Dogs (The Who song)

"Dogs"
Single by The Who
B-side	"Call Me Lightning"
Format	7" 45 rpm
Label	Track 604 023
Writer(s)	Pete Townshend
The Who singles chronology
"I Can See for Miles (1967) "Dogs"/"Call Me Lightning" (1968) "Magic Bus" (1968)

"Dogs" is a U.K single released by The Who in June 1968^[1]. It reached number 25 on the UK singles chart. The B-side of the U.K. single was "Call Me Lightning." Both songs were originally released mixed in mono only, as they were not originally intended for album release.

The lyrics of Dogs were inspired by Townshend's friend Chris Morphet who had a fascination for Greyhound racing. Morphet contributes harmonica and backing vocals. It was recorded at London's Advision Studios in early 1968. Townshend booked this studio as it was the first in the U.K. to install professional reel-to-reel eight-track equipment. Previous to this The Who only used recorders with a maximum of four tracks.

The song was not a major commercial success at the time of its release, perhaps because of its rather bizarre and campy style. Entwistle later said that it sounded much more like the group Small Faces and suggested that it would have perhaps been better for both groups if they had recorded it instead. Pete said in the notes to the 1974 LP Odds & Sods that this was one of the songs recorded during a period when the group went "slightly mad." The song contains both singing and spoken sections and has vocal contributions from three members of the group, Roger, Pete and John. It includes the memorable closing phrase, "Nice dog, yes, lovely form, lovely buttocks", spoken by Pete.

A subsequent song Dogs Part Two was later released as the B-side of Pinball Wizard in 1969. Despite the similar titles the two songs are musically unrelated. Dogs Part Two is an instrumental credited to Keith Moon. Both Dogs songs were included on the 1987 collection U.S. collection Two's Missing. That album is out-of-print, but Dogs is still available in a 1990s era stereo re-mix on the box set 30 Years of Maximum R&B.

U.S. Single "Call Me Lightning"

The Dogs single was never released in the U.S. Instead, The Who and their U.S. label Decca released "Call Me Lightning" as the A-side of a U.S. single in March 1968. The Who considered the style of Call Me Lightning to be a bit out of date for the U.K. market. The single peaked at #40 on the U.S. singles chart. The B-side of the U.S. single "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was written by John Entwistle. Both tracks were later included in the U.S. compilation album Magic Bus: The Who on Tour, released in September 1968.

References

1. ^ http://www.thewho.net/discography/singles/Index.htm