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Boomer Anthems: Hound Dog

No, not his version. The real version. The Big Mama version.

“Before Elvis sang Hound Dog there was Big Mama Thornton. In 1952, she recorded “Hound Dog” while working with another Peacock artist, Johnny Otis. Hound Dog’s songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were present at the recording, with Leiber demonstrating the song in the vocal style they had envisioned.

The record was produced by Leiber and Stoller as Otis had to play drums after it was found that the original drummer couldn’t play an adequate part. It was the first time Leiber and Stoller produced a recording, which went to number one on the R&B chart. Although the record made Big Mama a star, she saw little of the profits.”

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Anonymous White Male January 15, 2018, 4:13 PM

    Virtue signaling about “authentic” black music? Big Mama’s song sucked. The ONLY thing that ever gave it any life was Presley’s performance.

  • Rob De Witt January 15, 2018, 5:05 PM

    The acme of Western Civilization….

  • Vanderleun January 15, 2018, 7:48 PM

    OH PUHLEASE…. not every thing in this world is political. I know because I incline in that direction myself.

    However, I have noticed that in this season of real and substantial WINNING letting myself paint every little smidgen of a jot of a dot as in some way “political” (Especially something hauled in from the MIDDLE of the PREVIOUS CENTURY!) is not only moronic but it actually reduces my net happiness and joy in my everyday life.

    You want “virtue signalling” ? I suggest you know full well where to go to get a full dose. If of course you are so addicted to sniffing out political correctness and then correcting it that you see it everywhere… well… seek professional help.

    Too much purity is a mistake.

    Seek to become happier.

    It can be done.

    We are
    After all
    WINNNNNNNNNNNNNING.

  • Casey Klahn January 15, 2018, 8:16 PM

    Elvis was fun, but when Big Mama says I’m a hound dog, I believe her!

  • Anonymous January 16, 2018, 8:43 AM

    In the ’30s-’40s I listened to hillbilly music, mostly because my Dad played in hillbilly bands as a weekend hobby, and that’s what we listened to on the radio. Country music hadn’t been born yet, and if it had I wouldn’t have listened to it. By the ’50s hillbilly music had been subsumed by country (Roy Acuff started it), and I switched to R&B (also called race music where I come from) because it seemed genuine. I listened to R&B for a few years until it was overwhelmed by rock and folk. That’s when I quit listening to new music. I’m no musicologist, and that taxonomy may be incorrect, but that’s the way I see it. And I was there.

  • Kevin D January 16, 2018, 10:22 AM

    Her timing was so good it made my hair stand up. Wow!!!

  • Kevin Dickson January 16, 2018, 10:22 AM

    Her timing was so good it made my hair stand up. Wow!!!

  • Kevin D January 16, 2018, 10:22 AM

    Her timing was so good it made my hair stand up. Wow!!!

  • Jim in Alaska January 16, 2018, 12:05 PM

    In spite of what the anomalous shite (OK, my bad, but the guy is, obviously, wrapped a bit too tight.) male says above, if you’ve got an hour and some twenty minutes to spare for some more of Mamma and friends; https://youtu.be/_ATwmyuhmeY

  • Suburbanbanshee January 17, 2018, 10:29 AM

    First off, it’s not the same song. The Elvis version is written for a guy to sing, mocking another guy. Big Mama’s version is about _that_ kind of guy, who she’s already been with.

    Big Mama is a “shouter,” but that’s not a bad thing in a complaint song. Still, it’s obviously a lot more powerful as a song with the female lyrics, whereas it’s just a fun song with the male lyrics.

  • Campesino January 17, 2018, 1:10 PM

    I was born and spent my early years in Jonesboro, Arkansas about 60 miles from Memphis. My parents used to tell me that Elvis and his friends would come over from Memphis in 1953-54 and play for sock-hops at the Jonesboro YMCA gym. Everyone over the age of 21 thought he was a kook who would never amount to anything more than the electrician he was then.