Heartbreak Hotel told Durden, "Everybody in the world has someone who cares. Let's put a Heartbreak Hotel at the end of this lonely street". They were interrupted by the arrival of Glenn Reeves, a local performer who had previously worked with Axton. The duo asked Reeves to help with the song, but after hearing the title he remarked that it was "the silliest thing I've ever heard", and left them to finish it themselves. The song was written within an hour, and Durden recorded it onto Axton's tape recorder. Reeves returned, and after hearing the song he was asked to provide a
Heartbreak Hotel recalled hearing it for the first time when he was 8 years old: Critic Robert Cantwell wrote in his unpublished memoir "Twigs of Folly": President Bill Clinton performed the song on saxophone during his appearance on "The Arsenio Hall Show" on June 3, 1992. In 2004, it was ranked number 45 on "Rolling Stone"s list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included it in its unranked list 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll and in 2005, "Uncut" magazine ranked the first performance of "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1956 by Presley as