The Big E was at his best in the fifties before the Army and films changed him. This is the song that I first heard by him and it made me a fan when I was around 5 or so. The song brought up images to kids and was easy to understand in a kid’s sort of way…and it rocked.
I think it’s one of the best rock singles ever released. Do you want a double A-side? Try Hound Dog backed with Don’t Be Cruel. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Those early Elvis songs were magical. Hound Dog, That’s Alright, I Forgot To Remember To Forget, Mystery Train, Heartbreak Hotel, Don’t Be Cruel, and the list goes on. Many artists have played rock and roll but it’s hard as hell to beat these primal songs. I think one of the reasons is they were mostly recorded live in a studio. They don’t have 100 overdubs…just simplicity at its best and it hits its target.
Hound Dog was first recorded by Willie Mae Big Mama Thornton and was a number 1 rhythm & blues hit in 1953. Her voice is incredible in this song. She nailed it and so did Elvis. Elvis’s version is a little faster than Thornton’s version…but that made room for her dynamic voice.
Elvis Presley’s version didn’t do too bad. It peaked at #1 on the Hot 100, #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts, and #2 in the UK in 1956 (I could not find Canada). The song was written by teenagers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. They would go on to write many more chart hits for everyone…including Elvis with Jailhouse Rock.
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller: “We’d actually written ‘Hound Dog’ 90 percent on the way over in the car. I was beating out a rhythm we called the ‘buck dance’ on the roof of the car. We got to Johnny Otis’s house and Mike went right to the piano… didn’t even bother to sit down. He had a cigarette in his mouth that was burning his left eye, and he started to play the song. We took the song back to Big Mama and she snatched the paper out of my hand and said, ‘Is this my big hit?’ And I said, ‘I hope so.’
Next thing I know, she starts crooning ‘Hound Dog’ like Frank Sinatra would sing ‘In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning.’ And I’m looking at her, and I’m a little intimidated by the razor scars on her face, and she’s about 280-320 pounds, and I said, ‘It don’t go that way.’ And she looked at me like looks could kill and said – and this was when I found out I was white – ‘White boy, don’t you be tellin’ me how to sing the blues.’ We finally got through it.
Johnny brought Mike back in the room and asked him to sit down at the piano, which was not easy because Johnny had this female piano player who was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger. They finally exchanged seats and did the song the way it was supposed to sound. And that was one of those where we said, ‘That’s a hit.’ And I thought immediately: We both said it, it’s gonna put a hex on it!”
Hound Dog
You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dogCryin’ all the timeYou ain’t nothin’ but a hound dogCryin’ all the timeWell, you ain’t never caught a rabbitAnd you ain’t no friend of mine
Well, they said you was high-classedWell, that was just a lieYeah, they said you was high-classedWell, that was just a lieYeah, you ain’t never caught a rabbitAnd you ain’t no friend of mine
You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dogCryin’ all the timeYou ain’t nothin’ but a hound dogCryin’ all the timeWell, you ain’t never caught a rabbitAnd you ain’t no friend of mine
Well, they said you was high-classedWell, that was just a lieYeah, they said you was high-classedWell, that was just a lieWell, you ain’t never caught a rabbitAnd you ain’t no friend of mine
Well, they said you was high-classedWell, that was just a lieYa know they said you was high-classedWell, that was just a lieWell, you ain’t never caught a rabbitAnd you ain’t no friend of mine
You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dogCryin’ all the timeYou ain’t nothin’ but a hound dogCryin’ all the timeWell, you ain’t never caught a rabbitYou ain’t no friend of mine
You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog
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