Stevie Ray Vaughan and Buddy Guy, New York City 1983

Big Mama Thornton singing Hound Dog with Buddy Guy on guitar.

Thornton gave this account of how the original was created to Ralph J. Gleason. “They were just a couple of kids, and they had this song written on the back of a paper bag.” She added a few interjections of her own, played around with the rhythm (some of the choruses have thirteen rather than twelve bars), and had the band bark and howl like hound dogs at the end of the song. In fact, she interacts constantly in a call and response fashion during a one minute long guitar “solo” by Pete Lewis. Her vocals include lines such as: “Aw, listen to that ole hound dog howl…OOOOoooow,” “Now wag your tail,” and “Aw, get it, get it, get it.”