They’re man’s best friend, but they can also be a pain in the butt. In this list, we’ve listed down 15 songs about dogs – from the loyal friend to the derogatory euphemism to all other things that can serve as a metaphor for dogs.
George Clinton – Atomic Dog
This catchy song is without a doubt one of the most popular songs of the 80s. In fact the signature chorus that goes bow-wow-wow yippie-yo yippie-yay is recognizable even to those who weren’t even born when the song came out! And while it may not strike you as a philosophical song, the song is an explanation about why men are always going after women. It’s because men have a little dog inside them and they always chase cats!
Doggie lyrics: Like the boys
When they’re out there walkin’ the streets
May compete
Nothin’ but the dog in ya
Why must I feel like that
Oh, why must I chase the cat
Baha Men – Who Let the Dogs Out
The Baha Men must have known all about Atomic Dog, and that might be why they decided to sing this song. Who Let the Dogs out may sound like any old fun novelty song, but it has a surprising social commentary. The song is actually a criticism of men who act like dogs by hitting on women at parties. SO when someone asks who let the dogs out, they’re asking why there are so many rude men around who act like horny dogs!
Doggie lyrics: I see ya’ little speed boat head up our coast
She really want to skip town
Get back fluffy, back scruffy
Get back you flea infested mongrel
Lita Roza – How Much is that Doggie in the Window
Oh man, this song definitely has a bad rep. The song’s writer, Bob Merrill, was branded as the worst songwriter of all time by Slate Magazine. And to add insult to injury, Lita Roza would agree. Despite the song skyrocketing her to the top stop in the UK singles chart (and being the first woman to claim that honor), she adamantly refused to ever sing the song again after it was recorded!
Doggie lyrics: How much is that doggy in the window
The one with the waggely tail
How much is that doggy in the window
I do hope that doggy’s for sale
Cat Stevens – I Love My Dog
For a guy who goes by the name Cat, he sure loves dogs. Stevens wrote this song from his own experience. He once saw a dachshund tied to a post when he was a kid. And since nobody claimed the dog, he took it home and grew attached to it. In fact, in the song, he firmly believes that the dogs love will always top that of any lover he’ll ever have. Now that’s love.
Doggie lyrics: I love my dog as much as I love you
But you may fade, my dog will always come through.
All he asks from me is the food to give him strength
All he ever needs is love and that he knows he’ll get
Tom T. Hall – Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine
The title may strike you as odd, but Tom T. Hall claims that this song was inspired by true events. He was at a music festival in Miami beach back in 1972 and he decided to relax at his hotel’s lounge. An old gentleman sat next to him and told him that the best things in life are old dogs, children, and watermelon wine. He says that old dogs love you even if you’re not perfect – a statement that’s undoubtedly true,
Doggie lyrics: “Old dogs care about you even when you make mistakes;
God bless little children while they’re still too young to hate.”
When he moved away I found my pen and copied down that line
‘Bout old dogs and children and watermelon wine.
Billy Currington- Love Me Like My Dog Does
When someone asks you to love him the way his dog does, how would you take it? Well, in this song, that’s exactly what Billy Currington is asking from his girlfriend. He says his dog never complains, never complains about his attitude, and is always just happy when he comes home. Offensive as it may be to be compared to a dog, you can’t deny just how great a dog’s love is for its human!
Doggie lyrics: I want you to love me like my dog does baby
When I come home, I want you to just go crazy
He never looks at me like he might hate me
I want you to love me like my dog
John Hiatt- My Dog and Me
If you’re looking for a wholesome song that shows how much a man can love his dog, this is it. My Dog and Me is a song about a man appreciating all the little things in life that he appreciates so much more whenever he experiences them with his dog. True enough, dogs really make the little things in life so much better.
Doggie lyrics: Buddy I coulda gone that extra mile
For an extra bark or an extra smile
‘Cause I never felt so free
It was just my dog and me
Then she gives me that look
Like she’d lay down her life
No doubt she would in a minute, man
She’d face the bullet
Oh she’d face the knife
Just to keep my butt from the fryin’ pan
Neil Young – Old King
Neil Young’s song about his dog named King sure hits a soft spot when you think about how long a human’s life is compared to a dog’s. Young once had a dog named King who would go with him anywhere. He says King was the finest dog he ever had, though he never knows if he might one day find a dog just as great as King was.
Doggie lyrics: I had a dog and his name was King
I told the dog about everything
Old King sure meant a lot to me
But that hound dog is history
King went a-howlin’ after deer
Wasn’t scared of jumpin’ off the truck in high gear
King went a-sniffin’ and he would go
Was the best old hound dog I ever did know
Rufus Thomas – Somebody Stole My Dog
Rufus Thomas is said to be the king of songs about dogs, with songs like “Can Your Monkey Do the Dog,” “The Dog,” and “Walking the Dog.” While Walking the Dog is undoubtedly his most popular dog song, we chose Somebody Stole My Dog for this list. Why? Because you can clearly hear the anguish in Rufus’ singing when he finds out that someone stole his beloved pet!
Doggie lyrics: Somebody stole my dog
Please, you know who could’ve stole my dog
Somebody please bring my dog back to me
I’d give anything, anything if you just, if you just
If you, if you can, if you just, if you get get get get get get
Get get get get get get get get, bring my dog again
Please, please, please, I love that dog so much
So much, so much, so much
Please, please, please, please, please, please
The Beatles – Martha My Dear
Martha My Dear was written by Paul McCartney about his Old English Sheepdog named Martha. However, the name Martha was inspired by the name of his then muse, who would be the voice in his head that would tell him what to write. It may have also been written about McCartney’s longtime love interest Jane Asher, who broke off their engagement in 1968. McCartney references her in the lyrics, “when you find yourself in the thick of it, help yourself to a bit of what is all around you.”
Doggie lyrics: Hold your head up, you silly girl
Look what you’ve done
When you find yourself in the thick of it
Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you
Silly girl
Take a good look around you
Take a good look you’re bound to see
That you and me were meant to be
With each other
Silly girl
Harry Nilsson – The Puppy Song
In this song, Harry Nilsson plays the part of the lonely man who just wants some company. He wishes he could have a loyal friend in a puppy who would be with him all the time, from tea time to walks, though they can’t go where there are signs that say “no dogs allowed.”
Doggie lyrics: If only I could have a puppy
I’d call myself so very lucky
Just to have some company
To share a cup of tea with me
I’d take my puppy everywhere
La, la, la, la, I wouldn’t care
Then we’ll stay away from crowds
With signs that said “no dogs allowed”
Oh we, I know he’d never bite me
Up, la, la, la, la, la, ooh
We, I know he’d never bite me
Pink Floyd – Dogs
With all these songs about how great dogs are, let’s go back to the use of “dogs” as a derogatory term. In this song, Pink Floyd references the businessmen who use their power to get richer and more powerful as they step on others. By the end of the song, as if a curse on all the rich and powerful people who use others to get revenge, the “dogs” get old and fat until they eventually die of cancer.
Doggie lyrics: Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone’s expendable and no-one has a real friend
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything’s done under the sun
And you believe at heart, everyone’s a killer
Johnny Cash – Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog
If you want a song brimming with irritation, you absolutely must listen to this classic track by the Man in Black. Cash’s dog can’t seem to resist killing off all the chickens in his hen house, so he threatens it by telling it that he might have to grab his rifle and send the mongrel to that great chicken house in the sky.
Doggie lyrics: Well he’s not very handsome to look at
Oh he’s shaggy and he eats like a hog
And he’s always killin’ my chickens
That dirty old egg-suckin’ dog
Barry Manilow – Mandy
When you get it in your head that this song is about a dog, the lyrics actually make sense. However, it’s only an urban myth perpetrated by the writer of the song, Scott English. He was awoken by a phone call from a reporter demanding to know who the song is about. To get the reporter off his back, he said the song was about a dog like Lassie whom he sent away.
Doggie lyrics: Morning, just another day
Happy people pass my way
Looking in their eyes
I see a memory
I never realized
How happy you made me, oh Mandy
Well you came and you gave without taking
But I sent you away, oh Mandy
Will you kissed me and stopped me from shaking
And I need you today, oh Mandy
Elvis Presley- Hound Dog
To cap off this list, we have an emblem of the rock ‘n’ roll revolution brought to us by none other than Elvis Presley. A “hound dog” is actually a euphemism for a man who would always look for a woman who would take care of him. It was written as an insult song, but since they couldn’t really directly curse at anyone on the airwaves, the writers went with “hound dog.”
Doggie lyrics: You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog
Cryin’ all the time
You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog
Cryin’ all the time
Well, you ain’t never caught a rabbit you ain’t no friend of mine
Which of these songs would you sing to your loyal dog and which would you like to send to your worst enemy?
