It was a cool December day in 1956 . Carl Perkins was busy cutting a record at Sun Recording Studios in Memphis Tennessee. His friends, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis, watched on diligently.

It had to be karma on that day, as a young Elvis nonchalantly walked in the door, and started clowning around with the group.

It wasn't long until the electric, spur-of-the-moment fun, became the now-famous impromptu, million-dollar-jam session.

For years conversations turned into speculation. How could the four of them harmonizing together be anything short of amazing ?

Shelby Singleton bought Sun Records in 1969. Soon after that, he began his long search. Browsing through more than 10,000 hours of tape, he found what he had hoped for. Amazingly, Sam Philips had left the recorder on, and the whole session had been caught on tape.

In 1980 the first bootleg would made its appearance. It was followed shortly in England, by Charley Records on the Sun Label.

The album, The Million-Dollar-Quartet, containing the following 17 songs:

As We Travel Along On The Jericho Road
And Now Sweetheart You've Done Me Wrong
Blessed Jesus Take My Hand
Crazy Arms
Don't Forbid Me
Down By The Riverside
Farther Along
I Shall Not Be Moved
I Hear A Sweet Voice Calling
I Just Can't Make It By Myself
I'm With The Crowd But Oh So Alone
Just A Little Talk With Jesus
Keeper Of The Keys
Little Cabin On The Hill
Peace in The Valley
Summertime Has Passed and Gone
Walk That Lonesome Valley
 

Dreams of the perfect album however were soon shattered, as the not-so-perfect album hit the stands.

The sad truth was now revealed to the world. The four men were truly just clowning around, and clearly, didn't have a clue they were being taped.

Just one of the many problems included the fact that Johnny Cash can never be heard with any certainty. To top it off, with most of the songs done clearly in fun, most were never finished. In 1987 another bootleg appeared as, The One Million Dollar Quartet,. It is said to contain the entire session. Again, it was soon released and imported from England by Charly Records.

The added songs were as follows:

Brown-Eyed Handsome Man
Don't Be Cruel
Elvis Farewell
End of the Road
Home Sweet Home.
I'm Gonna Bid My Blues good-bye
Is It So Strange
Jerry's Boogie
Jesus Hold My Hand
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Paralyzed
Rip it Up
Softly and Tenderly
Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong
That's My Desire
That's' When Your Heartaches Begin
Too Much Monkey Business
When God Dips His Love in my Heart
When the Saints Go marchin' in
You Belong to Me
You're the Only Star in My Blue Heaven