There are a lot of versions of "Hound Dog" before Elvis Presley did his
The original version of this thread was going to be a list of songs sung by Elvis, along with versions that were released by other people before him. For example:
Burning Love
Arthur Alexander 1971 YouTube
Elvis Presley 1972
YouTube
Nice and simple. Not to say "this is great, this is terrible", or "look, he stole it", but just because it's interesting to compare versions.
But then I looked at Hound Dog and wow there are a lot of covers. I got most of these from the Wikipedia article, which is pretty in-depth about this song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hound_Dog_(song)
So, here's a short list. I'd be interested to know what you think - I love Big Mama Thornton's version, I love Elvis's version, but I'm not that keen on any of the others here.
Hound Dog
Big Mama Thornton 1952 YouTube
Freddie Bell and the Bellboys (date uncertain) []YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJQ-fDb4M4s)
Elvis Presley 1956 YouTube
And here's a bunch more before Elvis did his version:
Little Esther 1953 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVUQ_lmoyJ4
Jack Turner and his Granger County Gang 1953 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AbAotf6ac0
Billy Star 195X https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuDuuPWVL0s
Betsy Gay 1953 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNG-0L-mldc
Eddie Hazlewood 1954 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN23peWBe3g
Yeah I think I only like Big Mama Thornton's as well. The song really requires a power and aggression in the voice that only her and Elvis managed to pull off. But that might be because of my familiarity with Elvis' version.
Covers are a fascinating rabbit hole to go down. It's amazing how many covers completely outshine their original singer in terms of notoriety. Also gets super tricky the further back you go because a lot of the songs simply predate the invention of recorded sound. So while someone may be the first to record, it's not technically their song either. Which of course reminds me of the blues singer Lead Belly, who was among the first to record quite a few old folk songs. And then many decades later a few of them were covered by more well-known bands and completely outshine his versions in terms of popularity.
"Gallows Pole"
Lead Belly -- https://youtu.be/ye2N_2ce3QE?t=56
Led Zeppelin -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmxaT37yeOs (honestly, Led Zeppelin alone are worth their own thread about this kind of thing!)
"In The Pines"
Lead Belly -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MkfTYPmLlA
Nirvana -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rd5QOE7hwc
Norma Tanega -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEmBzmY1j6Q (Probably not more well-known than Lead Belly's, but it's a favorite of mine. Norma Tanega is probably best known at this point as the singer of the theme song for "What We Do In The Shadows")
"Black Betty"
Lead Belly -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJUSGuNxt-4
Ram Jam -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_2D8Eo15wE
"House of the Rising Sun"
Lead Belly -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5tOpyipNJs
The Animals -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4bFqW_eu2I