed on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart. "Burning Love" was one of the few exceptions, along with "Promised Land" in 1974.
He performed it in at least two high-profile productions: the concert film Elvis on Tour (during which he had to use a lyric sheet as the song was still new to him), and the later Aloha from Hawaii concert.
The song was also released on an album titled Burning Love and Hits from his Movies: Volume 2 on November 1, 1972. Despite this album's subtitle, none of the movie songs on it were ever hits. The only actual hit on the album was the title song, "Burning Love".
Black Grass [Self Titled] on their very rare 1973 album [Shelter Records], which displays a controversial blacked out logo.Mother's Finest covered the song for their 1976 album, Another Mother Further.Doctor & The Medics covered the song in 1987. It was played on Dr. Demento's Demented Top 20 Video Countdown on MTV.Travis Tritt recorded the song for Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack in 1992.Melissa Etheridge covered the song in 1994 for the televised Elvis Tribute hosted by John Stamos. It was released on the album It's Now or Never: The Tribute to Elvis.Bruce Springsteen used the song in his concert line-ups since the 1990s.Wynonna Judd recorded her version for the Lilo & Stitch soundtrack in 2002 and later included the song on her 2003 album, What the World Needs Now Is Love.Café Quijano recorded their Spanish version for the Lilo & Stitch soundtrack in 2002.The 69 Eyes recorded a more upbeat version for their 1992 album Bump 'n' GrindThe Residents covered the song in 1989; it appears on their album The King & Eye.Hellstomper recorded their own version on Hillbilly Motherfucker.Eric Sardinas covered the song for his 2008 album Eric Sardinas and Big Motor.Amanda Lear covered the song on her 2014 tribute album My Happiness."Burning Love" was used as a wake-up song on the space shuttle mission STS-123.It was used for the end credits sequence of Crazy Love (2007), a documentary by Dan Klores and Fisher Stevens on the life of Burt and Linda Pugach.Was recorded for the 1979 film, Elvis The Movie, starring Kurt Russell and Ronnie McDowell as the singing voice of Elvis. The song was not released for a soundtrack.On a Season 1 episode of The Golden Girls called "Sophia's Wedding", the girls are revealed to be members of an Elvis fan club called The Hunka-Hunka-Burning Love FanClub.The song was frequently used by comedian Conan O'Brien to warm up his audience prior to taping his talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien, with the host singing the lyrics with musical accompaniment by the house band.A remix of the original was used for the Cirque du Soleil show Viva Elvis and found on its soundtrack. During the live show, it is played during a montage of Elvis's best love scenes on the rear-projection screen, while the band has a spotlight. This remix puts more emphasis on drums and guitars, with a sound like The Who.Wynonna Judd's cover of "Burning Love" is the closing song of Lilo & Stitch. The song itself would later play a role in an episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, with main character Lilo Pelekai naming a hummingbird-like love-inducing experiment, "Hunkahunka".In 1997, Velveeta used the song for the Velveeta Chili Dip commercial, where they changed the lyrics to "Hunka Hunka Meltin' Love".The song was used during the Miss Universe 2010 swimsuit competition, where Ximena Navarrete from México won the title of most beautiful woman in the Universe.Zooey Deschanel sang Burning Love while impersonating Elvis on Season 2, Episode 20 of New Girl.A cover of the song is sung by Jonathan Wood's character, Nick, on ABC Family's Original Movie, The Mistle-Tones starring Tia Mowry.A cover of the song is sung by Dwayne Johnson's character, Joe Kingman, in the Movie, The Game Plan.The title of The Simpsons episode "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love" (2001) is a reference to a line from "Burning Love".A version was featured in How to Train Your Dragon 2.Used in the 2011 video game Homefront in the mission "Night Raid" where members of the American Resistance launches white phosphorus on the KPA soldiers.A cover was used in commercials for Disney's 2014 film, Planes: Fire & Rescue, sung by Mike Eldred Trio.Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) Sings Along To The Song While Driving From San Francisco To Los Angeles In The Fuller House Episode Moving Day.