Seamus

Album: Meddle (1971)
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Songfacts®:

  • According to Nick Mason's book Inside Out, this song was recorded with a dog named Seamus that David Gilmour was watching over. The dog would bark and howl every time he heard music, or if someone played the guitar. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Charlie Voita - Phoenix, AZ
  • Seamus belonged to Small Faces and Humble Pie lead singer Steve Marriott. The dog can also be heard barking in the background along with the vocalist's other pooches on the Small Faces single, "The Universal."
  • John Leckie was one of the Abbey Road staff engineers the day Gilmour recorded the canine blues of "Seamus." "Dave Gilmour comes in on a Saturday morning, and he had this dog with him," he laughed to Mojo magazine. "He goes, 'Hey listen to this.' He starts playing the harmonica and the dog's howling. 'Quick! Mic it up...' Seamus was done in minutes."

    "But I can't understand why they put that on the record, Leckie added. "No. I mean, what was the joke? I still haven't got the joke, really."

Comments: 14

  • Name from ScotlandThat's the dog.
  • Frank from New York, NyI remember explaining this song to someone in the mid 70s, they were first annoyed about the dog, but I explained: wait for it ... The Dog Takes A Solo, which you can hear in the first round of solos (about 0:45 to 1:20) as Seamus trades licks with Gilmour. At the Outro (about 2:01), Gilmour sets up the blues motif at the flat-2 chord (Eb) and returns to the tonic (D), while Seamus does the same (blues) quarter-tone bend to Eb and backs off to D. My digital tuner shows Seamus was within 6 cents on his pitching. Not bad for a doggy with no auto-tune. And if you've had a dog who has been around music playing, you'd know it is unsurprising that the dog was trying to track Gilmour's slide. So aside from the fun they were having, Dogs are sorta special to Pink Floyd: it's clear from Animals that Gilmour is a Dog (Who Was Dragged Down By The Stone?), and probably Wright and Mason, too ... not sure if Waters is a Dog or a Pig (Waters did sound authentic in his gusto Pigly singing "bus stop rag bag ... you f*cked up old hag ... you like the feel of steel ... and you're good fun with a hand gun ..."). So with Animals in mind, and dog barkings created with a Hammond and a wah-wah, I wouldn't be so dismissive of this song. Sure, "Seamus" is a smaller artistic idea when compared to "Echoes", but my hunch is that Pink Floyd members heard the musicality in Seamus's voice ... and what's wrong with exploring that artistic idea in your 20s?
  • Mrkitsilano from Vancouver, BcSeamus belonged to Mr. Steve Marriot, a friend of David Gilmour.
  • Oldpink from New Castle, InIt has long puzzled me why so many "critics" and "experts" ridicule this song.
    Uh, yeah, it's not serious, we GET it, okay?
    When you hear something that was obviously meant to be tongue in cheek, it is probably not very smart to use the likes of "Echoes" to compare it to.
    That aside, this is still a decent song, when you ignore the "hound dog," especially Dave's nice bit of stripped down slide blues guitar.
  • Kh from Turkey Town, MeI like it. It's fun and not meant to be taken seriously. Everythihng doesn't have to be a serious 24 min. composition!
  • Ethan from Helsinki, -Seamus is playing in the opening scenes of one of the greatest films ever made, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.
  • Michael from Oxford, EnglandYeah, I know a lot of people hate this song. But it surely is not the worst Pink Floyd song, what about "Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict"?
  • Desdemona from London, EnglandI thought Roger Waters barked on this song!!
  • Bill from Erie, PaThe Floyd performed this as part of their "Live in Pompeii" film, albeit with many alterations. Instead of Seamus, they used a female afghan named Madmoiselle Nobs, and Roger Waters played the twelve-bar blues on Dave Gilmour's guitar while Dave provided the harmonica and Rick Wright held the microphone up to the howling dog's mouth. No lyrics were included.
  • Ryan from Plano, TxDon't care for this one. In a short-lived Pink Floyd magazine, this song rivaled "Dogs of War" as the worst song in their catalog. I personally like "Dogs of War" a lot, though.
  • Tom from Norman, OkIt's good music. Who cares if the lyrics don't mean anything?
  • Fyodor from Denver, CoI hated a review I saw of Meddle once that dissed what it called "pointless country blues", obviously referring to this song. Maybe the point is that it sounds cool? I think it has a very introspective, sad but resigned feel and the moaning of the dog adds to that. And of course it's funny too. I think the Floyd were better before they had to fit everything into a "concept", but I guess the concepts sold more records and pleased the self-important critics.
  • Michael from Seattle, WaThis song is awesome! I love Pink Floyd blues songs.
  • Yuya from Kyoto, JapanI love this song. IT's cute, hilarious, and the Dog in the song is really cool.
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