Hound Dog (song)
Encyclopedia
"Hound Dog" is a twelve-bar blues written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
and originally recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton
in 1952. Other early versions illustrate the differences among blues
, country
, and rock and roll
in the mid-1950s. The 1956 remake by Elvis Presley
is the best-known version; it is his version that is No. 19 on Rolling Stone
's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "Hound Dog" was also recorded by five country singers in 1953 alone, and over 26 times through 1964. From the 1970s onward, the song has appeared, or is heard, as a part of the soundtrack in numerous films, most notably in blockbusters such as American Graffiti
, Grease
, Forrest Gump
, Lilo & Stitch
, A Few Good Men
, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
singer
Big Mama Thornton
's biggest hit was Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
's "Hound Dog," which she recorded at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles on August 13, 1952. Thornton’s "Hound Dog" was the first record Leiber and Stoller produced themselves. They took over the session because their work had sometimes been misrepresented, and on this one they knew how they wanted the drums to sound; Johnny Otis
produced the record and played drums on the recording. This 1953 Peacock Records
release (#1612) was number one on the Billboard rhythm and blues
charts for seven weeks. Otis received a writing credit on all 6 of the 1953 pressings. However, in 1957 Otis' claim to have co-written the song with Leiber and Stoller was dismissed in the New York
Federal Court
.
Thornton gave this account of how the original was created to Ralph J. Gleason
. “They were just a couple of kids, and they had this song written on the back of a paper bag.” She added a few interjections of her own, played around with the rhythm (some of the choruses have thirteen rather than twelve bars), and had the band bark and howl like hound dogs at the end of the song. In fact, she interacts constantly in a call and response fashion during a one minute long guitar "solo" by Pete Lewis. Her vocals include lines such as: "Aw, listen to that ole hound dog howl...OOOOoooow," "Now wag your tail," and "Aw, get it, get it, get it."
Thornton's delivery has flexible phrasing making use of micro-inflections and syncopations. Over a steady backbeat, she starts out singing each line as one long upbeat. When the words change from "You ain't nothin' but a HOUND Dog," she begins to shift the downbeat around: "You TOLD me you was high-class / but I can SEE through that, You ain't NOTHIN' but a hound dog." Each has a focal accent which is never repeated.
Johnny Otis
, Pete Lewis, and bassist Albert Winston are listed as "Kansas City Bill & Orchestra" on the Peacock record labels. Habanera and Habanera-mambo variations can be found in this recording.
Billboard reviewed the record on March 14 as a new record to watch, calling it "a wild and exciting rhumba blues" with "infectious backing that rocks all the way".
Six versions of the song were recorded on several different labels by "country" groups the very next month (April 1953):
suspected that "Hound Dog" could potentially have greater appeal, and asked Freddie Bell of Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
to rewrite the lyrics to appeal to a broader radio audience. "Snoopin' round my door" was replaced with "cryin' all the time," and "You can wag your tail, but I ain't gonna feed you no more" was replaced by "You ain't never caught a rabbit, and you ain't no friend of mine." This new version of "Hound Dog" was recorded on Lowe's Teen Records in 1955 (TEEN 101 with "Move Me Baby" on the flip side, two of four songs the group did with Lowe that year). The regional popularity of this release, along with the group's showmanship, yielded both a tour, and an engagement in the Las Vegas Sands Hotel
's Silver Queen Bar. The Bellboys' Vegas version of the song was a comedy-burlesque with show-stopping va-va-voom choreography. Jerry Leiber, the original lyricist, found these changes irritating, saying that the rewritten words made "no sense".
Others were also performing the song at that time. Bass player Al Rex, who joined Bill Haley and His Comets
in the fall of 1955 told of performing the song when given the spotlight at live performances. "I used to do 'Hound Dog.' Haley would get mad at me if I'd do that. This was even before Presley did it. Haley didn't like those guys from Philadelphia that wrote the song." As Leiber and Stoller were not from Philadelphia (and Haley recorded other Leiber and Stoller songs), Haley was probably referring to Bell and Lowe.
's first, apparently not very successful, appearance in Las Vegas
, as an "extra added attraction," was in the Venus Room of the new Frontier Hotel from April 23 through May 6, 1956. Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
were the hot act in town, and Elvis went to the Sands to take in their show. Elvis not only enjoyed the show, but also loved their reworking of "Hound Dog" and asked Freddie if he had any objections to him recording his own version. By May 16 Elvis had added “Hound Dog” to his live performances. The song was done as comic relief, and Presley based the lyrics, which he sometimes changed, and "gyrations" on what he had seen at the Sands. The song always got a big reaction and became the standard closer.
Drummer D. J. Fontana
put it this way: "We took that from a band we saw in Vegas, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. They were doing the song kinda like that. We went out there every night to watch them. He'd say: 'Let's go watch that band. It's a good band!' That's where he heard 'Hound Dog,' and shortly thereafter he said: 'Let's try that song.'" "Hound Dog" became Elvis and Scotty and Bill's closing number for the first time on May 15, 1956 at Ellis Auditorium in Memphis.
Presley first performed "Hound Dog" to a nationwide television audience on The Milton Berle Show on June 5, 1956, his second appearance with Berle. By this time, Scotty Moore had added a guitar solo, and D.J. Fontana had added a hot drum roll between verses of the song. Presley appeared for the first time on national television sans guitar. Before his death, Berle told an interviewer that he had told Elvis to leave his guitar backstage. "Let 'em see you, son," advised Uncle Miltie.
An upbeat version ended abruptly as Presley threw his arm back, then began to vamp at half tempo, "You ain't-a nuthin' but a hound dog, cuh-crying all the time. You ain't never caught a rabbit..." A final wave signaled the band to stop. Elvis pointed threateningly at the audience, and belted out, "You ain't no friend of mine." Presley's movements during the performance were energetic and exaggerated. The reactions of young women in the studio audience were enthusiastic, as shown on the broadcast.
Over 40,000,000 people saw the performance and the next day controversy exploded. Berle's network received many letters of protest. The various self appointed guardians of public morality
attacked Elvis in the press. TV critics began a merciless campaign against Elvis, making statements that he had a "caterwauling voice and nonsense lyrics" and was an "influence on juvenile delinquency," (despite the fact that when he started the movements, most of the audience laughed at it) and began using the nickname, "Elvis the Pelvis".
Elvis next appeared on national television singing "Hound Dog" on The Steve Allen Show
on July 1. Steve Allen
wrote: "When I booked Elvis, I naturally had no interest in just presenting him vaudeville-style and letting him do his spot as he might in concert. Instead we worked him into the comedy fabric of our program...We certainly didn't inhibit Elvis' then-notorious pelvic gyrations, but I think the fact that he had on formal evening attire made him, purely on his own, slightly alter his presentation."
As Allen was notoriously contemptuous of rock 'n' roll music and songs such as "Hound Dog," he smirkingly presented Elvis "with a roll that looks exactly like a large roll of toilet paper with, says Allen, the 'signatures of eight thousand fans,'" and the singer had to wear a tuxedo while singing an abbreviated version of Hound Dog to an actual top hat
-wearing Basset Hound
. Although by most accounts Presley was a good sport about it, according to Scotty Moore, the next morning they were all angry about their treatment the previous night.
The morning after the Steve Allen Show performance, the studio version was recorded for RCA Victor by Elvis' regular band of Scotty Moore
on lead guitar (with Elvis usually providing rhythm guitar), Bill Black
on bass, D. J. Fontana
on drums, and backing vocals from the Jordanaires
. Presley recorded this version along with "Don't Be Cruel
" and "Any Way You Want Me" on July 2, 1956, at RCA
's New York City
studio. The producing credit was given to RCA's Steve Sholes, however the studio recordings reveal that Elvis produced the songs (as well as most of the RCA recording sessions) himself, which is verified by the band members. Presley insisted on getting the song exactly the way he wanted it, recording 31 takes of the song.
"Hound Dog" (G2WW-5935) was initially released as the B-side
to the single "Don't Be Cruel
" (G2WW-5936) on July 13, 1956. Both sides of the record topped the charts independently, a rare feat. The single also topped all three extant Billboard charts
: pop, country & western, and rhythm & blues, the first record in history to do so. Later reissues of the single by RCA in the 1960s designated the pair as double-A-sided.
On September 9, with the song topping the US charts, Presley performed an abbreviated version of "Hound Dog" on The Ed Sullivan Show
hosted by Charles Laughton
. After performing "Ready Teddy," he introduced the song with the following statement, "Friends, as a great philosopher once said..." Elvis's first time on the Sullivan show was an event that drew some 60 million TV viewers. During his second Sullivan show appearance, October 28, he introduced the song thusly (although unable to keep a straight face). "Ladies and gentlemen, could I have your attention please. Ah, I'd like to tell you we’re going to do a sad song for you. This song here is one of the saddest songs we’ve ever heard. It really tells a story, friends. Beautiful lyrics. It goes something like this." He then launched into a full version of the song. Elvis was shown in full during this performance. Again, Presley drew more than 60 million viewers.
Presley's "Hound Dog" sold over 4 million copies in the United States
on its first release. It was his best selling single and starting in July 1956, it spent a record eleven weeks at #1. It stayed in the #1 spot until it was replaced by "Love Me Tender
," also recorded by Elvis.
In March 2005, Q magazine placed Presley's version at No. 55 in its list of the Q Magazine's 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. Rolling Stone
magazine ranked it No. 19 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the highest ranked of Presley's eleven entries.
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...
and originally recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton
Big Mama Thornton
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...
in 1952. Other early versions illustrate the differences among blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
in the mid-1950s. The 1956 remake by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
is the best-known version; it is his version that is No. 19 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "Hound Dog" was also recorded by five country singers in 1953 alone, and over 26 times through 1964. From the 1970s onward, the song has appeared, or is heard, as a part of the soundtrack in numerous films, most notably in blockbusters such as American Graffiti
American Graffiti
American Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...
, Grease
Grease (film)
Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway...
, Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
, Lilo & Stitch
Lilo & Stitch
This article is about the movie. For the television series, see Lilo & Stitch: The Series.Lilo & Stitch is a 2002 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released on June 21, 2002...
, A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men (film)
A Few Good Men is a 1992 drama film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore. It was adapted for the screen by Aaron Sorkin from his play of the same name. A courtroom drama, the film revolves around the trial of two U.S...
, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Big Mama Thornton version
The bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
Big Mama Thornton
Big Mama Thornton
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...
's biggest hit was Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...
's "Hound Dog," which she recorded at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles on August 13, 1952. Thornton’s "Hound Dog" was the first record Leiber and Stoller produced themselves. They took over the session because their work had sometimes been misrepresented, and on this one they knew how they wanted the drums to sound; Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis is an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario.He is commonly referred to as The Godfather Of Rhythm And Blues.-Personal life:Otis, the son of Alexander...
produced the record and played drums on the recording. This 1953 Peacock Records
Peacock Records
Peacock Records was a record label started in 1949 by Don D. Robey in Houston, Texas."Hound Dog" by Big Mama Thornton was a bit hit for Peacock in 1953. Other significant rhythm & blues artists on Peacock were Marie Adams, James Booker, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Little Richard, Memphis Slim, and...
release (#1612) was number one on the Billboard rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
charts for seven weeks. Otis received a writing credit on all 6 of the 1953 pressings. However, in 1957 Otis' claim to have co-written the song with Leiber and Stoller was dismissed in the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Federal Court
United States federal courts
The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
.
Thornton gave this account of how the original was created to Ralph J. Gleason
Ralph J. Gleason
Ralph Joseph Gleason was an influential American jazz and pop music critic. He contributed for many years to the San Francisco Chronicle, was a founding editor of Rolling Stone magazine, and cofounder of the Monterey Jazz Festival.-Biography:Gleason was born in New York City and attended Columbia...
. “They were just a couple of kids, and they had this song written on the back of a paper bag.” She added a few interjections of her own, played around with the rhythm (some of the choruses have thirteen rather than twelve bars), and had the band bark and howl like hound dogs at the end of the song. In fact, she interacts constantly in a call and response fashion during a one minute long guitar "solo" by Pete Lewis. Her vocals include lines such as: "Aw, listen to that ole hound dog howl...OOOOoooow," "Now wag your tail," and "Aw, get it, get it, get it."
Thornton's delivery has flexible phrasing making use of micro-inflections and syncopations. Over a steady backbeat, she starts out singing each line as one long upbeat. When the words change from "You ain't nothin' but a HOUND Dog," she begins to shift the downbeat around: "You TOLD me you was high-class / but I can SEE through that, You ain't NOTHIN' but a hound dog." Each has a focal accent which is never repeated.
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis is an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario.He is commonly referred to as The Godfather Of Rhythm And Blues.-Personal life:Otis, the son of Alexander...
, Pete Lewis, and bassist Albert Winston are listed as "Kansas City Bill & Orchestra" on the Peacock record labels. Habanera and Habanera-mambo variations can be found in this recording.
Billboard reviewed the record on March 14 as a new record to watch, calling it "a wild and exciting rhumba blues" with "infectious backing that rocks all the way".
1953 country versions
With a published review by March 14, "Hound Dog" inspired a knock off version recorded within a week.- Charlie Gore & Louis Innis (You Ain't Nothin but a Female) Hound Dog (King 3587) - recorded March 22, 1953 King Recording Studio, 1540 Brewster Ave., Cincinnati, OH retrieved 6.8.2011
Six versions of the song were recorded on several different labels by "country" groups the very next month (April 1953):
- Billy Starr label shot sample
- Tommy DuncanTommy DuncanThomas Elmer Duncan , better known as Tommy Duncan, was a pioneering American Western swing vocalist and songwriter who gained fame in the 1930s as a founding member of The Texas Playboys...
label shot sample - Eddie Hazelwood label shot sample
- Jack Turner and His Granger County Gang label shotsample
- Cleve Jackson label shot
- Betsy Gay (Intro 45-6070) listing and sample
Bernie Lowe, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
Bernie LoweBernie Lowe
Bernie Lowe was an American songwriter / record producer / arranger / pianist and bandleader.Born Bernard Lowenthal in Philadelphia, Lowe started Teen Records and in 1955 was working with Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. He asked Freddie Bell to rewrite the lyrics of "Hound Dog" to appeal to a...
suspected that "Hound Dog" could potentially have greater appeal, and asked Freddie Bell of Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
Freddie Bell and the Bellboys were an American vocal group, influential in the development of rock and roll in the 1950s.-Career:Ferdinando Dominick Bello was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Italian American parents. He became a trombonist, bassist, drummer, and singer, playing in various...
to rewrite the lyrics to appeal to a broader radio audience. "Snoopin' round my door" was replaced with "cryin' all the time," and "You can wag your tail, but I ain't gonna feed you no more" was replaced by "You ain't never caught a rabbit, and you ain't no friend of mine." This new version of "Hound Dog" was recorded on Lowe's Teen Records in 1955 (TEEN 101 with "Move Me Baby" on the flip side, two of four songs the group did with Lowe that year). The regional popularity of this release, along with the group's showmanship, yielded both a tour, and an engagement in the Las Vegas Sands Hotel
Sands Hotel
The Sands Hotel was a historic Las Vegas Strip hotel/casino that operated from December 15, 1952 to June 30, 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, the Sands was the seventh resort that opened on the Strip....
's Silver Queen Bar. The Bellboys' Vegas version of the song was a comedy-burlesque with show-stopping va-va-voom choreography. Jerry Leiber, the original lyricist, found these changes irritating, saying that the rewritten words made "no sense".
Others were also performing the song at that time. Bass player Al Rex, who joined Bill Haley and His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
in the fall of 1955 told of performing the song when given the spotlight at live performances. "I used to do 'Hound Dog.' Haley would get mad at me if I'd do that. This was even before Presley did it. Haley didn't like those guys from Philadelphia that wrote the song." As Leiber and Stoller were not from Philadelphia (and Haley recorded other Leiber and Stoller songs), Haley was probably referring to Bell and Lowe.
Elvis Presley TV performances and recording
Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's first, apparently not very successful, appearance in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, as an "extra added attraction," was in the Venus Room of the new Frontier Hotel from April 23 through May 6, 1956. Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
Freddie Bell and the Bellboys were an American vocal group, influential in the development of rock and roll in the 1950s.-Career:Ferdinando Dominick Bello was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Italian American parents. He became a trombonist, bassist, drummer, and singer, playing in various...
were the hot act in town, and Elvis went to the Sands to take in their show. Elvis not only enjoyed the show, but also loved their reworking of "Hound Dog" and asked Freddie if he had any objections to him recording his own version. By May 16 Elvis had added “Hound Dog” to his live performances. The song was done as comic relief, and Presley based the lyrics, which he sometimes changed, and "gyrations" on what he had seen at the Sands. The song always got a big reaction and became the standard closer.
Drummer D. J. Fontana
D. J. Fontana
Dominic Joseph Fontana is an American musician best known as the drummer for Elvis Presley for 14 years. He played on over 460 RCA cuts with Elvis....
put it this way: "We took that from a band we saw in Vegas, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. They were doing the song kinda like that. We went out there every night to watch them. He'd say: 'Let's go watch that band. It's a good band!' That's where he heard 'Hound Dog,' and shortly thereafter he said: 'Let's try that song.'" "Hound Dog" became Elvis and Scotty and Bill's closing number for the first time on May 15, 1956 at Ellis Auditorium in Memphis.
Presley first performed "Hound Dog" to a nationwide television audience on The Milton Berle Show on June 5, 1956, his second appearance with Berle. By this time, Scotty Moore had added a guitar solo, and D.J. Fontana had added a hot drum roll between verses of the song. Presley appeared for the first time on national television sans guitar. Before his death, Berle told an interviewer that he had told Elvis to leave his guitar backstage. "Let 'em see you, son," advised Uncle Miltie.
An upbeat version ended abruptly as Presley threw his arm back, then began to vamp at half tempo, "You ain't-a nuthin' but a hound dog, cuh-crying all the time. You ain't never caught a rabbit..." A final wave signaled the band to stop. Elvis pointed threateningly at the audience, and belted out, "You ain't no friend of mine." Presley's movements during the performance were energetic and exaggerated. The reactions of young women in the studio audience were enthusiastic, as shown on the broadcast.
Over 40,000,000 people saw the performance and the next day controversy exploded. Berle's network received many letters of protest. The various self appointed guardians of public morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
attacked Elvis in the press. TV critics began a merciless campaign against Elvis, making statements that he had a "caterwauling voice and nonsense lyrics" and was an "influence on juvenile delinquency," (despite the fact that when he started the movements, most of the audience laughed at it) and began using the nickname, "Elvis the Pelvis".
Elvis next appeared on national television singing "Hound Dog" on The Steve Allen Show
The Steve Allen Show
The Steve Allen Show is an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, from September 1961 to December 1961 on ABC, and in first-run syndication from 1962 to 1964....
on July 1. Steve Allen
Steve Allen
Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
wrote: "When I booked Elvis, I naturally had no interest in just presenting him vaudeville-style and letting him do his spot as he might in concert. Instead we worked him into the comedy fabric of our program...We certainly didn't inhibit Elvis' then-notorious pelvic gyrations, but I think the fact that he had on formal evening attire made him, purely on his own, slightly alter his presentation."
As Allen was notoriously contemptuous of rock 'n' roll music and songs such as "Hound Dog," he smirkingly presented Elvis "with a roll that looks exactly like a large roll of toilet paper with, says Allen, the 'signatures of eight thousand fans,'" and the singer had to wear a tuxedo while singing an abbreviated version of Hound Dog to an actual top hat
Top hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
-wearing Basset Hound
Basset Hound
The Basset Hound is a short-legged breed of dog of the hound family. They are scent hounds, bred to hunt rabbits and hare by scent. Their sense of smell for tracking is second only to that of the Bloodhound....
. Although by most accounts Presley was a good sport about it, according to Scotty Moore, the next morning they were all angry about their treatment the previous night.
The morning after the Steve Allen Show performance, the studio version was recorded for RCA Victor by Elvis' regular band of Scotty Moore
Scotty Moore
Winfield Scott "Scotty" Moore III is an American guitarist. He is best known for his backing of Elvis Presley in the first part of his career, between 1954 and the beginning of Elvis' Hollywood years...
on lead guitar (with Elvis usually providing rhythm guitar), Bill Black
Bill Black
William Patton "Bill" Black, Jr. was an American musician who is noted as one of the pioneers of rockabilly music. Black was the bassist in Elvis Presley's early trio and the leader of Bill Black's Combo....
on bass, D. J. Fontana
D. J. Fontana
Dominic Joseph Fontana is an American musician best known as the drummer for Elvis Presley for 14 years. He played on over 460 RCA cuts with Elvis....
on drums, and backing vocals from the Jordanaires
The Jordanaires
The Jordanaires are an American vocal quartet, which formed as a gospel group in 1948. They are best known for providing vocal background for Elvis Presley, in live appearances and recordings from 1956 to 1972...
. Presley recorded this version along with "Don't Be Cruel
Don't Be Cruel
-Legacy:"Don't Be Cruel" went on to become Presley's biggest selling single recorded in 1956, with sales over six million by 1961. It became a regular feature of his live sets until his death in 1977, and was often coupled with "Jailhouse Rock" or "Teddy Bear" during performances from 1969.Many...
" and "Any Way You Want Me" on July 2, 1956, at RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
's New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
studio. The producing credit was given to RCA's Steve Sholes, however the studio recordings reveal that Elvis produced the songs (as well as most of the RCA recording sessions) himself, which is verified by the band members. Presley insisted on getting the song exactly the way he wanted it, recording 31 takes of the song.
"Hound Dog" (G2WW-5935) was initially released as the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
to the single "Don't Be Cruel
Don't Be Cruel
-Legacy:"Don't Be Cruel" went on to become Presley's biggest selling single recorded in 1956, with sales over six million by 1961. It became a regular feature of his live sets until his death in 1977, and was often coupled with "Jailhouse Rock" or "Teddy Bear" during performances from 1969.Many...
" (G2WW-5936) on July 13, 1956. Both sides of the record topped the charts independently, a rare feat. The single also topped all three extant Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
: pop, country & western, and rhythm & blues, the first record in history to do so. Later reissues of the single by RCA in the 1960s designated the pair as double-A-sided.
On September 9, with the song topping the US charts, Presley performed an abbreviated version of "Hound Dog" on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
hosted by Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
. After performing "Ready Teddy," he introduced the song with the following statement, "Friends, as a great philosopher once said..." Elvis's first time on the Sullivan show was an event that drew some 60 million TV viewers. During his second Sullivan show appearance, October 28, he introduced the song thusly (although unable to keep a straight face). "Ladies and gentlemen, could I have your attention please. Ah, I'd like to tell you we’re going to do a sad song for you. This song here is one of the saddest songs we’ve ever heard. It really tells a story, friends. Beautiful lyrics. It goes something like this." He then launched into a full version of the song. Elvis was shown in full during this performance. Again, Presley drew more than 60 million viewers.
Presley's "Hound Dog" sold over 4 million copies in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on its first release. It was his best selling single and starting in July 1956, it spent a record eleven weeks at #1. It stayed in the #1 spot until it was replaced by "Love Me Tender
Love Me Tender (song)
"Love Me Tender" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and published by Elvis Presley Music, adapted from the tune of "Aura Lee" , a sentimental Civil War ballad.- History :...
," also recorded by Elvis.
In March 2005, Q magazine placed Presley's version at No. 55 in its list of the Q Magazine's 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine ranked it No. 19 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the highest ranked of Presley's eleven entries.
In popular culture
- The song appears in the 2005 Elvis Presley biopic Elvis, where it shows him performing the song on The Milton Berle Show.
- In the 19941994 in film1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...
film Forrest GumpForrest GumpForrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
, Forrest remembers a time when a young man stays at his home and brings a guitar with him. Forrest dances to his playing of this song. It is shown in the next scene that this man was indeed Elvis Presley. This scene also suggests that Forrest's peculiar dancing (due to the braces he wears on his legs) inspired Elvis's famous dance. Forrest's mother responds negatively after seeing it performed on The Milton Berle Show on a television set in a shop window, a possible reference to the complaints after Presley performed the song in real life. - "Hound Dog" was sung by Eddie Clendening, portraying Elvis Presley, in the Broadway musical Million Dollar Quartet, which opened in New York in April 2010. Eddie Clendening also covered the song in the Million Dollar Quartet original Broadway cast recording (copyright 2010 MDQ Merchandising, LLC).
- The song was included in the musical revue Smokey Joe's CafeSmokey Joe's CafeSmokey Joe's Cafe is a musical revue showcasing 39 pop standards, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues songs written by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller...
.
Partial list of "cover" versions of "Hound Dog"
- Freddie Bell & his Bell BoysFreddie Bell and the BellboysFreddie Bell and the Bellboys were an American vocal group, influential in the development of rock and roll in the 1950s.-Career:Ferdinando Dominick Bello was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Italian American parents. He became a trombonist, bassist, drummer, and singer, playing in various...
. Re-recorded for Mercury 1956 and released 1957 on the album Rock´n Roll All Flavors - John EntwistleJohn EntwistleJohn Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...
(bassist of The WhoThe WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
)—from his 1973 rock'n'roll album Rigor Mortis Sets InRigor Mortis Sets InRigor Mortis Sets In is the third solo album by John Entwistle, bassist for The Who. Co-produced with John Alcock, it consists of rock and roll classic covers, new versions of Entwistle songs and new tracks.... - Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
—from BBC Sessions (The Jimi Hendrix Experience album) - Jimi Hendrix & Little RichardLittle RichardRichard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
—from the 1972 "duet" album Friends From The BeginningFriends from the Beginning - Little Richard and Jimi HendrixFriends from the Beginning – Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix was Little Richard's eighteenth album release containing new material. Although most of the tracks present had been available on albums dating as far back as September 1964, the album did contain six new tracks *not* from the Vee-Jay... - The Everly Brothers—from their Rock 'n Soul album
- Jerry Lee LewisJerry Lee LewisJerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
(his 1958 version is similar to the Freddie Bell / Elvis version whereas his 1959 version is based on the blues original by Thornton. His live versions have tended to mix elements of both versions). - John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
—from one of his last charity concerts in New York, 1972. - Royal Artillery Alanbrooke Band
- Billy "Crash" Craddock—recorded on his album Live! 1977
- The MuppetsThe MuppetsThe Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...
--an episode of The Muppet ShowThe Muppet ShowThe Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
. - Johnny Burnette Trio
- Recorded live by The Rolling StonesThe Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
in Memphis, Tennessee on June 28, 1978 - Willy DeVilleWilly DeVilleWilly DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five year career, first with his band Mink DeVille and later on his own, Deville created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary...
on his 2002 album Acoustic Trio Live in BerlinAcoustic Trio Live in BerlinAcoustic Trio Live in Berlin is a 2002 album by Willy DeVille. The album consists of concert recordings made in Berlin to celebrate DeVille’s 25 years’ of performing, and concert recordings made in Stockholm... - Robert Palmer recorded the original lyric version for his 2003 blues album DriveDrive (Robert Palmer album)Drive is a 2003 album by British musician Robert Palmer, and his last album before his death.Although Drive was released in 2003, all work on the project was completed by November 2002. The release date had to be delayed due to the length of the recording...
- Tales of TerrorTales of Terror (band)Tales of Terror was a Sacramento punk rock band which was active from 1982 until 1986. The band released a self-titled LP in 1984 on the label CD Presents. The LP is rare, and no CD version has been released. Tales of Terror played sleazy, sloppy, raucous California punk in the vein of the Stooges...
recorded for their EP in 1984 - Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps Live from a Alan Freed radio show in July, 1956
- Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
on his album JourneymanJourneyman (album)Journeyman is an album by blues/rock musician Eric Clapton, released in 1989.The album has an electronic sound, mostly influenced by the '80s rock scene, but it also had blues songs like "Before You Accuse Me", "Running On Faith", and "Hard Times"... - Bernie MarsdenBernie Marsden-External links:*...
, Ian PaiceIan PaiceIan Anderson Paice is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the English rock band Deep Purple. As of Jon Lord's departure in 2002, he is the only founding member of the band who never stopped performing with the group, and the only member to appear on every album the band has...
, Neil MurrayNeil Murray (British musician)Philip Neil Murray is a Scottish bass player, best known for his work in Whitesnake and Black Sabbath.-Early days:Originally a drummer, Murray formed his first band with school friends in 1967 and his musical tastes were heavily influenced by the mid-1960s 'blues boom' bands and musicians,...
, and Don AireyDon AireyDonald Airey has been the keyboardist in the rock band Deep Purple since 2002, succeeding Jon Lord...
during an Ian Paice and Friends concert - A version by Albert KingAlbert KingAlbert King was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing.-Career:...
appears on The Best of Albert King, Vol 1 by Stax released in 1986 - Jeff BeckJeff BeckGeoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
& Jed Leiber, an instrumental version appeared on the audio album Honeymoon in VegasHoneymoon in VegasHoneymoon in Vegas is a 1992 comedy film directed by Andrew Bergman and starring Nicolas Cage, James Caan and Sarah Jessica Parker.-Plot:...
—Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992) - Koko TaylorKoko TaylorKoko Taylor sometimes spelled KoKo Taylor was an American Chicago blues musician, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues." She was known primarily for her rough, powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings....
on her Force of NatureForce of Nature (Koko Taylor Album)Force of Nature is a blues album by Koko Taylor, released in 1993 by Alligator Records.-Track listing:# "Mother Nature" – 4:41# "If I Can't Be First" – 3:40# "Hound Dog" – 5:33...
album in 1993 - James TaylorJames TaylorJames Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
on his CoversCovers (James Taylor album)Covers is the sixteenth album and the first "covers" album by singer-songwriter James Taylor, released on September 30, 2008. The album was recorded by Taylor's regular touring band. Some of the tunes Taylor had been performing off and on in concerts for years, while others were new to his repertoire...
album in 2008 - Eddie Clendening on Million Dollar Quartet original Broadway cast recording, 2010
- El VezEl VezEl Vez is the stage name of Robert Lopez, a Mexican-American rock and roll artist, who performs and records original material and covers classic rock songs...
, as "You Ain't Nothin' But A Chihuahua"
External links
- Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys samples
- Presley sample
- Elvis on National TV in the '50s - Interview with Milton Berle + Interview with Larry Auerbach—A Thornton performance of "Hound Dog" can been seen at this URL
- Elvis fans' comments and feelings about Hound Dog song