Originally Posted By: Danny C.
Hound Dog - Big Mama Thornton's is IMHO light years better than Elvis' version.

OK, here come the Elvis fans. :>

Later,


Elvis fan (more with each passing year) coming out of the woodwork!

I agree with you; Big Mama Thornton's version is light years better than Elvis' version!

Some info that I picked up along the way: (Many sources, but probably initially "Rockabilly Road Trip", a radio show.) Wikipedia has a detailed history of the song. (BTW, Wikipedia calls "Hound Dog" Elvis' biggest seller, ignoring the fact that the flip side was "Don't Be Cruel", which spent more weeks at #1, and was on the charts longer than "Hound Dog".)

"Hound Dog" was written for Big Mama Thornton by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. One can argue that they had an emotional attachment because it was their first big hit.

They hated the Elvis version. Then the royalty checks started coming in. But more importantly they got entre to Elvis, something that worked out great for Elvis and Leiber/Stoller.

Turns out that Elvis didn't really cover Big Mama Thornton, per se.

When Elvis played Las Vegas the first time in 1956 (a massive failure, the older casino crowds weren't ready for him), he saw Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, a group from Philadelphia. He kept going back, many times.

Freddie played a rockabilly version of "Hound Dog"; it was this version that "got covered". Freddie had cleaned up the lyrics for radio. Elvis recorded it almost immediately.

"Hound Dog" Elvis Presley 1956

Cover


"Hound Dog" Freddie Bell and the Bellboys (1956 ???)

This is not Freddie Bell's original recorded version. Included because who knows how they were performing the song in 1956 when Elvis saw them; also for a photo of the group.

Cover


"Hound Dog" Freddie Bell and the Bellboys 1955 single version

Cover


"Hound Dog" Big Mama Thornton 1953 single

This record had been out for 3 (!!!) years when Elvis recorded "Hound Dog". Big Mama Thornton didn't sell less because of Elvis; she sold far more.
Freddie Bell, on the other hand...

Original


Post-mortem (unrelated): I saw an interview with a very old guy, one of the Four Aces.

(The Four Aces had mostly ballad hits, harmonized, in the early 1950's. "Sin", "Stranger In Paradise", "Three Coins In A Fountain", "Melody Of Love", and "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" were each #1 records for them.)


Elvis also went to see the Four Aces when he was in Las Vegas in 1956. He sat in the front row. He asked if he could sing with them.

Reluctantly they said yes.

This man spoke glowingly of Elvis. He said that Elvis knew every part to every song the Four Aces sang!

Elvis Presley was a musical sponge. He may not have had formal training, but he was an incredible musician nonetheless.