Bob Dylan Kicks His Dog Around

Bob Dylan — “Kickin’ My Dog Around”

Recorded in Big Pink’s doghouse, this is the song that fetched the Pulitzer for Dylan. Dalriadajohannsen says that “My dad used to sing this when he was drunk.” That also seems to be state that Dylan and the Band were in when they recorded it.

Here area some excerpts from Scott Bunn’s fascinating history of the song:

[While recording the Basement Tapes there] were many instances of goofing off and playing around with either a new song of Dylan’s or a riff on an old, traditional song. “Kickin’ My Dog Around” is perfect example of the latter[.] . . . [Dylan and the Band] all launch into the song to create a wild and hilarious call-and-response tune. . . .

BOB DYLAN: Every time I go to town,
The boys keep kickin’ my dog around.
THE BAND: Why, why, why…
BOB DYLAN: Don’t know why — I’m goin’ to town, I don’t know why they kick my dog aroun’. . . .

. . . . The Band is trying to sabotage the song and make Dylan crack up by changing up their singing parts. . . . It’s a delightful peek into these guys goofing off and having fun in the basement. . . . This performance of “Kickin’ My Dog Around” is both ridiculous and compelling. . . . One source says that the song was written by the legendary songwriter and performer James Bland, perhaps best known for writing “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny[.]”. . . According to Russel Nye in his book The Unembarassed Muse: The Popular Arts in America, Bland was “born of free Negro parents in New York, musically well educated, a brilliant graduate of Howard University. He joined a Negro minstrel show company (of which there were not many) and wrote more than seven hundred songs for minstrel use, copyrighting only a few. Equaled perhaps only by Foster in his gift for melody, Bland turned out good songs by the score, many published under others’ names.”

Nye goes on to say that “‘They Gotta Quit Kickin’ My Dog Aroun’ was a comedy favorite [of Bland’s] for years.” The Roots of Bob Dylan says that inspiration for Dylan’s version was a song called “The Hound Dawg Song” as documented by folklorist and song collector Alan Lomax . . . . Lomax writes about the song:

“Some say ‘The Hound Dawg Song,’ a favourite Ozark mountain song, originated before the Civil War, when a country boy named Zeke Parish had a tussle with a townie, who had kicked his dog. . . . The tune is the old fiddler’s favourite, ‘Sandy Land’ or ‘Sally Anne.’”

. . . . The song was subsequently recorded by Byron G. Harlan in 1912 as “They Gotta Quit Kickin’ My Dog Around”. . . . Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers scored a hit with the song in 1926 as “Ya Gotta Quit Kickin’ My Dog Aroun’” . . . . Both versions of this song are quite fun, especially the Skillet Lickers’ cut as the boys in the band are yipping and baying in the background like dogs. Despite that silliness, neither quite sound like The Basement Tapes version. The key to Dylan’s specific arrangement of the song emerged when he was DJing a radio show in 2006 . . . . The theme for [this episode] was “Dogs,” and he played a track by Rufus Thomas. . . . Dylan introduces the song by Thomas this way:

. . . . Rufus Thomas recorded a number of dog songs, perhaps the most famous was ‘Walkin’ the Dog,’ . . . But I’ve always liked this one. . . . It’s called ‘Stop Kickin’ My Dog Around.’”

. . . . Hearing Thomas’s version, it’s plain to hear that this cut was Dylan’s inspiration . . . more than the Skillet Lickers or anyone else. We can hear the call-and-response between Thomas and his background singers. . . . [It] is a silly song, a ditty, a throwaway. Except that different generations of performers — black and white, urban and rural — keep finding something in it. The adventure embedded in this song reflects the peculiarities and joy that is American music.

As to Byron Harlan, Eugene Chadbourne writes:

Despite an action-packed solo career that resulted in 130 sides on the Edison label alone, the singer was even better known as half of Collins & Harlan, a pairing of over-sized physical and vocal talent often known as “the Half-Ton Duo.” Harlan took delight in ridiculing his own size . . . . He was so confident of his talents that when required to submit a demo to the new Edison outfit, Harlan attempted to create the most ridiculous vocal performance of all time, a long-lost prank from the early recording business that nonetheless convinced label A&R guys that this was a great talent . . . . On his own, Harlan specialized in sentimental ballads such as “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” as well as well-loved cornpone, including the classics “They Gotta Quit Kickin’ My Dawg Aroun’” and “How ‘Ya Gonna Keep “Em Down on the Farm.” Collins & Harlan were both minstrel show veterans by the time the first recording technology was invented.

As to Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers, Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes:

The Skillet Lickers were one of the most important and influential string bands of the ’20s and ’30s. Led by fiddler Gid Tanner, the band combined old-timey country music with a wacky sense of humor and showmanship . . . . From 1926 to 1931, the Skillet Lickers were the most popular country band in the country. . . . [T]he group wasn’t relaunched until 1934, when Tanner formed a new lineup that recorded one final session that yielded their biggest hit, “Down Yonder.” . . . Tanner had worked his way up through the conventional circuit of festivals and traveling shows that fiddlers frequented. His first great success arrived in the middle of the 1910s, when he began to regularly win fiddling conventions in Atlanta. In addition to playing, Tanner was also an accomplished comedian, which meant he was an all-around entertainer, capable of winning audiences easily. . . . [T]he band recorded and released their first singles in 1926. [They] were an immediate hit . . . . With their third single, the Skillet Lickers released their first comedy record with “A Corn Licker Still in Georgia,” which alternated music with a comic dialogue about backwoods moonshiners. The record was their biggest single yet . . . . The name was officially reclaimed by Tanner in 1934, when he signed to Victor’s Bluebird label. Tanner assembled a new group of Skillet Lickers . . . and recorded over 30 songs in San Antonio. It was the final time Tanner ever entered a studio. The sessions produced “Down Yonder,” which became Tanner and the Skillet Lickers’ last big hit. Following the 1934 session, the Skillet Licker name was retired . . . .

Here’s Rufus Thomas:

Here’s Byron Harlan:

Here are Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers:

Here are the New Christy Minstrels:

Here is Buffy Saint Marie:

See my website at bracefortheobscure60srock.com.