Dogs (Pink Floyd song)

"Dogs"
Song by Pink Floyd from the album Animals
Released	23 January 1977
Recorded	April–November 1976
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	17:04
Label	Harvest Records (UK) Capitol Records (US)
Writer	Roger Waters and David Gilmour
Producer	Pink Floyd
Animals track listing
"Pigs on the Wing 1" "Dogs" "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" "Sheep" "Pigs on the Wing 2"

"Dogs", originally composed as "You Gotta Be Crazy", is a song by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was released on the album Animals in 1977.

Musical composition

The song features lyrics by Roger Waters and music by David Gilmour. Guitarist David Gilmour and bassist Roger Waters share vocal duties in the song.

Concept

The final verse explores a number of aspects of business life and how it compares to dogs, for example taking chances and being "trained not to spit in the fan", losing their individuality ("broken by trained personnel"), obeying their superiors ("fitted with collar and chain"), getting treats for good behaviour ("given a pat on the back"), being better than everyone else ("breaking away from the pack") and getting to know everyone but spending less time with family ("only a stranger at home"). Every line of this verse begins with the word "Who", which prompted comparison to Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl".^[1]

Early versions

During 1974 performances of "You Gotta Be Crazy", David Gilmour would sing the song in a faster speed than the versions on the 1975 North American tour and the Animals album. "You Gotta Be Crazy" was about the problems one had to deal with in life. The lyrics were modified by the time the song was played live in 1975, and then the lyrics changed again when recording Animals.

'Once in a while I would find something uncomfortable to sing. The first lot Roger wrote for "Dogs" when it was called "You Gotta Be Crazy", were just too many words to sing. (...) "Dogs" had so many words, I physically couldn't get them in. (We) just cut out two-thirds of his words, to make it possible rather than impossible.'

— David Gilmour, ^[2]

Personnel

• Roger Waters — lyrics, bass guitar, vocals, vocoder
• David Gilmour — music, vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• Richard Wright — Fender-Rhodes piano, Hammond organ, Minimoog, ARP String Synthesizer, backing vocals
• Nick Mason — drums, percussion

References

1. ^ Review of the song Dogs, Allmusic
2. ^ "Rock Compact Disc magazine, Issue 3, September 1992". http://www.pinkfloydfan.net/t1478-david-gilmour-rock-compact-disc.html. Retrieved 2011-07-21. 

External links

• You Gotta Be Crazy