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Stoller also defends Presley against charges of cultural appropriation, accusations he says would be more appropriately leveled at Pat Boone, who did truly execrable and whitewashed versions of songs like Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti.” “Pat Boone didn’t really love the music,” says Stoller. “He was just trying to make a buck off of it.”
On the episode, Stoller tells the whole story of “Hound Dog” and explains why, in his opinion, contemporary observers who are convinced Presley “stole” the song from Big Mama Thornton are misguided. For one thing, while Presley was well aware of Thornton’s version of the song, his rendition was directly inspired by yet another iteration of “Hound Dog,” by the group Freddie Bell and the Bellboys — and he uses their musical and lyrical alterations.
That said, while Stoller came to admire Presley’s talents, he never was all that fond of his take on “Hound Dog.” “It didn’t have the groove that Big Mama’s record had, which was fantastic,” says Stoller, who also tells the whole story of the original Thornton studio session for the song. Neither Leiber and Stoller nor Thornton ever got paid much for her version of the song, and Stoller acknowledges that as a tragedy, along with the general lack of cultural recognition for her. “That’s true of not only Big Mama, but of many black performers and songwriters,” he says, noting that he and Leiber “did, on occasion, send her some funds.”
Baz Luhrmann’s box-office-topping new movie Elvis does manage to show the powerhouse singer Big Mama Thornton (played by Shonka Dukureh) performing “Hound Dog,” a song she recorded in 1952, four years before Elvis Presley. But it leaves out two very significant players: songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote “Hound Dog” as teenagers for Thornton, and went on to write “Jailhouse Rock,” “You’re So Square (I Don’t Care),” “Trouble,” and other hits for Presley himself.
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“Hound Dog” co-writer Mike Stoller has refuted claims that Elvis Presley’s version of the classic rock’n’roll song was stolen from Big Mama Thornton.
In an interview with Brain Hiatt for Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Stoller, 89, told the complicated story of “Hound Dog” and suggested that Presley’s version was actually inspired by another group’s rendition of the song.
“Hound Dog”, was originally written by Stoller and his writing partner Jerry Leiber (who died in 2011). It was recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1952 and released by Presley four years later.
Although Presley knew about Thornton’s version, his rendition of “Hound Dog”, however, was based on a version recorded by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, Stoller said.
Their version, released in 1955, had a more simplified chord structure and included alternate lyrics which made the song about a dog, not a man.
When asked if he thought Presley had stolen the song from Thornton, Stoller said “no” and explained that Presley “was doing it pretty much the way they [Freddie Bell and the Bellboys] had written the song and it seemed to be about a dog”.
Some critics have suggested over the years that the problem stems not from the track being stolen, but from the public’s willingness to embrace a song when performed by a white man and not by a Black woman.
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, currently in the cinemas, does include blues singer Thornton (played by Shonka Dukureh), but Stoller and Leiber were left out of the film.
“I didn’t expect anything, so therefore, I was not disappointed in that regard” said Stoller.
He added that he was happy Thornton “was depicted” in the film and that their original rendition (as opposed to the modified version) of “Hound Dog” was performed: “It’s a song that a woman sings to a man, not a man to a dog!” he laughed.
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The writing pair, who went on to write a series of classic songs, including “Stand by Me” for Ben E. King and “Jailhouse Rock”, “King Creole” for Presley, originally wrote “Hound Dog” as teenagers within “15 minutes” of seeing Thornton sing.
Speaking of the first time he saw her perform, Stoller said: “I don’t remember exactly what the song was, but she knocked us out.”
Thornton’s “Hound Dog” was also a big hit in 1953, but the writing pair didn’t get any compensation, and neither did Thornton.
The song’s writing credits weren’t even listed correctly, with Stoller saying: “I was very upset with what happened.”
The pair did eventually get royalties from “Hound Dog” after Presley’s version became a smash hit, but Thornton was left without financial reward.
In the podcast, Hiatt said that Thornton’s lack of recoginton was the tragic result of “systematic racism” and “a business that was quite literally full of theivary”.
Stoller agreed: “That’s true of not only Big Mama, but of many black performers and songwriters.”
Stoller said he preferred Thornton’s “Hound Dog”, commenting that Presley’s version “didn’t have the groove that Big Mama’s record had, which was fantastic”.
The Truth about Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog
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