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Big Mama Presley's Comparison

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While there are some similarities between Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton and Elvis Presley’s versions of the song Hound Dog, I am of the opinion that there were more differences. The obvious similarities would be the lyrics retained in Elvis’ version of the song, though the interpretation of those lyrics were very different. Perhaps what I feel is colored by growing up in a household where my mother was an Elvis fan who played his version, and my father, who was a coal miner’s son born in the 1920s in the “hills” of Virginia, sang and played a much loved copy he had of Big Mama Thornton’s version. While my father masculinized the song when he sang it, he did so retaining much of the spirit Thornton’s recording had. Early on I was too young to understand any of the risqué meanings behind the lyrics, but I knew it had a deeper meaning than the fun version my mother and her sisters would bounce to while it played. …show more content…

Big Mama Thornton’s style was gritty, sassy, and powerful. The tempo is slower, her words clearer (in her version, she enunciates better than Elvis Presley), as was her intent. She was fed up with her man’s philandering and she was not going to take it anymore, no matter how much he wags his tail, she was no longer going to feed it. I also decided to watch a recording posted online of Big Mama singing Hound Dog. I found two versions, one with Buddy Guy obviously performed in the latter part of the fifties or early sixties, and another performance in 1971. I thought both versions, sung in different eras of Thornton’s life, were

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