Wow! This is 8 minutes of Sunday boogie time that you do not want to pass up, throw down what you are doing and enjoy this explosion of blues!
Written for Big Mama Thornton by songwriting and record producing partners Jerome ‘Jerry’ Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952, ‘Hound Dog’ became Thornton’s biggest hit spending seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B charts in 1953.
Selling almost two million copies for Big Mama Thornton upon its release, ‘Hound Dog’ was (as we all know) later recorded by Elvis, whose rendition was to receive far greater recognition with sales exceeding 10 million copies globally; still, I know which version I would prefer any day!
Today’s song(s) comes to you with an accompanied visual delight: the live recording of ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Down Home’ where, after BMT finishes singing ‘Hound Dog’, she is then joined by John Lee Hooker, J.B Lenoir, Walter ‘Shakey’ Horton, and Doc Ross for a blues harmonica jam at the 1965 American Folk Blues Festival..it’s wondrous!
thelisteningpostblog.wordpress.com 