‘Hound Dog,’ Elvis Presley’s top-selling song, started out as a hit for the blues singer ‘Big Mama’ Thornton. Thornton’s 1953 version was a hit in its own right, selling two million copies and spending nearly two months atop Billboard’s R&B chart.
Thornton’s version was far more sexually suggestive, depicting a Black woman giving a no-good man the kiss-off. “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog, been snoopin’ ’round my door,” she sings, “You can wag your tail but I ain’t gonna feed you no more.”