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January 18, 2025

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cory

After Elvis died, reporters asked Big Mama Thornton how it felt that she made $100 off of singing Hound Dog, while Elvis made millions. She said, "At least I'm still around to spend my $100."

Dave G

You fooled me -- at first I assumed you were going in a different direction on this one. "Hound Dog" might be worth a Saturday post of its own. During our recent trip to Memphis, we enjoyed both visiting both Sun and Stax. Sam Phillips successfully tailgated on Big Mama Thornton's success by releasing a knockoff tune, "Bear Cat," by Rufus Thomas.

Bear Cat became Sun's first national hit, and also nearly ruined him. He was successfully sued and it cost him a lot of money.

Two pieces of irony emerged. One of course, was Elvis's hit with Hound Dog, recorded not long after his recording contract was sold to RCA. The other irony -- Rufus Jones was a one hit wonder at Sun, but became a big star at the other legendary Memphis label, Stax.

Paul Mac

If you're interested in this kind of thing, I recommend Andrew Hickey's extraordinary podcast, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs.
https://500songs.com/author/olsenbloom/

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