Where did the song come from? I looked it up on a couple of different online CD sources and there seems to be several artists/groups with that song title and the same tag-line of:
“Who let the dogs out? (woof woof woof etc)”.
So the question is who came up with it first (is it a song, or a figure of speech, or a cultural reference)? Is it recorded somewhere? Or is everyone just ripping off each other?
Here’s a nice little article from the Washington Post on the song, including who first recorded it.
In specific answer to your questions as to who first recorded it and what it’s about, I quote the above article:
When we were in Jamaica in May of 1998 the song was played all the time at the resort. We liked the song then and never heard it again until a month or so ago.
Whoop. There it is.
Um…in the UK at least “dogs” is a common slang word for unattractive women. Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree here (sorry) but I never thought it meant anything other than “Why all the ugly women?”
Yep, and Anslem Douglas’s version is way better than the bizarre one I just heard on the radio. His song was a good soca song with a fast tempo, the new one just sounds weird - not aggressive enough, too sing-songy, etc.
Let’s hope this is the last of the cover of Trinidadian songs about dogs. 'Cause there’s way more out there - songs about dogs and animals in general were very popular a few years ago, and it seemed like every popular soca artist had a song which mentioned dogs, or bulls, or something.
Hell, I always thought it was the Late Show’s Allan Kalter…
Barking up the wrong tree. Among the community in question, dog means a scamming man. As in, man cheating on his woman, girlfriends say “He’s nothing but a dog.”
I heard other covers of the same waaaay back so it’s not new. Surprised that this is popular… Who can explain pop?