Beatle Barkers Explained

Beatle Barkers
Type:studio
Artist:Woofers & Tweeters Ensemble
Cover:Barkersbarkers.jpg
Released:1983
Length:29:25
Label:Passport Records

Beatle Barkers is a 1983 album released by the Woofers & Tweeters Ensemble[1] on the Passport Records label. The album consists of dogs barking a parody of popular Beatles songs. The guitar and other instrumental tracks, performed by anonymous backing musicians from Germany,[2] are very similar to the original Beatles recordings, with the animal sounds taking the place of the sung lyrics. In addition to dogs, performances by other animals such as sheep, farmyard fowls and a cat are included. All the animal sounds were sampled from real animals except for the howling dogs which were recorded by a dog impersonator.[2]

Production

The album was a collaboration between engineer Roy Nicolson and producer Gene Pierson. Nicolson had begun experimenting with animal sounds on an E-mu Emulator I, an early sampler. Pierson jokingly asked him if he could play "Paperback Writer" using dogs barking. He did and soon Pierson had commissioned him to create the album, which was made in about two weeks on an 8-track tape machine, with two tracks for the backing tracks and six for the animals. The album was released on Passport Records and marketed by Demtel.[2] [3]

Reception

In 1984, a reviewer from the The Boston Phoenix said that the album was "a real howler".[4]

Track listing

All songs written by Lennon/McCartney.

  1. "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"
  2. "Love Me Do"
  3. "Ob La Di Ob La Da"
  4. "We Can Work It Out"
  5. "I Saw Her Standing There"
  6. "I Feel Fine"
  7. "Can't Buy Me Love"
  8. "All My Loving"
  9. "Day Tripper"
  10. "She Loves You"
  11. "A Hard Day's Night"
  12. "Paperback Writer"

Notes and References

  1. News: Mossman. Kate. The best (and worst) Beatles covers. 18 February 2011. The Times. 11 September 2009.
  2. News: Beatle Barkers: 'Dogs don't tend to hold the note when they howl'. Interview by Bob Baker Fish. Cyclic Defrost. Bob. Baker Fish. 29 April 2014. 29 November 2022.
  3. Web site: Demtel Direct Weekly Specials | Great Ideas, Greater Prices . Demtel.com.au . 29 July 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140626094003/http://demtel.com.au/. 26 June 2014.
  4. News: Cragin. Sally. The Beatle Barkers: A Real Howler. 18 February 2011. The Boston Phoenix. 10 April 1984.