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Writing songs for dogs

mellowinman

mellowinman

Free Man
Oct 19, 2011
11,818
18,518
63
Minneapolis
#1
I may have mentioned once or twice we have eight dogs.

A Rottweiler/Shepherd mix.
A Shepherd/Wolf/Australian Cattle Dog mix.
A Boxer.
A Malti-Poo
A Poodle
A Teacup Maltese
A Chihuahua
A Teacup Chihuahua

So, at times, we have to do various grooming and medical procedures on them. And when you want a dog to be calm, it helps to sing to them. It also helps if the dog is depressed, or "down," and won't eat, or various other dog troubles.

When writing a song for a dog, I find the most important thing is to use the dog's name quite a bit in the song. Dogs seem to like their name, for some reason, unless you have chosen poorly, but that's on you. Let's take Gunnar, the Rottweiler/Shepherd mix, for example.

I called his song, "Gunnar," and it goes something like the tune of "Onions, Onions, Yeah Yeah Yeah," during the chorus:

Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar
Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar

Then the verses are something like:

Gunnar is a dog
He is not a frog
He likes to wag his tail
He doesn't drink Ginger Ale

and then the chorus again, and more verses. I tend to make up the verses on the spot, sometimes about whatever we're doing

For Gunnar, (and most dogs,) you have to sing in a fairly LOW voice. He doesn't like high notes at all, and finds them very unsettling. Low notes please him, and the more you say his name, the happier he is.

For an extreme example, let's look at the Baby song. Baby is the teacup Chihuahua. She is well under two pounds, maybe more like one. She is beyond frail. You could kill this dog by looking at her wrong. If she misses a meal, she could go into seizures. Baby is eight years old.

Imagine a jazz melody on a double bass ascending, and then descending:

Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby (ascending)
Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby (descending)

Lots of emphasis on the "B" sound. In fact, I try to sound a lot like a double bass when I sing it. I have tried putting other words in there, but she is most calm when I stick to her name.

So I think the biggest key to writing a song for a dog is to use the dog's name almost non-stop throughout the song. This, of course, limits your market in each song to dogs with that specific name. Furthermore, I think you will find different dogs have different tastes, limiting you even further, but there's a bright side.

Dogs have little to no disposable income, so as consumers, they are about useless, anyway. You would have to appeal to their owners, and let's face it, most times you sing to a dog, you are going to BE the owner. So I don't think there's much hope of a profitable radio station for dogs, even on satellite.

I do believe, with the amount of experience I have, I may possibly be one of the premier writer of songs for dogs in Northern Indiana. I am not aware of any real competition, however I'm not sure dog songwriters have the best publicists.
 
#4
Well, thank for letting me know I'm not crazy!

My old dog, Lucie, had a theme song like a 50s TV show, that went a little something lke ...

Who's the happiest dog in the whole wide world?
(Ruff ruff! Lucie!)
Who's the genltest bear, who's the sweetest girl?
(Ruff ruff! Lucie!)
She's the spunky little puppy with the waggly tail
And if you don't agree then they should put you in jail
If you're the happiest dog in the whole wide world, you must be little bitty Lucie Bear!

(The Lucie Bear show is sponsored by ... [whatever I saw first, or I'd make up a product])

Yeah.

Anyway, now I have Bosco, to whom I sing to the tune of "Oh Yoko," and Charlie, to whom I mostly improv about his handsomeness, or apply his name to various 70s and 80s soft rock hits (He's all out of treats / He's so lost without them ...)
 
#6
I'll have to try this. My wife already thinks I'm nuts because I heat Charlie's food, from the fridge (part canned and part dry). He also gets chilled filtered water from the fridge. Hey, if you have a dog, take good care of it and you will have the best pal ever.
 
#11
icecycle66 said:
Sometimes I write songs with my beagle.

I'll play a little light chords and he'll sit and howl away over it.
I'm thinking of making a collection of them into a blues album.
Click to expand...

Haha! I used to have a beagle who would do the same thing. One time he got mad at me for disciplining him and he pissed on my bass. That dog had personality.
 
#13
mellowinman said:
I may have mentioned once or twice we have eight dogs.

A Rottweiler/Shepherd mix.
A Shepherd/Wolf/Australian Cattle Dog mix.
A Boxer.
A Malti-Poo
A Poodle
A Teacup Maltese
A Chihuahua
A Teacup Chihuahua

So, at times, we have to do various grooming and medical procedures on them. And when you want a dog to be calm, it helps to sing to them. It also helps if the dog is depressed, or "down," and won't eat, or various other dog troubles.

When writing a song for a dog, I find the most important thing is to use the dog's name quite a bit in the song. Dogs seem to like their name, for some reason, unless you have chosen poorly, but that's on you. Let's take Gunnar, the Rottweiler/Shepherd mix, for example.

I called his song, "Gunnar," and it goes something like the tune of "Onions, Onions, Yeah Yeah Yeah," during the chorus:

Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar
Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar Gunnar

Then the verses are something like:

Gunnar is a dog
He is not a frog
He likes to wag his tail
He doesn't drink Ginger Ale

and then the chorus again, and more verses. I tend to make up the verses on the spot, sometimes about whatever we're doing

For Gunnar, (and most dogs,) you have to sing in a fairly LOW voice. He doesn't like high notes at all, and finds them very unsettling. Low notes please him, and the more you say his name, the happier he is.

For an extreme example, let's look at the Baby song. Baby is the teacup Chihuahua. She is well under two pounds, maybe more like one. She is beyond frail. You could kill this dog by looking at her wrong. If she misses a meal, she could go into seizures. Baby is eight years old.

Imagine a jazz melody on a double bass ascending, and then descending:

Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby (ascending)
Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby (descending)

Lots of emphasis on the "B" sound. In fact, I try to sound a lot like a double bass when I sing it. I have tried putting other words in there, but she is most calm when I stick to her name.

So I think the biggest key to writing a song for a dog is to use the dog's name almost non-stop throughout the song. This, of course, limits your market in each song to dogs with that specific name. Furthermore, I think you will find different dogs have different tastes, limiting you even further, but there's a bright side.

Dogs have little to no disposable income, so as consumers, they are about useless, anyway. You would have to appeal to their owners, and let's face it, most times you sing to a dog, you are going to BE the owner. So I don't think there's much hope of a profitable radio station for dogs, even on satellite.

I do believe, with the amount of experience I have, I may possibly be one of the premier writer of songs for dogs in Northern Indiana. I am not aware of any real competition, however I'm not sure dog songwriters have the best publicists.
Click to expand...

I've been having a bad week (year, really) but when I got to the lyrics for the Gunnar song I laughed out loud for the first time in ages. Thanks, mellowinman.
:D
 
#14
Okay, it's not just me.



Eight years ago we rescued a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier named "Bridget". She is without a doubt the coolest dog that I have ever met.


I wrote new lyrics to the Tom Jones song, "She's a lady". When I sing it , I do my best (Worst) Tom Jones impression.


She has style, she has flair, she jumps five feet in the air.

She's a Wheaten.

She loves to run and play, and get belly rubs each day.

She's a Wheaten.

She's a Wheaten, whoa, whoa, whoa, she's a Wheaten.

Talkin' about my little Wheaten.

And the Wheaten is mine.


She is cute, and she's coy as she runs off with her toy.

She's a Wheaten.

She barks each day when I go, yeah she really makes a show.

She's a Wheaten.

She's a Wheaten.

She's a Wheaten, whoa, whoa, whoa, she's a Wheaten.

Talkin' about my little Wheaten.

And the Wheaten is mine.



There are other verses, but you get the idea...

Bridget is thirteen now and her health is slipping. She still likes when I sing to her and she knows I'm making a fuss over her. Even though it doesn't have her name in it, she clearly knows that it's a song for her.
 
#15
drummer5359 said:
Okay, it's not just me.



Eight years ago we rescued a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier named "Bridget". She is without a doubt the coolest dog that I have ever met.


I wrote new lyrics to the Tom Jones song, "She's a lady". When I sing it , I do my best (Worst) Tom Jones impression.


She has style, she has flair, she jumps five feet in the air.

She's a Wheaten.

She loves to run and play, and get belly rubs each day.

She's a Wheaten.

She's a Wheaten, whoa, whoa, whoa, she's a Wheaten.

Talkin' about my little Wheaten.

And the Wheaten is mine.


She is cute, and she's coy as she runs off with her toy.

She's a Wheaten.

She barks each day when I go, yeah she really makes a show.

She's a Wheaten.

She's a Wheaten.

She's a Wheaten, whoa, whoa, whoa, she's a Wheaten.

Talkin' about my little Wheaten.

And the Wheaten is mine.



There are other verses, but you get the idea...

Bridget is thirteen now and her health is slipping. She still likes when I sing to her and she knows I'm making a fuss over her. Even though it doesn't have her name in it, she clearly knows that it's a song for her.
Click to expand...

And now I have no doubt you are a cool guy.
 
#17
Nancy Simmonds is a friend who makes a living writing dog songs.
She's also a good musician and an incredibly cool human being.
Link Removed

My partner in Folk in A wrote a song for his yellow Lab, Maddie.
The verse goes
"You throw the ball, and I'll go get it,
Then I'll bring it back
So that you can throw the ball, and I'll go get it,
Then I'll bring it back, so that..."

The verse repeats about a gazillion times. It's very much like a lab...

Myself, I do stupid stuff.
We have a Boerboel (South African Mastiff - the dog in my avatar) named Sabre and a Pomeranian named Sabrina (nicknamed Brini)

I'll sometimes play the bassline to "Come On, Come Over" and sing along.
The Verse bassline goes
"Teeny Weeny Brini...
Very very Teeny".

And the chorus (lord help me for writing this on a public forum)
"Goober Boerboel Baby Sabre
Is a Sabre Baber Boerboel".

It works. But it's damn hard to sing.

There are so many dog songs here at my house.
A favorite was for our red pit bull. Sung to the Cherry Poppin Daddys "Zoot Suit Riot"

"Pit bull puppy...
He's all handsome and red (dedoo dedoo)
Pit bull puppy...
Give a cuddle to his big soft head"

That's all for now.
 
#18
The greatest dog related lyrics are in Jerry Jeff Walker's Mr. Bojangles

He danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs
throughout the south
He spoke through tears of 15 years how his dog and him
traveled about
The dog up and died, he up and died
And after 20 years he still grieves

:atoz:
 
#19
Oh, one more that we perform in Folk in A, sometimes. We call it The Dog Song.

"The dogs, they had a party
They came from near and far
Some dogs came by taxicab
Others came by car.
Each dog wrote his name down
In a little book
And each dog hung his @sshole
Upon a little hook.

Now one dog was not invited
And this did raise his ire,
So he walked into the party
And loudly shouted "Fire"
The dogs rushed out in panic
They did not stop to look
They just grabbed the nearest @sshole
From off the nearest hook.

Now this is a sad sad story
For it gets mighty sore
To wear another's @sshole
You never wore before
And that is why when dogs meet
On land, or sea, or foam,
They smell each other's @sshole
In hopes it is their own."

Thank you, thank you very much.
 
#20
kesslari said:
Oh, one more that we perform in Folk in A, sometimes. We call it The Dog Song.

"The dogs, they had a party
They came from near and far
Some dogs came by taxicab
Others came by car.
Each dog wrote his name down
In a little book
And each dog hung his @sshole
Upon a little hook.

Now one dog was not invited
And this did raise his ire,
So he walked into the party
And loudly shouted "Fire"
The dogs rushed out in panic
They did not stop to look
They just grabbed the nearest @sshole
From off the nearest hook.

Now this is a sad sad story
For it gets mighty sore
To wear another's @sshole
You never wore before
And that is why when dogs meet
On land, or sea, or foam,
They smell each other's @sshole
In hopes it is their own."

Thank you, thank you very much.
Click to expand...

thanks for posting ... always wondered about that.
 

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