The background sound clip is the original version of Hound Dog, but more of that
below. Turn it off or back on with the switch above.
The first video is Elvis Presley on the
Steve Allen Show on 1st July 1956, performing I Want You, I Need You, I Love You
and Hound Dog, but most importantly singing to a Basset Hound.
The basset doesn't appear until
4 minutes 40 seconds in, although he can be heard from the start.
Click on the image to start the
video but disable the sound clip first.
She's more than just a hound dog, Bessie
caught a rabbit and she sure's a friend of mine.
Bessie came to stay with us for seven weeks over Christmas
2005. Bessie and Cocoa went out excitedly into the
garden in the evening of Christmas day, Bessie returned with
a rabbit in her mouth.
The Original and the Best
It was a curious choice for Elvis to
record Hound Dog. The song had originally been recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama"
Thornton in 1952 and was number one in the R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953.
In Willie Mae's hands the song is clearly a woman's blues, lamenting
disappointment in love at the realisation her man had no intentions other than to
get from her what he can. Nothing like a Hound really! The song written for her by Jerry Leiber and Mike
Stoller and was the first record they produced. Willie Mae describes them, “They were just a couple of kids, and they had this song written on the
back of a paper bag”.
In 1956 Freddie Bell and the Bellboys opened
a show
starring Elvis in Las Vegas, performing a comedy version of the song. As a
result Elvis recorded it having apparently never heard the original. The
video on the right is not of the original but a live performance by Willie
Mae with musicians from Muddy Waters band, including Buddy Guy, filmed twelve
years later in 1965.
Elvis has the Basset Hound but Willie Mae takes the performing prize for me even
if, distracted by the twist, not quite at her best.
