In another further stretching of the 12 bar blues format, Elvis Presley maintains the form musically but not lyrically - the first line no longer repeats but is complemented with a rhyming second line. The guitar backing is definitely more reminiscent of country or rockabilly style than blues. This combined with the doo-wop background vocals make this a very interesting combination of different styles.
It is interesting to read how the post production on this was "sweetened" with the addition of the Jordanaires and the placement of Hound Dog on the B side. As I noted earlier in the comments on Big Mama Thornton's version of this song, the suits had to tone things down from the raw real blues style in order to make them more commercially viable for white audiences of the time.
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