“Good dags. D’ya like dags?”
This
asked by the near unintelligible character Mickey, played by Brad Pitt in the
movie Snatch. Dags, it turns out, is the gypsy pronunciation of dogs. Well, I
happen to like dags. I like them a lot. As such, listed in no particular order
are some songs that have in the title, are about, or otherwise make reference
to those flea bitten, bed-hogging critters that we let into our lives.
1. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp – Led Zeppelin
Even
if you could understand Welsh, a god-awful language characterized by too many
y’s and not enough vowels, there is no hidden dog reference in the title. Bron-Y-Aur
is a nod to a cottage in Wales where the Zep were doing some writing way back
when.
Title
aside, in Bron-y-aur stomp, Robert Plant does sing about walking through the
countryside with his old Blue Merle Shepard, which I misheard for most of my
formative Zeppelin years. I thought he was talking about a girl but it turns
out it was a dang dog. Blue eyed Merle
is not a far stretch from blue eyed girl, so you forgive my fault. The long and
short of the tale, no pun intended, is that in the world of heartbreak,
apparently losing a dog hurts worse than losing a girl. Who knew the Golden God
was such a softie?
“When
you’re old and your eyes are dim, there ain’t no shep gonna happen again”
A
lovely sit-down version from 1975.
2. Dog Days are Over – Florence and the
Machine
I
have no explanation as to why I love this song so much. Maybe it’s the harp or
maybe its just because the video is really cool. As for the dog days, those are supposed to be
the hottest days of the year, characterized by inactivity or sluggishness. As near as I can tell, Florence’s advice is that
these heady days of summer are over and something bad is coming down the pipe.
“Run
fast for your mother, run fast for your father, Run for your
children, for your sisters and brothers.”
If
you haven’t seen this video, it’s a feast for the eyes.
3. Old King – Neil Young
You
have to guess that Neil would have a hound dog or two following him around amidst
the vintage cars at his ranch. He’s just that kind of a guy, and so when he writes
a song about a dog, you know it’s from the heart. Turns out, Old King was a
real dog, but his name was Elvis.
This from the
Greek in LA, 9/22/92…
After a few warmup chords on the banjo just before Old
King...
"This a song about my dog.
His name is Elvis. Elvis is riding on Jimi Hendrix's bus now. He traveled with
me for many years. Well, I changed his name to 'King' in the song to avoid any
confusion.” (transcript from thrasherswheat.org –
thanks!)
4. Black Eyed Dog – Nick Drake
Anything
Nick Drake ever wrote is beautiful and usually chilling, with Black Eyed Dog
being no exception. If you don’t know about Nick Drake, you are not alone. He
died in 1974 after releasing three mostly unheard albums. There is no known
video footage of him and he rarely performed live or even consented to be
interviewed. His work is recognized now mostly because his song Pink Moon was
featured in a VW commercial. He has become cool in a way that Wille Nelson or
turntables are cool. We just never knew it before.
This
song is 3 minutes and 28 seconds but it might haunt you forever…
5. Pink Floyd – Dogs
Dogs
is a full 17 minutes which basically ate up the entire first side of the
Animals release. The song is a comparison how human behavior in the cutthroat
world of business is no more than that of dogs being beaten down by man. It’s a
bit of downer even by Pink Floyd standards, but as with much of their other
stuff, never seems to grow old. Possibly this is because of all the crazy chord
changes and weird key signatures. Or maybe it’s the intense flashbacks it
triggers that are keeping me entertained.
Also
of special note, Dogs is featured in agreat scene from WKRP with Dr. Johnny
Fever and Arthur Carlson.
6. Spine of a Dog – Moe
Moe
is not known for writing songs with strong lyrical content. What they do best
is play with such ferocity that their songs could be about boiled potatoes and
they would still be mesmerizing. Spine of a Dog has absolutely nothing to do
with dogs, and as far as I can tell, it has nothing to do with anything
actually. Well…except potatoes and pinball machines. Nonsense lyrics are a
vehicle to showcase the jamming talents of these boys from Buffalo.
This
version transitions into another song at about 9 minutes, if your head hasn't exploded by then.
7. Black Dog – Led Zeppelin
Legend
has it that a black dog kept wandering into the studio during the recording
session. There is a 1972 bootleg with the following story
told by Plant.
(It must be true because I read it on Wikipedia)
“Let me tell you 'bout this poor old
dog because he was a retriever in his early days, and the only thing he could
ever find in his late days was his old lady who lived two houses away from
where we were recording. And he used to go see the old lady quite regularly,
but after he'd "boogied" and everything else he couldn't get back.
And we used to carry him back.”
I’m trying
not to have a man crush on Robert Plant with his ridiculous blouse and truck
stop belt buckle, but damn…
8. Hound Dog – Elvis
Hey
Elvis, why are you so down on hound dogs? My neighbors had a hound dog, and he
was not cryin’ all the time. He was only cryin’ when he was tied up outside in
inclement weather. Hound Dog is a
straight up 12 bar blues song written by the exemplary team of Leiber and
Stoller, and when placed in the hands of the King, became one of the greatest
Rock and Roll songs of all time. There’s
nothing to it really. Two short verses, where the words are mostly repeated,
and what passes for a chorus is “You ain’t
never caught a rabbit, and you ain’t no friend of mine.” Lesson to
aspiring song writers. Keep it simple, and get an Elvis type of icon to record
your song.
I
think we’ll go with skinny Elvis on this one. Bonus tracks -Love Me Tender and
Heartbreak Hotel.
9. Diamond Dogs – David Bowie
As
a young lad, on numerous occasions I had the Bowie - Changes One record sleeve out, reading the words to
Diamond Dogs, but to this day the meaning remains elusive to me. I ‘ve heard
the song a thousand times and as near as I can tell, he is talking about a half
man, half beast creatures that prowl the streets of New York City. Dogs or no
dogs, it’s a great song. Let’s leave it at that.
Below, some typical 1970’s Bowie weirdness, and some cool rehearsal footage.
10. I Love My Dog – Cat Stevens
Interestingly,
this was the first song ever released by Cat Stevens. It’s slightly corny like
one of those inspirational posters you see in the guidance counselor’s office
that has puppies in a basket, and one puppy is clinging to the side and it says
“hang in there”.
The Cat says, “you may fade, but my dog will always come
through”, clearly summing up the sentiment of the whole piece, meaning in a contest
of companions, the one who showers you with unbridled love and affection will
always win out over the one who comes home drunk, smelling like a Parisian
brothel. We love our dogs and they love us back, twice as hard.
