[CT-Freeper]

The words and swagger should indicate that the singer is disgusted with himself, and is just singing his disgust to his dog. It’s a song of self-recrimination and self-loathing. If you can’t put the false bravado and self awareness into the song, you’re missing the point.

I disagree with your assessment of "Hound Dog."

In its original Leiber & Stoller form, it was performed by a woman (Big Mama Thornton).

Some of the lyrics were changed before Elvis recorded it, which totally ruined the intent and feeling of the song.

"You ain't nothing but a Hound Dog, Snooping 'round my door," was changed to "You ain't nothing but a Hound Dog, Crying all the time,"

"You can wag your tail, but I ain't gonna feed you no more" was changed to "You ain't never caught a rabbit, and you ain't no friend of mine."

I absolutely HATE the "redone" Elvis version.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I love the Elvis version and I think I remember an argument about the lyric change before. I did not realize that Big Mama Thornton was the original singer, I’ll have to look for a audio track of that somewhere.

But even in the original lyrics, she is singing to a man, not a dog. Without the understanding of the subtext of the song, it would be hard to put the right emotion into it.

[RummyChick]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XUAg1_A7IE