Thursday 19 February 2009

Elvis Presley (hound dog)

The song being analysed is Elvis Presley's version of the song ‘Hound Dog’. The song was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller(American song writers and music producers) and originally recorded in 1952 by the artist Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton. The original version of the song was a rhythm and blues piece; however, Elvis’s version is considered ‘Rock and Roll’. I think the lyrics are about someone who's cheated someone or annoyed them as the lyric is calling that someone a hound dog (someone who deliberately attacks someone) The time signature of the song is 4/4. The Instruments used are vocals, guitar, bass, drums, back vocals. The main instruments would be the vocals providing the melody and the walking bass line, except for the guitar solos. The roles of said instruments; the vocal melody is just repeated, the guitar is mainly just strumming until the guitar solo, the bass line is just a walking pattern being repeated, the drums are a basic rhythm throughout except for the roll which is used to the end of the verses. There have been no effects used on the instruments. There are only four chords being used in this song – G, C/C7, D7 and C7. The same chord progression is used throughout the song. The structure of the song is very simple. The tempo of the song stays steady. The hook of the song i think would be when Elvis shouts "you aint nothin but a hound dog" then the band come in and the walking bass line is very catchy. I think the song is pretty average, if i lived in the 50's and i probably would have danced to it......  Even though some people have said that the repetition of the song is tedious i think this is the classic rock n' roll style of the time. I personally wouldn't listen to it, maybe at a party, but i wouldn't think "hmmmmm  i really feel like some elvis"  Thank you for reading.



2 comments:

  1. Interesting take on the lyrics. I have never felt that in Elvis' version that he was singing to a dog. I always thought that the hound dog was a metaphor for a person. The lines, "They said you was high class, but that was just a line..." especially indicate to me that he was singing about someone who was a fake or pretender.

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