Who played guitar on the Elvis Presley classic ‘Hound Dog’?
Of all the closing numbers Elvis Presley could have chosen for those seminal moments in his career, few come close to capturing the raucous energy and everlasting endurance of The King as ‘Hound Dog’. Written by teenagers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the song is one of the biggest hallmarks of rock ‘n’ roll culture, a heart-thumping anthem that emerged from one of the most defining moments in Presley’s career.
Although it may not seem like it now, Presley wasn’t as popular in the beginning as he was in his peak years, and his stage presence and artistry were often misunderstood by audience members who didn’t quite understand his talent or musical style.
The first time he heard ‘Hound Dog’ was during a performance by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, who’d delivered a faster, rockier version of Big Mama Thornton’s iconic number, changing some of the lyrics and effectively spoofing the entire message of the original.
Presley enjoyed the humour in Bell’s version and began incorporating it into his own sets, though one strange moment on Steve Allen’s Tonight Show unexpectedly changed everything. In an experience Presley later claimed to be the most embarrassing of his entire career, Presley appeared in formal attire to sing ‘Hound Dog’ to a basset hound. For that one appearance, he ditched the iconic dance moves and rocker attitude for something that was, well, not him at all.
And so, in an effort to channel the frustration and disgust he’d felt at such a humiliating experience, Presley took to the studio the following day and recorded ‘Hound Dog’ with more fervour, injecting Thornton’s bluesy original with something far more upbeat and commanding. In fact, when Stoller first heard Presley’s version, he wasn’t very impressed, even though Presley had scored them a hit.
“I heard the record, and I was disappointed,” he later admitted. “It just sounded terribly nervous, too fast, too white. But you know, after it sold seven or eight million records, it started to sound better.”
Who played guitar on Elvis Presley’s ‘Hound Dog’?
The song’s energy stems partially from Presley’s guitarist, Scotty Moore, who played a P-90-equipped Gibson L-5 plugged into a Ray Butts amp on the track. At the start of Moore’s second solo, he achieved a sound other rock stars have been unable to replicate since, with some, like Keith Richards, saying that it even sounded like he randomly “dropped it on the floor and got the perfect sound”.
Funnily enough, though, Moore could never actually remember what he’d done to achieve such a unique sound, effectively pinning the whole thing down to an unexpected stroke of genius. Or, rather accurately, a culmination of complete and utter frustration after what seemed like a million takes in the studio.
“It was just… Sometimes in the studio, you do it too many times, and you go past that peak,” he later reflected. “Like three takes before was really the one you should use. That was it. We had done the thing. I think it was printed somewhere that we did it about 40 or 60.”
He continued, “But if someone was counting it off, just a couple notes and we stop, that’s a take. But I was frustrated for some reason, and in the second solo, I just went, BLAH.”
