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"(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" | ||||
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Single byPatti Page | ||||
B-side | "My Jealous Eyes" | |||
Released | January 1953 (US) March 28, 1953 (UK) | |||
Recorded | December 18, 1952 with "Barks by Joe and Mac" | |||
Genre | Novelty,traditional pop | |||
Length | 2:58 | |||
Label | Mercury (US) Oriole (UK) | |||
Songwriter(s) | Bob Merrill | |||
Patti Page singles chronology | ||||
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"(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" is apopularnovelty song written byBob Merrill and first registered on September 25, 1952, as "The Doggie in the Window". On January 27, 1953, its sheet music was published inNew York as "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window".[1]
The best-known version of the song was the original,recorded byPatti Page on December 18, 1952, and released in January 1953 byMercury Records as catalog numbers 70070 (78 rpm) and 70070X45 (45 rpm) under the title "The Doggie in the Window", with theflip side being "My Jealous Eyes". It reachedNo. 1 on both theBillboard andCash Boxcharts in 1953 and sold over two million copies.[2] Mercury, however, had poor distribution in the United Kingdom. Therefore, a recording byLita Roza was the one most widely heard in that country, reaching No. 1 on theUK Singles Chart in 1953.[3] It distinguished Roza as the first British woman to have a No. 1 hit in the UK chart and was also the first song with a question in the title to reach the top spot.[3]
"Doggie" was one in a series of successful novelty songs since the 1930s, following on the success of songs such asBing Crosby's "Pistol Packin' Mama" andMerv Griffin's "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts". Prior to the release of "Doggie", composerBob Merrill penned "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake".[4] The original Page recording included the sounds of dogs barking, credited on the label as "Barks by Joe and Mac" (her arranger,Joe Reisman, and a violinist). The recording also features Page's signature multi-part tight harmonies, all sung by Page. Over the course of her career, she also recorded several other versions.
On April 4, 1953, singer Patti Page's rendition of "The Doggie in the Window" went to No. 1 in the USBillboard magazine chart, staying at that top spot for eight weeks.[4] The song was wildly popular across a wide demographic. The song had school children "yipping", Mercury Records was besieged with requests for free puppies, and theAmerican Kennel Club's annual registrations spiked by eight percent. In all, Page's record sold over 2 million copies.[4] It was the third best-selling song of 1953.[5]
Following the UK top ten debut of Lita Roza's cover version on March 19, 1953, the Patti Page version of the song was released in the UK on March 28, renamed "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window" (sans question mark), under Mercury'sOriole Records label. Given the delay getting to market in the UK, it was not as successful as the Roza version, entering the charts at No. 9 on April 2, before leaving the charts altogether five weeks later.[6] The Roza version reached No. 1 on April 23, where it stayed for a single week. For five weeks between March 28, 1953, and April 25, 1953, there were two versions of "Doggie" in the UK's Top 12 singles chart.[7][8]
Chart (1953) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Singles Chart[9] | 1 |
Radio Luxembourg Sheet Music Chart[9] | 1 |
UK Singles Chart | 9 |
USBillboard Best Sellers in Stores[4] | 1 |
According to rock historian Michael Uslan, "novelty songs" like "Doggie" led to the "fervent embrace ofrock & roll"[4] by 1955. "A lot of songs at that time were extremely bland, squeaky-clean stuff. The music field was ripe for something new, something vibrant to shake the rafters."[4]
The song has since become a popularchildren's song. Bob Merrill's lyrics were reworked by Iza Trapani into her 2004 children's book,How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?.[10]
In 2009, Page recorded a version of the song with a new title ("Do You See That Doggie in the Shelter") together with new lyrics byChris Gantry, with the hopes of emphasizing the adoption of homeless animals fromanimal shelters.[11] The rights to that song were given exclusively to theHumane Society of the United States. Said Page:
"The original song asks the question: 'How much is that doggie in the window?' Today, the answer is 'too much.' And I don't just mean the price tag on the puppies in pet stores. The real cost is in the suffering of the mother dogs back at the puppy mill. That's where most pet store puppies come from. And that kind of cruelty is too high a price to pay."
— Patti Page, 2009[11]
Upon Page's death in 2013, the Humane Society wrote in its online eulogy, "We remember her fondly for her compassion for animals."[11]
The song, and Page's version in particular, gained some notoriety for its use in the infamous final scene ofJohn Waters' 1972 filmPink Flamingos.
A season five episode ofCold Case, "Devil's Music", used Patti Page's recording in the opening.[citation needed]
Creative directorKen Levine commented on the use of the song in 2007 video gameBioShock as choosing "the sort of crap pop of the time, what we consider pop music, like Patti Page, which holds up more for its nostalgic value than for being great music."[12] He also remarked that the story ofBioShock is "a sad story – not a horror story" and "we counterpoint it with [Patti Page's] '(How Much Is) that Doggie in the Window'".[13] However, due to licensing restrictions, Levine noted they had to use "another version of the recording": the game does not use Page's original 1952 overdubbed Mercury recording and instead uses her 1966 re-recording with full orchestra forColumbia Records.[14][15]
"(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window" | |
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Single byLita Roza (Accompaniment directed byJohnny Douglas) | |
B-side | "Tell Me We'll Meet Again" |
Published | January 27, 1953 |
Released | March 1953 |
Recorded | 18 February 1953 |
Genre | Novelty, traditional pop |
Length | 2:21 |
Label | Decca Records |
Songwriter(s) | Bob Merrill |
Producer(s) | Dick Rowe |
Roza was a singer with theTed Heath jazz band in the 1950s.[16] During this period, she was voted Favourite Female Vocalist in aMelody Maker poll from 1951 to 1955 and in a similarNew Musical Express poll from 1952 to 1955.[17]
In 1951, Roza recorded "Allentown Jail" with the Heath Band, which led to herA&R manDick Rowe asking her to sing "(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window". Her initial response was negative: "I'm not recording that; it's rubbish." She recalled that he pleaded with her, responding, "It'll be a big hit; please do it, Lita." She relented, saying she would record it but never sing it again afterwards.[17] Roza's version was recorded on February 18, 1953, with accompaniment directed byJohnny Douglas.[18][19][20]
"(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window" was a new entry in the UK charts on March 14, 1953, at No. 9. It moved up to No. 3 in its second and third week of release before dropping down to No. 4 on April 4. On April 11, it moved up to No. 2 for a week, before reaching No. 1 on April 18. This made Lita Roza both the first female vocalist to top the UK singles chart and the first artist fromLiverpool to do so, long before the success ofThe Beatles orCilla Black in the 1960s.[21] Roza held the top spot for one week, before gradually dropping down the top ten over the next five weeks, with its final week in the top ten being at No. 9 on May 23.[7]
Record sales in the UK were not a threat to the sheet music charts, broadcast onRadio Luxembourg, until around 1955. It is thought that the last sheet music million sellers were in 1953, and it has been suggested that "(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window" was the final title to reach this figure. The song entered the sheet music charts on February 28, 1953, and peaked at No. 1 on March 28, its fifth week on the chart, staying there for six weeks in total. No recordings were commercially available until after the song had entered the sheet music charts, with several versions issued in March 1953: these were by Lita Roza, Patti Page, Carole Carr with Children's Choir and Rustler the Dog, and British actorJohn Slater. The following month, a version by the British child starMandy Miller, who was aged just 8, was released. A parody version by American country music duoHomer and Jethro (titled "That Hound Dog in the Window") was released in November in the UK after the song had left the charts. In May 1954, the UK branch of Mercury re-issued Page's recording. The company had taken over distribution of American Mercury's repertoire from Oriole, who had originally released the Page version in the UK.[22]
Chart (1953) | Peak position |
---|---|
Radio Luxembourg Sheet Music Chart[9] | 1 |
UK Singles Chart[17] | 1 |
Lita Roza was widely reported to have strongly disliked her song. In an interview in 2004, she revealed that she had kept her promise never to perform the song: "I sang it once, just one take, and vowed I would never sing it again. When it reached number one, there was enormous pressure to perform it, but I always refused. It just wasn't my style."[16] However, she would go on to be most widely remembered for that song.[17] In 2001, Roza openedLiverpool's Wall of Hits onMathew Street, home ofThe Cavern Club. On display were various discs from every British number-one fromMerseyside, the first being her own.[21]
The song returned to the spotlight briefly during the 1980s as the result of an interview withSmash Hits magazine, whereinMargaret Thatcher, who was then serving asPrime Minister of the United Kingdom, admitted that Lita Roza's version of "Doggie" was her favourite song of all time.[23]
Following Roza's death in August 2008, she left £300,000 in her will to charities, of which £190,000 went to three dog-related charities:Battersea Dogs and Cats Home,The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, and The Cinnamon Trust.[16]
The song has also beenparodied a few times, including: