Pet Shop Boys - I Want A Dog (Butch Mix)
Hey Puppies, I have a treat for you! I Want A Dog was first released as a b-side to Pet Shop Boys´ single Rent in 1987. It´s a fairly minimal, playful synth-pop track with nods to Detroit-Techno and Musique Concrete (the snare drum is a barking dog).
The lonely, almost sad feel of the song is accentuated by a jazzy instrumental coda, that gives it a languid, "late-night"-atmosphere.
A year later the song was remixed by Frankie Knuckles for inclusion on the Introspective album. The Chicago House Legend stripped the song of its contemplative playfulness and gave it a rather muscular "strut". Gone are the "dog snares" and Chris´ trademark, deadpan "dog solo", where he reads a list of dog breeds.
For my remix I tried to merge both versions, keeping the good bits of every mix: The barking dogs, the lush saxophone and the house piano. Imagining the song as a "club banger" for the big dogs, I put more meat to the beat and added an extended "poppers o´clock"-middle bit. (watch as the amyl hits at exactly 4:00!)
The lyrics are very simple, if taken at face value: "I want a dog, because I´m lonely and I need company." The fact that it´s the b-side to a song about a person being kept by someone else ("I love you, you pay my rent") adds an extra layer of "pop value" as it losely connects both songs.
Then there is of course the extra layer of "coded language", which Pet Shop Boys were so good at before they officially "came out". Is it really a dog that he wants to bark at strangers in the park at night? Is the loveless cat that he doesn´t want to spoil his flat, really a feline animal?
We will never know, but the boys (and the dogs) in the video edit I did for my "Butch Mix" certainly know the answer!
As always: My mixes are completely "one take", done with an amateur DJ program (VirtualDJ), no overdubs, no programming.
Enjoy! Hammer your paws on the Subscribe-button! Woof!
There´s more Pet Boy Shopping such as:
Two Divided By Zero (=Undefined Remix)
• Pet Shop Boys - Two Divided By Zero (=unde...
Pet Shop Boys v Soft Cell - Rent /Heat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umrHR...
Pet Shop Boys v Soft Cell: A RENT Could Get Lost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWoHz...
Psychological (Freudian Stomp Mix)
• Pet Shop Boys - Psychological (Freudian St...
Also available:
https://vimeo.com/user144902791
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