HOUND DOG

Created on 10/03/2001
Latest update on 14/01/2024

Artist: Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton
Author: Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller
Label: Peacock
Year: 1953

Leiber & Stoller's first big hit, written in 8 minutes flat. Cut in august '52 but remained unissued for copyright reasons. Johnny Otis, who drums on the original and who was about to engage Big Mama Thornton in his revue, added his name along Leiber & Stoller's and Peacock boss Don Robey did the same. The track must have smelled like teen spirit miles across, since it sold 2 million copies before Elvis even heard about it.

Covers:

1953:

Roy Brown [as My Hound Dog's In Town]

1953:

Tommy Duncan [former singer with Bob Wills]

1953:

Rufus Thomas [as Bear Cat (The Answer To Hound Dog); n°3 R&B, the first hit for Sun]

1953:

Rosco Gordon [as Juice Head]

1953:

Smiley Lewis [as Play Girl]

1953:

Billy Starr

1953:

Jimmie Wilson [as Call Me A Hound Dog]

1953:

Jack Turner

1954:

Frank Motley [as New Hound Dog on Big Town]

1955:

Freddie Bell & The Bell Boys [obviously the version Elvis (and his drummer DJ Fontana) knew]

1956:

Elvis Presley [n°1 US, R&B and C&W!]

1956:

Little Richard

1956:

Pee Wee King [produced by Steve Sholes]

1956:

Homer & Jethro [parody on Elvis]

1961:

Chubby Checker

1963:

Betty Everett

1964:

Jerry Lee Lewis

1967:

Jimi Hendrix

1969:

Dale Hawkins

1973:

Uriah Heep

1974:

Sha Na Na

1974:

John Lennon [Live In New York]

1976:

Nighthawks

1978:

Scorpions

1982:

James Booker

1989:

Eric Clapton

1989:

Residents

1992:

Jeff Beck [in film Honeymoon In Vegas]

1993:

Marva Wright

1993:

Koko Taylor

1996:

Don Croissant

2000:

Etta James

2003:

Robert Palmer

2004:

Macy Gray [in film Lightning In A Bottle]

2007:

Shawn Camp & Billy Burnette [The Bluegrass Elvises]

2008:

James Taylor

2017:

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Elvis with cleaned up lyrics, just as his example Freddie Bell: "Snoopin' round my door" became "cryin' all the time" and "You can wag your tail, but I ain't gonna feed you no more" became "You ain't never caught a rabbit, you ain't no friend of mine".

Contact


If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:

Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)

info@originals.be

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