Analysis - 'Hound Dog' by Elvis Presley

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’. In my view, the lyrics were writing to express dislike and to insult a certain person by saying they’re ‘nothing but a hound dog’ (A dog bred for the purpose of hunting). The time signature of the song is 4/4 all the way through. Instruments used are vocals, guitar, bass, drums, back vocals and some hand claps. 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 as it just repeats the same set of bars over and over with a very minimal change in lyrics. The tempo of the song stays steady. The hook of the song would be the drum roll which stops all other instruments allowing the vocals to go alone then bring the music back in. Personally I don’t have anything against said song, it’s ‘catchy’ and it’s easy to sing-a-long to, however, it doesn’t have that ‘wow factor’ or element of surprise which decreases its appeal to me. I also feel that the repetition of the structure causes it to be one of those songs that gets irritating after the second time hearing it. Overall, the song did some good for its era but I dont think i would have it on my mp3 player.