Saturday, August 18, 2007

Elvis and the Badger

Great Moments in Rock & Roll History:

You Ain't Nothin' But a Badger?


Concept art for the ill-fated You Ain't Nothin' But a Badger record sleeve is the only remaining evidence of a narrowly averted Rock & Roll disaster. On the eve of the release, after 27 takes, songsters Lieber and Stoler rewrote the original lyrics substituting a hound dog for the badger and making the lyrics a little less encyclopedic. The reworked single was released with Don't be Cruel and the record stayed at #1 for eleven weeks.

The original lyrics?

You ain't nothin' but a badger

Tunneling after ground dwelling rodents all the time.

You ain't nothin' but a badger

Your name possibly derived from the badge like marks on your head.

You're the state animal of Wisconsin

And the namesake of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey coach "Badger Bob" Johnson



Enlarged

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