“Flaming Star” is a song recorded by Elvis Presley for the soundtrack of the 1960 film of the same name. The film was a Western directed by Don Siegel, in which Elvis Presley played the role of Pacer Burton, a half-Indian youth caught between two worlds.

The song “Flaming Star” was written by Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards. It was the title track of both the film and the soundtrack album. The lyrics of the song convey the struggle and conflict faced by the character Elvis portrayed in the film, torn between his Native American heritage and the hostility he faces due to it.

On April 17, 1961, the tune broke into the “Hot 100” at #85. Four weeks later, on May 15, Flaming Star reached its chart peak at #14. That same week Elvis’ next single, “I Feel So Bad,” entered the chart at #43. Radio stations switched over to the new Presley tune, and “Flaming Star” quickly slid off the “Hot 100” after seven weeks on the chart. In the end, radio stations used it merely as a “fix” for Elvis fans in the time void between two Presley singles.

There was at least one American disc jockey, however, who held Elvis’ recording of “Flaming Star” in very high regard. In the May 15, 1961, issue of Billboard, the following question was posed to a panel of DJs. “What is your all-time favorite record and why?” Tom Rounds of KPOI in Honolulu replied as follows:

“The record that helped raise funds for a memorial to the men entombed in the sunken battleship Arizona at Pearl Harbor has become my favorite all-time single. Col. Tom Parker sent the first acetate of ‘Flaming Star’ to KPOI in a joint venture to promote a fundraiser by Elvis Presley here. The record was an overnight success and helped provide part of the tremendous public backing still needed at the time to commemorate a tragic day in American history.”