How Elvis' Favorite Soda Is Connected To One Of His Biggest Hits

If you listen to the lyrics of "All Shook Up," it sounds like someone singing about being crazy in love ... but could it be that it's a love song to a soft drink and not a person? Okay, probably not, but Elvis Presley was a huge Pepsi fan, and he stipulated that there must always be a full case in the pantry at Graceland. (Elvis preferred to chug Gatorade onstage.) Coincidentally, the song was also said to have been inspired by that same soda, although The King's beverage preference was not part of the process.

The way the story goes, songwriter Otis Blackwell was sitting in the office of Shalimar Publishing, and in walked a man named Al Stanton. Stanton, one of Shalimar's owners, was shaking a bottle of Pepsi, something people did back in the '50s. (Was it less carbonated back then, and the fizz needed a bit of a boost to activate? We may never know.) At any rate, mid-shake, Stanton supposedly told Blackwell that he should pen a tune called "All Shook Up." History does not reveal whether Stanton then sprayed Blackwell with the shaken soda, although it seems unlikely, as Blackwell delivered the song two days later.

Elvis, who also shares a songwriting credit on "All Shook Up," had a different story to tell, and one in which Pepsi played no part. According to him, he had a dream that shook him, and this inspired him to write the song.

Numerous song lyrics have given soda a shoutout over the years, with The Kinks' "Lola" even helpfully spelling out "C-O-L-A, cola." Some songs, however, go so far as to mention specific sodas in the title. Lana Del Rey is perhaps the queen of soda songs, releasing tracks titled "Cola," "Diet Mountain Dew," and "A&W." In the '50s and the '70s, RC Cola was celebrated in two different songs (and paired both times with its celebrated snack food partner in crime), with Big Bill Lister's "Gimme an RC Cola and a Moon Pie" and NRBQ's "An RC Cola and a Moon Pie."

Almost as obscure as the "All Shook Up" connection with Pepsi, is the fact that Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1969 hit "Green River" wasn't named after an actual geographical location, much less a serial killer, but instead referenced lead singer John Fogerty's favorite soda. The Green River soda he remembered, though, didn't come in a bottle. Instead, it was a bright green syrup that was added to a glass of ice and topped off with soda water.

One particular song that shares the name of a beloved regional soda is sadly not about that drink at all. The Orange Crush referred to in R.E.M.'s song of the same name is actually a nickname for Agent Orange, which was a defoliant used during the Vietnam War that caused horrific health consequences for soldiers and civilians. Even so, thanks to Michael Stipe's lyrical obscurity and mumbling delivery, "Orange Crush" will never entirely shake the soda association.