Customer Reviews
Willie Mae Thornton: A Great Blues Singer. - By: Young American, 18 Jun 2006 
Willlie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was a superb blues shouterin the tradition of Bessie Smith & Memphis Minnie. When she sang blues she didn't need to pose, like Elvis & Janis Joplin. She was the real thing.
No one denies that Elvis could sing, & his version of 'Hound Dog' is exciting--but Willie Mae's version has bite, thrust, & a hard-won emotional truth. And the song only makes sense when sung by a woman; the hound dog is clearly a no-account male (dig Willie Mae's take on the line 'You can wag your tail'). The previous reviwer calls the original version 'comfy R & B.' Talk about (mental) Anarchyin the U.K.!
For the record: Willie Mae Thornton died pennilessin a Los Angeles rooming housein 1984, so it's hard to see how she 'is doing quite well' from Elvis.
Forget the Elvis-idolatry & buy the genuine article.
don't believe the hype - it doesn't hold a candle to Elvis. - By: Mr. O. Buxton, 02 Nov 2002 
There is much mythology & fablein rock 'n' roll; that's partly what makes it so alluring - it's the only romantic tradition left. But, asin all other romantic traditions, there's a point where myth & fable disappear over the abyss into plain old fashioned codswallop, & it's pretty difficult to say where that point is.
What you can say, I'm afraid, is that Big Mama Thornton's placein pop history is assured only courtesy of such a piece of codswallop.
Big Mama's version of "Hound Dog", so the legend goes, puts the subsequent version by Elvis Presley into the shade (oddly, though, the legend doesn't say how, exactly). Had only Big Mama been white, & a man, & it would have been her on the Ed Sullivan show & not E. Big Mama, you see, is a victim of her own poor circumstance. Elvis was simply a lucky chancer.
Thus are our political & mythical needs sated. No matter that it's utter nonsense.
There's a simple experiment you can perform,in the comfort of your own home, which will demonstrate how patent this nonsense is. All you have to do is play the two artists' versions of "Hound Dog", one after another, on your stereo. Play Big Mama first, then Elvis. Then Big Mama again, to give her the benefit of any doubt.
Big Mama's version is nice enough,in a comfy R+B sort of a way - no denying that.
On the other hand, Elvis' version, from the very first snarled syllable, peels paint off your walls. To this very day, there has been barely a record released which captures the same sort of energy & potent exuberance of youth. In fact I can think of only one which compares: the Sex Pistols' Anarchyin the UK.
So forget the notion that Big Mama outdid the king. The myth is more pernicious even than that, though, for not only did Elvis not unjustly deny Big Mama her rightful fame & fortune, but to the contrary, she's done quite OK out of Elvis. Can you imagine anyone buying her records now (um, care to mention any of her other top ten hits?) had Elvis not sung Hound Dog?
She, er, ain't never caught a rabbit... Oh, never mind.
