Hound Dog

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote it in 1952 in about twelve to fifteen minutes. Big Mama Thornton recorded it on 13 August 1952, and it spent seven weeks at number one on the R&B chart after Peacock issued it in 1953. Presley's version follows the arrangement of Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, whom he saw in Las Vegas in 1955.

He recorded it on 2 July 1956 at the RCA Victor studio in New York, with Moore, Black, Fontana and the Jordanaires, and Gordon Stoker on piano. It came out on 13 July 1956 as the B-side of Don't Be Cruel. It spent eleven weeks at number one on the pop chart, also topped the country and R&B charts, and sold about ten million copies worldwide. At the session he ran through 31 takes of it.

Live

He performed it on the Milton Berle Show on 5 June 1956, where his hip movements caused controversy, and on the Steve Allen Show on 1 July 1956, singing it to a basset hound. He sang it on the Ed Sullivan Show on 9 September 1956, 28 October 1956 and 6 January 1957. He sang it again at Aloha from Hawaii on 14 January 1973.