Songfacts®:

• Temple Of The Dog lead singer Chris Cornell wrote this song as an ode to his then-wife Susan Silver, who managed fellow grungers Alice In Chains as well as Cornell's band Soundgarden. This song probably represents the problems they had in their relationship before they finally got married:
  
  You call me a dog
  And that's fair enough
  
  When it's time for his retort, Cornell won't resort to calling her names, but he might not call at all, which is arguably worse:
  
  I'll call you beautiful
  If I call at all
  
  Cornell and Silver divorced in march 2004.
• Temple Of The Dog formed after Chris Cornell learned of the March 19, 1990 death of Andrew Wood, his good friend and former roommate. Cornell wrote two songs in tribute to Wood: "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and "Reach Down." They weren't right for Soundgarden, so Cornell reached out to Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, who were in the band that Wood fronted, Mother Love Bone. They added Matt Cameron and Mike McCready to the project, and put together eight more songs to form a complete album, one of which was "Call Me A Dog." The album, which includes the Eddie Vedder-assisted "Hunger Strike," is a grunge landmark and an early indication of what to expect from Pearl Jam, which Vedder, McCready, Ament and Gossard formed.