<review>
  <text>One of the songs that is forever tied to the rise of [roviLink="MA"]rock & roll[/roviLink] is [roviLink="MN"]Elvis Presley[/roviLink]'s version of [roviLink="MC"]"Hound Dog."[/roviLink] Originally written by [roviLink="MN"]Jerry Lieber[/roviLink] and [roviLink="MN"]Mike Stoller[/roviLink] for [roviLink="MA"]rhythm & blues[/roviLink] singer [roviLink="MN"]Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton[/roviLink], the tune in its original incarnation was a modified [roviLink="MA"]rhumba[/roviLink], fueled on the original recording by an extended guitar solo from [roviLink="MN"]Pete Lewis[/roviLink]. The popularity of [roviLink="MN"]Big Mama[/roviLink]'s version inspired an answer record on [roviLink="MN"]Sun[/roviLink] by [roviLink="MN"]Rufus Thomas[/roviLink], [roviLink="MC"]"Bear Cat,"[/roviLink] sounding close enough to the original to inspire a lawsuit. Reportedly, [roviLink="MN"]Elvis[/roviLink] got his inspiration to cover the song when he saw [roviLink="MN"]Freddie Bell & the Bellboys[/roviLink] doing it in Las Vegas on an early ill-fated tour in 1956. But what [roviLink="MN"]Elvis[/roviLink] did with it was entirely new and different; the beat was modified to a driving [roviLink="MA"]rock & roll[/roviLink] rhythm with off-time handclaps provided by his backing singers, [roviLink="MN"]the Jordanaires[/roviLink]. The guitar breaks were now kept to two 12-bar solo bursts, played effectively by [roviLink="MN"]Scotty Moore[/roviLink] and, above all, the song was infused with [roviLink="MN"]Presley[/roviLink]'s manic vocal energy. The song blew the [roviLink="MA"]rock & roll[/roviLink] movement through the roof, becoming a lightning rod for critics of the music as well as a rallying cry for the nation's youth movement. It's been successfully covered by [roviLink="MN"]Jerry Lee Lewis[/roviLink] and others over the years, but nothing beats [roviLink="MN"]Presley[/roviLink]'s version, as emblematic a song from the '50s as you're likely to come across. ~ Cub Koda</text>
  <author>Cub Koda</author>
</review>