Heartbreak Hotel in an attempted robbery in El Paso, Texas. On August 25, 1955, the "El Paso Times" reported Krolik's death under the headline "Story Of Person Who Walked Lonely Street". Axton and Durden give different accounts of how the song was written. Durden's account is that he had already written the song and performed it with his band the Swing Billys before he presented it to Axton. Axton's account is that Durden had written only a few lines of the song and asked her to help him finish it. She says that the report of the suicide "stunned" her, and she
Heartbreak Hotel Freberg parodied "Heartbreak Hotel" immediately after its release, because the vocals on the original record featured a heavy use of reverb. In the cover, the lead singer repeatedly asks for "more echo on [his] voice." When Presley recorded "Hound Dog" a few months later, he had taken over the role of producer, using what he learned at Sun Records (although Sholes was still credited) and decided not to use echo. Connie Francis recorded the song for her 1959 album "Rock 'n' Roll Million Sellers"; this album also features "Don't Be Cruel". Country singer Johnny Cash parodied the song in 1959