This strange Peggy Lee number is a candidate for the office of philosophically deepest popular song. If memory serves, it made the charts Stateside in the late 1960's. But it is the sort of song one would have expected to hear in a cabaret in Berlin in the decadent 1920's. 'Ockham' tells me that it is a Leiber and Stoller composition, and indeed it is. Surprising, given the other songs they wrote. It smacks of Weill-Brecht more than of Leiber-Stoller.
Nihilism was never so pleasantly packaged.
Slightly off-topic, but prompted by the question 'How could the people who wrote this also have written "You ain't nothin' but a hound dog', well, the version that Leiber and Stoller wrote for Big Mama Thornton was somewhat different from Elvis' version.
For example they lyrics were changed by Freddie Bell of "Freddie Bell and the Bellboys" worked on the lyrics, who replaced "You can wag your tail, but I ain't gonna feed you no more" with "You ain't never caught a rabbit, and you ain't no friend of mine." (better, in my view).
The drum roll between verses which really defines the song was the idea of Elvis' drummer DJ Fontana.
I have both versions but Elvis' is better.
Posted by: ocham | Sunday, March 01, 2009 at 12:52 AM
Never liked "Hound Dog" or "Jailhouse Rock." Trivia question: name the Dylan song that is a tribute to 'the King.'
Posted by: Bill Vallicella | Sunday, March 01, 2009 at 12:13 PM
>>name the Dylan song that is a tribute to 'the King.'
And what would that be?
Posted by: ocham | Sunday, March 01, 2009 at 02:03 PM