The spacey middle section of Pink Floyd's "Dogs"

[Yves]

I now have a "Dogs" earworm, thank you very much!

[wideopenears]

First time I heard Floyd was a live concert played on WPLJ out of NYC, when I was a teen...and they played stuff from Animals.

It's still my favorite Floyd album; Pigs (3 different ones) was a huge fave of mine early on.....Gilmour playing that fretless bass intro.

[Socrates]

Animals is my favorite Floyd album, and honestly kind of the last for me (sorry Wall fans...).

Me too. Animals and in particular Dogs pointed back to the earlier albums and songs like Echoes, whereas I remember feeling rather disappointed with The Wall when I got it on launch date. Not sure why, but The Wall seemed to be just a collection of songs, some of which were OK, but it seemed to be musically much less adventurous. Less prog

[battema]

I now have a "Dogs" earworm, thank you very much!

Let me fix that for ya!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AkLE4X-bbU

[Yves]

Let me fix that for ya!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AkLE4X-bbU

Although a FAR SUPERIOR song, it advocates buying a dog from a pet store, hence a puppy mill. I must object.

[Fracktured]

What's funny about that bit, that people may miss, is because it's a sixteen minute song, it's a perfect length of time for Johnny Fever to take a nap. I wonder if DJs in the seventies did that when they played "Close to the Edge" (assuming they played it at all).

I remember hearing all of Close to the Edge, all of Ritual and all of The Gates of Delirium on FM radio back in the day. Great song. Love the dogs barking.

[GuitarGeek]

What's funny about that bit, that people may miss, is because it's a sixteen minute song, it's a perfect length of time for Johnny Fever to take a nap. I wonder if DJs in the seventies did that when they played "Close to the Edge" (assuming they played it at all).

I always heard they liked to take cigarette or bathroom breaks during the long tracks. That's why the Frampton Comes Alive version of Do You Feel Like We Do was popular on radio: because if the DJ needed to take a dump, smoke a cigarette, or get a cup of coffee, he didn't have to worry about getting back to the booth until the song was over.

I heard about one DJ who put a record on, I forget which one it was, but he figured since it was 20 minutes or whatever, he'd be able to take a nap. Apparently, he dosed off, and woke up something like 45 minutes later, the last 25 minutes of which the station had been broadcasting dead air!

I think in the context of WKRP, I think the idea is that there was a running gag hinged on the fact that Johnny routinely ignored the station playlist. In one episode, Andy begs him to play "anything from the playlist, even if it's just a minute of one of the songs" or something like that. So this, I think, is more about Johnny playing whatever he wanted.

Then again, he does seem like he's trying to take a nap in the scene (except that Carlson keeps bugging him), so maybe that's part of it too.

[Mister Triscuits]

I always heard they liked to take cigarette or bathroom breaks during the long tracks.

I remember a DJ interview in some local music paper where they asked what happened if the DJ was on the air and had to use the bathroom; the response was "Play 'Layla'!"

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Animals is my favorite Pink Floyd album. Alas you never hear anything from in on radio.

Mine too. It's so great. And the only PF album that has a happy ending, lyrically. If you're a pissed off animal, that is...

[ThomasKDye]

And the only PF album that has a happy ending, lyrically.

Aw, come on. The first one ends with the listener being entreated to ride a colorful bike!

[Mister Triscuits]

Aw, come on. The first one ends with the listener being entreated to ride a colorful bike!

And the second one ends with "a joke"!

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Aw, come on. The first one ends with the listener being entreated to ride a colorful bike!

Damn, you have me there....but it's no bike....it's a couple minutes of avant garde noise, followed by a group of ducks, in some kind of organized quack formation.

It's true mental illness in song form, and there is no happy ending there.

`

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Maybe this will bring it home.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/9...d%202004.0.jpg

[Cygnus74]

Hi guys, I thought I'd post a link to my band performing Dogs at a recent show. See what you think. I'd welcome any feedback. You can can check out our website at www.experiencefloyd.com

I should add, Dogs is one of my favourite tunes to do

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/100834947/Dogs.mp3

Cheers!

[GuitarGeek]

Damn, you have me there....but it's no bike....it's a couple minutes of avant garde noise, followed by a group of ducks, in some kind of organized quack formation.

It's true mental illness in song form, and there is no happy ending there.

`

But do we view it as such as a result of actually happened to Syd, or would we recognize that coda as being a reflection of mental illness even if he hadn't cracked up?

The thing is, I bet if you were going to make a record where you wanted to convey that image, of mental illness, you probably wouldn't be able to pull it off as effectively as someone who is truly as cracked as Syd apparently was, saying "Let's end the album with a sound effects collage, ending with ducks, just because I think that would be a great way for side two to end".

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

I agree, the best parts are the instrumental parts.

[Jerjo]

I cannot think of a darker, more misanthropic album...that just makes be unbearably happy to hear it.

[Digital_Man]

I now have a "Dogs" earworm, thank you very much!

Just be glad I didn't start a post about the middle section from one of Brittany Spears's songs.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

But do we view it as such as a result of actually happened to Syd, or would we recognize that coda as being a reflection of mental illness even if he hadn't cracked up?

The thing is, I bet if you were going to make a record where you wanted to convey that image, of mental illness, you probably wouldn't be able to pull it off as effectively as someone who is truly as cracked as Syd apparently was, saying "Let's end the album with a sound effects collage, ending with ducks, just because I think that would be a great way for side two to end".

That's kind of drawing a line where someone isn't, and then suddenly "becomes'" mentally ill. Granted, the story is that Syd (actually Roger, as I prefer to call him) ate boatloads of acid during the initial Floyd heyday....and I see that as a sign of self-medication having been suddenly thrust into a limelight that he was not equipped to handle.
I believe he was a gentle, fragile guy who liked to play his guitar and hang out with his cats (oh Christ, it's me!).

We can discuss this until the sheep come home.

[JJ88]

Mine too. It's so great. And the only PF album that has a happy ending, lyrically. If you're a pissed off animal, that is...

I think it's an optimistic ending at least!

The thing with Animals being underrated IMHO at least partially comes down to David Gilmour not playing anything from it live. The 80s/90s Pink Floyd shows didn't acknowledge the album at all and he still doesn't play anything from it in his solo shows. This is despite 'Sheep' being one of his greatest ever moments.

[Rarebird]

Not on regular classic radio these days but back when I was in my teens I would hear "pigs(three different ones)" on the radio. Maybe it depended on where you lived.

Well, in The Netherlands the Pink Floyd stuff I mostly hear is stuff from Wish you were here, or some things from Dark side of the moon. Sometimes older stuff, or newer stuff, but nothing from Animals.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

perhaps all the wonderful music on Animals gets forgotten due to the nasty, caustic, political soapbox ranting in the lyrics causing some to play it less often...

[Kcrimso]

perhaps all the wonderful music on Animals gets forgotten due to the nasty, caustic, political soapbox ranting in the lyrics causing some to play it less often...

That would be a shame because lyrics on Animals are brilliant.

[Rarebird]

perhaps all the wonderful music on Animals gets forgotten due to the nasty, caustic, political soapbox ranting in the lyrics causing some to play it less often...

I prefer it over the nonsical mumbo jumbo from Jon Anderson.

[Kcrimso]

I prefer it over the nonsical mumbo jumbo from Jon Anderson.

I prefer lyrics of Animals over almost everything else.