What instruments are used in Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton? A Step-by-Step Guide

Who played guitar on Hound Dog?

It comes 1min 21sec into Elvis Presley’s 1956 hit Hound Dog and it is played by Scotty Moore, the guitarist who accompanied Presley, bassist Bill Black and drummer DJ Fontana through the early part of the King’s career.

Thornton later stated that she made additions, mainly yells and screams punctuating the risqué lyrics. In 1990, Leiber admitted to Rolling Stone that the title phrase actually denoted “You ain’t nothin’ but a motherfucker,” an attitude which Thornton perfectly replicated. Strangely, Peacock subsequently decided to shelve the track, so Thornton quickly forgot about “Hound Dog.”

Imagine her surprise when she turned on the radio a short time later and heard her version of “Hound Dog.” “I just had to rush out to the store and buy it. Then I had to buy a record player cause I didn’t own one and sit in my dressing room, playing the record and learning the song all over again so I could include it in my show,” Thornton recalled to NME. At just 25 years old, Thornton had scored a smash hit, with the single selling almost two million copies.

According to Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography, Mike Stoller received a call from Johnny Otis, a performer, producer, and talent scout who greatly impacted R&B as well as rock. Otis had received marching orders from Don Robey, the head of Peacock and Ace Records concerning labelmate Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, a hard-living singer, drummer, and harmonica player who badly needed a hit. Otis invited Stoller and songwriting partner Jerry Leiber to hear the singer rehearse. Once they heard her powerful voice, they instantly agreed to write her a song. “I saw Big Mama as the perfect instrument for just the kind of deadly blues that Mike and I relished,” Leiber wrote. In just a few minutes, the duo had composed “Hound Dog” and brought it to the singer. At first, Thornton tried singing it as a ballad, but after Leiber demonstrated the bluesy feel he desired, “she heard the rough-and-tough of the song and, just as important, the implicit sexual humor. In short, she got it,” according to Stoller.

In April 1956, Presley found himself in an unfamiliar situation. While he had experienced great chart success at that point, his two-week run at Las Vegas’ Frontier Hotel was proving to be a flop. Unlike screaming teenage fans, adults appeared immune to the young star’s charisma. After another dreary show, Presley decided to take in a show by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys at a neighboring hotel. There he witnessed the group’s rocked-out version of “Hound Dog.” Presley cracked up at what he deemed were silly lyrics, but expressed interest in the track. On July 2, 1956, he entered RCA Studios to record “Hound Dog,” closely following Freddie Bell and the Bellboys’ arrangement. However, he elected to change some of the lyrics, adding lines such as “you ain’t never caught a rabbit, and you ain’t no friend of mine” (this particular lyric may have originated from Bell). Other changes included substituting Thornton’s “Well they said you was high class, I can see through that” with “Well they said you was high class, but that was just a lie.”

Mention the words “Hound Dog,” and inevitably an of a pelvis-swiveling Elvis Presley leaps to mind. Four years before Presley would croon the song to a bored basset hound on the Steve Allen Show on July 1, 1956, a bawdy blues singer named Big Mama Thornton first sang the track. Her version, which exuded female empowerment and ownership of sexuality, sounded even more daring than Presley’s relatively tame reworking. In addition, the track would help launch the careers of its songwriters, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Most importantly, “Hound Dog” demonstrates the tremendous role R&B played in early rock ’n roll, both in sound and theme.

What is the tempo of Hound Dog by Elvis Presley?

Hound Dog is avery happysong byElvis Presleywith a tempo of87 BPM.It can also be used double-time at 174 BPM.

Hound Dog – Big Mama Thornton Cover

The most apparent difference between the two versions of the song “Hound Dog” is that Big Mama Thornton’s version is slower, characteristic of blues, while Elvis Presley’s cover is a classic example of upbeat rock-and-roll. It is faster and does not have the interlude in the middle as the original does. Additionally, the cover, as relayed by Elvis Presley (2013), introduces the extra line “You ain’t never caught a rabbit, you ain’t no friend of mine” that is absent in the version provided by warholsoup100 (2011). This sentence is indicative of the shift in the song’s meaning, with Elvis taking its name more literally while Big Mama Thornton was singing about a gigolo pursuing her. To my taste, the original version sounds better because I have listened to more rock’n’roll than blues, and Elvis’s version, while foundational to the genre, no longer sounds fresh.

In terms of fidelity, the recording of Big Mama Thornton’s song sounds less clear, though the effect created is not necessarily negative, as the distortions create a warmer sound. Elvis’s version is crisper, which is particularly apparent if one compares the clapping accompaniment present in both versions. It is also considerably higher in volume, though overall, both songs maintain consistent sound levels internally throughout their entire duration. Elvis’s song has both increased sound density due to the number of instruments used and overall higher loudness to create this difference. Lastly, both the instruments and the vocals in Big Mama Thornton’s version are lower-pitched than the cover by Elvis, which is overall brighter. I still struggle to find signs of editing in either song, though, considering their time period, likely not much of it was done.

IvyPanda. (2022, July 11). “Hound Dog” Song by Big Mama Thornton and Elvis Presley. Retrieved from https://ivypanda.com/essays/hound-dog-song-by-big-mama-thornton-and-elvis-presley/

1. IvyPanda. “”Hound Dog” Song by Big Mama Thornton and Elvis Presley.” July 11, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hound-dog-song-by-big-mama-thornton-and-elvis-presley/.

IvyPanda. 2022. “”Hound Dog” Song by Big Mama Thornton and Elvis Presley.” July 11, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hound-dog-song-by-big-mama-thornton-and-elvis-presley/.

IvyPanda. (2022) “Hound Dog” Song by Big Mama Thornton and Elvis Presley. 11 July. Powered by CiteTotal,