More bout Hound Dawg, writ mo betta than I can do:
"...when he was only 9 years old, his step father supposedly packed up all of his things in a brown paper bag, stood in the doorway with a shotgun, and told Hound Dog to “cut out”. In 1942, Taylor, always the ladies man, was chased out of Mississippi one day by the Klan after having an affair with a white woman. He spent the first day hiding in drainage ditches and then the next day he headed for Chicago. He never went back. He was in a club one night chasing a couple of women around when a friend called him a hound dog because he was always on the hunt for woman. The name stuck.
Freddie King became a star with the song “Hideaway”. A good portion of this song was copied from an instrumental King heard Taylor cranking out in a nightclub. Hound Dog never did receive composer’s credit for the song, but didn’t seemed to be bothered by it either, as King was only one of several bluesman who borrowed from him.
During any given show, Hound Dog would first drink a straight shot of whiskey, chasing it with a mixed drink. He then would down a whole glass of beer. All three drinks were drank rapidly, one after the other. After that he was ready to play! Hound Dog would start off a show usually saying something like “Hey, let’s have some fun!”, and did they ever!
It seemed Phillips said something insulting about Hound Dog’s wife Fredda, so Hound Dog left the room, and then returned with a .22 rifle. Aiming for the couch, he hit Phillips twice, once in the forearm and once in the leg....On his deathbed, his last wish was granted when Phillips visited him in the hospital and forgave him for the shooting. Hound Dog Taylor passed away the very next day, December 17, 1975."
I guess Hound Dawg never chopped off but one of his extry fingers: "...one night, drunk out of his mind, Hound Dog took a straight razor and cut off the small extra finger on his right hand. The extra finger on his left hand remained there until his death." There's a picture of his left hand, and more of the story, richeea:
https://www.tdblues.com/?p=556 If ya goes there, ya should autta check out the link there to another tune Hound Dawg done at that same Ann Arbor Blues festival---they havvin theysef some fun, sho nuff!