This Day in Music History: Elvis and Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog

On this day in music history, August 18, 1956, Elvis Presley began an 11 week run on the top of the Billboard Charts with is double hit Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog. It is one of the longest runs in the history of the charts. Elvis is listed as one of the writers of Don't Be Cruel just as he was with Heartbreak Hotel. He didn't write either one but it was Col. Tom Parkers way of making sure that Elvis got part of the royalities from the song. The real writer of Don't Be Cruel is Otis Blackwell who wrote other hits like Fever, Great Balls of Fire, Return to Sender, All Shook Up, etc.
Hound Dog was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton who took it to #1 on the R&B charts. In April of 1956 Elvis played Las Vegas. While there he saw Treddie Bell and the Bellboys do a comedic version of Hound Dog where they added the line "You never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine." He liked their version and added it to his list of songs.

All this time Ed Sullivan said he would never have Elvis on his show but that didn't stop Milton Berle or Steve Allen. On Berle's show there was an uproar about Elvis and his pelvic moves and he was blasted by the press. On Allen's show when he preformed Elvis was given instructions to stand still. When Steve Allen got a 55 share that changed Ed Sullivan's mind and he signed Elvis for three preformances.

While he was in New York for the Steve Allen show he recorded Don't Be Cruel and Hound Dog. He was reluctant to do Hound Dog but his producer, Steve Sholes convinced him to record it.

This was the last time ELvis recorded in New York.

On July 25, 1956 the Andrea Doria ocean liner was rammed and sunk off the coast. On board was Mike Stoller and his wife returning from a trip to Europe. They survived and were greeted by Jerry Leiber at the dock who announced to them that Elvis had just recorded Hound Dog.

Don't Be Cruel


Hound Dog