#89 – Like My Dog
#89 – Like My Dog
-by Stacy Garwood-
Like My Dog was released on JB’s album Equal Strain On All Parts, the album that turned out to be Jimmy’s posthumous gift to us. The song is light, it’s playful, it’s humorous, it’s emotional and poignant in a way that is hard to describe, yet still leaves the listener feeling warm and fuzzy. I think this song connects deeply with people who understand the special bond between humans and dogs.
“Why don’t you love me like my dog does, baby?”
I will tell you that I connected with this song immediately. Of course I would, since I am such an animal person, and I imagine that many other people feel exactly the same way. Of all the songs on Equal Strain On All Parts, this was the song that I wanted to discuss first last fall, when I was doing my personal song tribute to Jimmy. The only reason that I did not, was that I was trying to focus that tribute to songs that Jimmy had written or cowritten, which I did with the exceptions of Brown Eyed Girl and Southern Cross. I believe that in multiple ways, Jimmy made those cover songs his own, and they felt organically a part of him. Such as this song, which feels organically that it fits Jimmy’s style.
“He never tells me that he’s sick of this house, he never says why don’t you get off that couch? He don’t cost me nothin’ when he wants to go out, I want you to love me like my dog…”
If the song sounds familiar, it was first recorded and released in 2010 by Billy Currington, on his Enjoy Yourself album. I vaguely recall hearing it on the radio. One of the songs cowriters, Scotty Emerick also recorded it and has made a staple of it in his live shows, always to a lovely and enjoyable reaction from the crowd. Dogs, and songs about dogs, just do that to us crazy humans.
The song Like My Dog was cowritten by Scotty Emerick and Harley Allen, who were just sitting around watching their dogs play one day, and as gifted song writers can do, turned an everyday experience into a song that can touch the hearts of even the most grinch-like of humans. They decided to toss the ideas of unconditional love of our canine companions into their idea of perhaps sometimes the less than unconditional love of their feminine companions in life. Hey, they wrote the song, not me, but as a female, I can totally appreciate the humor of the song, and understand that sometimes our human companions, no matter their gender, do not always show us the unconditional love of a dog. Emerick said they wanted to make the song both funny and simple, and I think they certainly succeeded.
Scotty Emeric is a singer and songwriter, known for his long-time and successful collaborations with Toby Keith, which include Weed With Willie, The Taliban Song, Beer For My Horses, and I Love This Bar, to name a few. He also wrote songs for Sawyer Brown, George Strait and Kenny Chesney. He was awarded the 2004 Songwriter Of The Year award from the Nashville Songwriters Association, and has released a solo album, several successful songs and has written more songs than I could have imagined.
Harley Lee Allen, who unfortunately passed away in 2011, was a member of the Allen Brothers Band, and recorded five studio albums in the seventies with his brothers and later had three solo projects. The list of artists who have recorded his music is about a mile and a half long, but to mention a few, there is Garth Brooks, Dierks Bentley, Tracy Byrd, Gary Allen, Joe Diffie, Alan Jackson, George Jones, Sammy Kershaw and Hal Ketchum. He is also noted for the background vocals on A Man Of Constant Sorrow from the film Oh Brother, Where Art Though?
Scotty Emerick says that when they wrote this song, they wanted it to be both funny and simple, and I think that he and Harley Allen hit a grand slam homerun with Like My Dog.
“He never says I need a new attitude, Him and my sister ain’t always in a feud, When I leave the seat up he don’t think that it’s rude, I want you to love me like my dog does baby…”
The song seemed like a perfect fit for Jimmy, but it turns out he had to be talked into recording it. From the radio interview that Mac McAnally and Michael Utley did just before the official release of Equal Strain On All Parts, Jimmy liked the song, but hesitated to put it on an album. He was worried about a few of the lines, and although they didn’t reveal what lines those might have been, I have a few guesses. Something along the lines of “I really, really like it, but…” However, after Jimmy had declined the song, Scotty Emerick was opening for Jimmy and the Coral Reefer Band, and Jimmy heard a live performance of the song, and was aware of the crowd reaction to the song and it’s lyrics and it’s message, and afterwards, said, “I’m cutting that, we’re definitely cutting that song”.
In that interview, Mac goes on to say, “Nobody loves their dogs more than Jimmy” and mentions how Jimmy would “light up” when the dogs were around. Mac also revealed that he felt like Family, Dogs and Show were the top three in Jimmy’s life, although he didn’t think they fell in any particular order.
And so, Jimmy might have been initially talked into the recording, but it feels a perfect fit for him, as if the song was written, if not by him, then for him. Like it was meant to be. And from the promotions for the song and album, and the song that was the end product, it feels he meant it to be tribute to dogs everywhere, as well as his dogs.
I mentioned earlier how Jimmy had an ability to turn a cover song into something at seemed to fit him perfectly, as if it was his very own song. This one feels that way, too. Probably because people realized how much Jimmy loved his own dogs, and dogs in general. Since the advent of social media platforms, and the ease of sharing pictures and videos, it became apparent to people who loved and followed Jimmy that he loved his dogs. Heck, he even featured them on an album cover, 2016’s ‘Tis The Season, which had two of Jimmy’s pooches standing on a paddleboard with him, all of them decked out in holiday attire.
Those two dogs of Jimmy’s were Cavalier King Charles Spaniel’s and later it seemed like a couple more joined the brood. Jimmy often shared videos of him out walking the dogs, playing fetch with the dogs, boating with his dogs, sitting on the veranda relaxing with the dogs, wearing pictures of his dogs on his shirt (with a Happy National Love Your Pet Day wish to Gracie and Lola Buffett) and perhaps my favorite picture, of four well behaved dogs sitting in chairs at a kitchen island, waiting for treats and acting more patient than any of my family’s dogs would be. In my house, there would be quiet, intense-eyed begging, as if attempting to hypnotize me into releasing the treat. In my parents’ house, there would be uncontrolled barking or running in circles, too excited to wait patiently.
“He never acts like he don’t care for my friends, He never asks me where the hell have you been? He don’t play dead when I want to pet him, I want you to love me like my dog does honey…”
But like Jimmy and myself and my family, and many people that I know and a world of people who are strangers, we all love our dogs with a deep and special passion. And that is rather a “if you know, you know” kind of thing. Not to discount cats, which I have always had in my life and hopefully never will be without in life… so cat lovers, stand down. One type of pet isn’t better than the other, they are just different critters with different aspects and therefore relate to their humans in different types of ways. Although I had a black cat named Rufus who loved to play fetch and was almost unsatiable in this activity. He loved to fetch hair ties I would shoot across the room, and he would immediately bring them right back to do again and again and again. He taught my beautiful Border Collie Blue Heeler mix Jazz well!
But dogs and humans, that is a long bond. Research will tell us that dogs have been considered domesticated by humans (or vice versa) for around 15,000 years. That’s a long time, long before the noted domestication of cats. We learn more every day about human history that is so long ago, that we have forgotten or can’t possibly remember, but there are indications that the process of dog domestication started as long as 30,000 or longer years ago.
It seems that it was the association with wolves, probably less aggressive ones, which started the bond, and it took thousands of years to develop into the domesticated and diverse breeds we have today, but the bond is ancient and important. Not just to dogs, but to humans, too! We developed together, which is one reason that the connection feels so strong, in my opinion anyway. It feels like it has been with us forever, and while that might be the case, it is a part of our human development that came before our domestication of animals such as horses, cows, sheep and goats, and the aforementioned cats, animals that have also been integral to human development, dogs came first, and hence the deep bond.
People have all sorts of ideas about what breeds or sizes of dogs they are drawn to or seem to connect with or want to bring home. Perhaps it is what is familiar or an idea you have always had. I grew up with an assortment of dogs, some pure, some mutts, and I loved them all. But when it came to getting my own dog, I wasn’t sure what I needed or wanted. Of course, you can find yourself in unfamiliar territory, with a Border Collie Blue Heeler cross puppy with more energy than you think you can possibly contain and realize pretty quickly that the universe handed you the absolutely perfect companion.
“He never says ‘I wish you made more money’, He always thinks that pull my finger is funny, He don’t get made at me a throw a major fit, When I say you sister is a b**ch, I want you to love me like my dog does baby…”
And before Equal Strain On All Parts was released, and before Jimmy had passed away at the onset of September, there was a lovely video teasing the new album, sharing tidbits of this song and images of Jimmy with dogs, smiling and happy. It made me smile and look so forward to the album’s release. It made me smile in the way being around dogs can make a person smile, the way they make us feel important and loved, bringing up feelings that stretch from playfulness to protectiveness to dedication. It spawned the #likemydog social media craze!
Jimmy’s dog of choice, at least in the social media years, were his Cavelier King Charles Spaniels. The Cavelier is a throw-back breed, it actually came before the flat nosed King Charles Spaniels that had become the breed standard, and veered back to what the dogs were before. The Cavelier is a little larger, has a longer nose, but is just as snugly and lovable and loyal as the King Charles version, a nice combination of a toy breed and a sporting breed. They are said to have very affectionate personalities, which seems to fit Jimmy perfectly.
Hence the wonderful fit for Jimmy and the song Like My Dog.
“I want you to love me like my dog does baby…”
Even the song itself is quite special on its own, but an added bonus is the music video for the song which is absolutely heartwarming. And it opens with a humorous little clip of Jimmy with his dogs, playing with his dogs and channeling a car salesperson, with the introduction as follows: “Hi, This is Jim, of Jim’s Dogs, we’re back in business here. When you’ve got dogs out there, I’m your guy. Just remember, we don’t do cats, we don’t do frogs, here at Jim’s we just do dogs.” The video contains images of not only Jimmy and his dogs, and pictures of Jimmy with other peoples’ dogs, but also videos of regular folks just enjoying their beloved companions. And it has a special message at the end to urge people to adopt pets from shelters and canine homeless associations.
So, while I didn’t share this song last year, I knew that it would be early in this second year of sharing Jimmy’s music, and for a lot of reasons, now is absolutely the time to share this fun and heartwarming song about dogs. And their humans. And how we are integral to each other’s wellbeing. Jimmy loved and appreciated dogs, I love and appreciate dogs, and I love that this was a song that he gifted to us to enjoy for as long as the recordings last. Thank you, Jimmy! #likemydog
Stacy
Please enjoy Like My Dog. I have included the links for the studio version and music video below. Enjoy!
Studio Version: https://youtu.be/H0jrVUAv1Q0?si=J3cvmdc9hjoAjAMs
Official Video: https://youtu.be/eZnxYzvQHTE?si=HfUoKIFUHAHvv9sj
The links are from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.
**I have attempted to edit so the links play in the article but it isn’t working like usual. You will have to click into YouTube to watch them. Sorry about that!**
Articles that are might be of interest:
The Mutual Evolution of Dogs and Humans: How we changed each other forever | WFLA
Human-Dog Relationship – A Historical Perspective | Boehringer Ingelheim (boehringer-ingelheim.com)
How Dogs Have Uniquely Co-Evolved With Humans Like No Other Species | Discover Magazine
Jimmy Buffett Made Pet Adoption Video Before His Death (people.com)
Billy Currington, ‘Like My Dog’ – Lyrics Uncovered (tasteofcountry.com)
And while I normally do not share pictures besides album covers on the blog, certainly nothing personal, I do want to share a snapshot or two of my beloved, beautiful girl Jazz:
There is nothing more special than a person and their dog, the bond is eternal!
