Who Really Came up With the Idea for Elvis Presley’s Infamous ‘Hound Dog’ Performance?
In the 2022 biographical drama movie Elvis, directed by Baz Luhrmann, Austin Butler stars as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The film is told from the perspective of Elvis Presley’s infamous manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Several of Presley’s real-life performances were recreated, including his infamous rendition of “Hound Dog” on The Steve Allen Show. In the film, Colonel Parker was credited with the idea. However, Parker actually had nothing to do with this. Here’s the real story behind the moment.
The story behind Elvis Presley’s infamous ‘Hound Dog’ rendition
The performance on The Steve Allen Show was a big one for the music star. Essentially, it was an opportunity to show himself in a different light to the American people. While Presley was quite comfortable in his own skin and with his general persona, other people wanted something different from the young singer.
For his renowned “Hound Dog” performance, Presley was made to ditch his regular sequined high-collared jumpsuit for a fancy suit, while singing to a dog in a top hat. In the film, Colonel Tom Parker is gifted the credit of coming up with Presley’s look. However, in reality, the manager didn’t have any part in creating his client’s new persona.
Steve Allen insisted that Elvis Presley clean up his act
In reality, all the credit for Presley’s performance goes to Steve Allen himself. According to Grunge, the host of the late-night variety show insisted on creating a “family-friendly” atmosphere on his TV show. Allen was already facing backlash for even booking the “hip-gyrating” singer on his show. Presley had given a “bump and grind” performance of “Hound Dog” on The Milton Berle Show earlier in the year. This caused widespread condemnation amongst more conservative viewers.
Despite the backlash, Allen didn’t want to lose out on the potential ratings Presley could bring to his late-night show. In order to make light of the situation, Allen had the star wear a more professional suit and tie look, handed him a guitar, and had him sing “Hound Dog” to a real-life basset hound who wore a top hat and sat on a table during his performance. Despite playing it off well, Presley was actually quite embarrassed that he had to perform “Hound Dog” in this manner.
Elvis Presley’s ‘Hound Dog’ was actually a cover song
While Presley had numerous hit songs during his career, “Hound Dog” was one of his most impactful. Interestingly, “Hound Dog” was actually a cover. However, it’s important to note that recording covers was actually more common in the 1950s and 1960s. Many of Presley’s hits were actually cover songs of music originally released by lesser-known artists.
The song “Hound Dog” was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, a duo that also wrote “Stand by Me” and “On Broadway.” The songwriting team originally gave their song to R&B singer Big Mama Thornton in 1952. According to Tablet Magazine, Leiber and Stoller loved Thornton’s powerful blues rendition of their song and were actually quite disappointed when Presley released his cover of the song in 1956. However, after a while, Presley’s rendition of “Hound Dog” seemed to grow on the songwriters.
Stoller told Tablet Magazine, “I must admit, even though we were disappointed at first with Elvis’s version of ‘Hound Dog’ because it was so vastly different and it lacked what Big Mama’s record had, as I’ve said before after it sold 7 million singles, we began to see the good in Elvis’s version.”
