Today in history: Elvis releases "Hound Dog"

I think if you were to ask the general public to name an Elvis Presley song, there is a good chance that Hound Dog might finish somewhere near the top of that list, if not on the very top.

The year was 1956 and Elvis was about to release one of his most popular songs, ever. However, the story behind it is something that I don't think most people know about.

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For starters, Hound Dog isn't an Elvis original, which i suppose in today's times where very few top acts actually write their own music wouldn't be a surprise at all. I was a bit surprised to hear that this song is actually a tune by a little known R & B singer named Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. Unfortunately, she ended up getting very little in the way of royalties from this song.

Also, there were a couple of major things that happened in order for Hound Dog to ever even be recorded by Elvis, and it is rather evident that the producers really hadn't expected it to be a hit. Elvis originally got the idea to cover the song when he had a 2 week show booked in Las Vegas that wasn't doing very well. While teenagers were going "gaga" over him at the time in live shows, the older, rather sedate crowds at his shows in Vegas were finding him boring.

Frustrated, Elvis went out to catch a few shows himself and stumbled upon a group called Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. This group was performing their own version of Hound Dog and Elvis found it both funny and entertaining.

Fast forward a bit and Elvis found himself on a variety show singing "Hound Dog" un-ironically to an actual hound dog.

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Elvis would later say that performing this was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. However, enough people had seen the Steve Allen show that the record executives suggested that they record a rock n roll version of it as a "B-side" for "Don't be Cruel." Never really expecting it to take off.

The success of Hound Dog was immediate and the only thing that kept it from being number one on the charts was the fact that "Don't be Cruel" already was. This is the first time that B-side of a single had been this popular and the only time that both sides of a single had ended up in the #1 spot.

Some of the lyrics were changed from the original recording by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton and it is rumored that Elvis may have actually stolen some (or all) of these lyrical alteration from the Vegas show he witnessed by Frankie Bell and the Bellboys. No one can really confirm this though.

Hound Dog later went on to become the most played jukebox tune of 1956 and to this day is featured on pretty much any compilation of works from the time period.