Hound Dog
by Elvis Presley
- 172
- BPM
- C major
- Key
- 8B
- Camelot
- 36
- Danceability
- 74
- Acousticness
Big Mama Thornton recorded "Hound Dog" at Radio Recorders Annex in Los Angeles on August 13, 1952, a day after Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote it. The two, both 19, were producing for the first time. The drummer was not getting the feel that Johnny Otis had set in rehearsal, so they talked Otis into playing drums himself, and he used the name "Kansas City Bill" on the record. In rehearsal Thornton had crooned it as a ballad. When Leiber objected, she told him not to tell her how to sing the blues. He sang it himself to show what they wanted, and she followed.
Leiber and Stoller had written it in 12 to 15 minutes, with Leiber scribbling the words in the car. Peacock Records released Thornton's version in late February 1953. It sold more than 500,000 copies and spent seven weeks at number 1 on the R&B chart.
Elvis Presley recorded his own version in July 1956. It sold about 10 million copies worldwide and was number 1 on the US pop, country and R&B charts at once. It stayed on top of the pop chart for 11 weeks, a record that stood for 36 years.
Hound Dog runs at 172 BPM, the tempo of drum and bass and jungle. In classical terms it sits in vivace territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.4 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 349 ms. It is in C major, Camelot 8B, which shares its notes with A minor and mixes cleanly with F major and G major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.