Talk:Dog Walker

Ween

Ween, anyone? --Yamfox 09:56, 19 July 2011 (EDT)

I hear it! Good catch. --MisterMe (talk) 14:07, 14 April 2014 (EDT)

Formant Shifting

"There is some pitch shifting but the x factor is generated by an effect called “formant shifting.” The formant might be technically defined a different way, but it seems to me to be essentially timbre or resonance. If you shift it a lot it suggests a female or bass voice." - Flans.

Worth mentioning any part of this in the trivia section? --༺𝄞𝄆Ⓠⓤⓔⓛ⎈Ⓓⓞⓜⓜⓐⓖⓔ𝄇༻ 17:06, 19 July 2011 (EDT)

Lyrics Issues

Has anyone addressed the problem with the liner notes' lyrics? If I remember correctly, doesn't it say "Time is a wrecking ball, etc"?

check out Problems With Liner Notes. - Apollo (colloquia!) 10:47, 25 July 2011 (EDT)

Great, I see it. Shouldn't a 'Problems with Liner Notes' tag be on the song themes section then?

Oh but isn't it?! ~ magbatz

A real dog- Another Mono Puff reference

An astonishingly bad song. Perhaps the worst in the Giants history. Flans at his worst Mono Puff throwaway and experimental. One wonders how many decent Linnell songs had to make way for this sniggering nonsence to get the nod. Of course Flans is the energy and organisation of the band, and without him the band would not have continued much past 1996 but he does have these lapses. One does sometimes wish the restraining hand of Bill Krauss was there to say that the cheesy vocode effect all over the vocal makes it virtually unlistenable. Flans messing about with his vocals is nothing new and Dogwalker is the gawky sibling of great tracks such as She was a Hotel Detective (1994) and Why Can't I sing like a girl? The "twist" such as it is, is that the dog is above the pecking order rather than the dog walker. The battery reference will be explained by greater minds than mine, perhaps a US reference that us Brits miss? (Mr Tuck)

Well that certainly is a scathing opinion... thankfully not one held by everybody... I adore Dog Walker for its sheer weirdness and that it's the only really experimental thing on the album, and it has a definite charm to it, but maybe that's just me. It also kind of seems a bit unfair to compare it negatively to non-existent tracks such as Why Can't I Sing Like A Girl?--༺𝄞𝄆Ⓠⓤⓔⓛ⎈Ⓓⓞⓜⓜⓐⓖⓔ𝄇༻ 17:56, 25 July 2011 (EDT)

Wanna know what I think about what Mr. Tuck said? SamuelMan36 17:54, 25 July 2011 (EDT)

This will never be the worst in their history while You'll Miss Me exists. If you want to talk about annoying vocal modifications, that one is worse hands down. Plus I like this song. Reminds me of a decent Orson Scott Card short story. -ASelfCalledL

I appear to have offended some posters, which was not my attention. I need to stress that I am a huge Giants and Flans fan, I saw them live in 1989 and have seen them twice in the states (I'm a Brit) make no mistakes I adore the band and own and will always own everything they do. They were great at the KOKO the other week. However, I feel that it's only fair to be honest about their output. Dogwalker is a poor song, in my opinion. I take my inspiration from a great book called Revoltion in the Head by Ian MacDonald which tried to be objective about Beatles songs. I try and be objective about both my interpretations and views on Giants songs. No offence guys. If you look at my posts on this site, you will see that I adore most of their output! Dogwalker is weak, as it's low performance in the wiki chart confirms. (Mr Tuck)

Funny that this was the song whose Mr Tuck interpretation drew the most ire. I don't think it's necessarily bad objectively as a song. The voice effects are good at making his voice approximate both attempted-frightening and weak, and the simple guitar groove is legitimately cool and the drums can do no harm on the album. It's just that it's really hollow (hollow past the possibility of intentional hollowness) for a They Might Be Giants song. I actually hated it the first few times I heard it, and now the best I can say is that it's a decent song to pen, but really there's not much to it. But still it's no failure... in my opinion. ~ magbatz 20:25, 25 July 2011 (EDT)

sir, i, for one, applaud your contentious objections. ignore all these negative nancys. you are entitled and encouraged to have your own opinion. -- 17:50, 26 July 2011 (EDT)

I will take up the aegis of backing up the Brit on this one. There were some songs off of Join Us that I loved right away (WWYD, Canajoharie); some others I disliked on first listen, but gave them time to grow on me and I have since learned to love them (2082, Protagonist); others have a few positive points and I'm still trying to bring myself to like them (Cloisonne). Dog Walker, however, has no redeeming qualities. I love TMBG but I have to admit that there have been some clunkers on B-sides, kids' albums and side projects... but this is the worst track to ever make it onto one of TMBG's adult albums. It took 25 years for something to knock Boat of Car off that perch but Flansy finally did it. But I have faith!

Just like the B-sides for They'll Need A Crane were better than half the songs on Lincoln, I'm sure that the Johns will come up with something better than Dog Walker in the near future and reveal it to the world via podcast or live performance... and we'll all wonder "how did this not make it onto the album?" Hey... everybody makes mistakes. Even The Beatles had 'Wild Honey Pie' Perspixx 22:59, 11 September 2011 (EDT)

Unlistenable

I will have to go along with the "unlistenable" comments here. A little section of altered voice is ok, like "Old Pine Box", but this one is really tough on the ears. --166.147.120.159 17:00, 13 April 2014 (EDT)

weak Apollo (colloquia!) 17:34, 13 April 2014 (EDT)

Haha, be nice, Apollo. I kind of agree that it's not easy to like this song, but after reading that guy's comments I went back and heard it again. It's been awhile since I really listened to it, and while it's certainly a silly vocal effect, the song itself isn't too bad. I do like the "guitar groove" like the person above and find that the lyrics are amusingly conflicted (i.e., "Choose your weapon, please"). I wonder if fans would have the same reaction if Flansburgh had left the mixing knobs alone and left his voice with its normal appealing twang. As it stands today, it's one of the lowest-rated non-children studio album tracks on the Wiki (only "The World Before Later On", "Mr. Xcitement", "There", and "Didn't Kill Me" are lower, with only three of them sung by a John). --MisterMe (talk) 14:07, 14 April 2014 (EDT)

This discussion page is nuts

Yes, this is a hilarious misfire of a song, made all the more amusing by the fact that it's on what is one of their best records. What interests me is that people are comparing it to Flans' most interesting experimental efforts! I never would in a million years have thought that people would think "boat of car" is a similar tier of bad, nor "you'll miss me". -macdrown

This song isn't THAT bad... the "duh-DUH duh-DUH da-da DUH" riff is cool. --ColorOfInfinity (talk) 01:04, 8 March 2023 (EST)

can you all be quiet

1. I don't know why people complaining about this one being sonically bad when first of all, it isn't, and second of all, (She Thinks She's) Edith Head, Counterfeit Faker, and Synopsis For Latecomers all fill that niche quite nicely and I don't see anyone berating THEM.

2. the drums are fun. rant over.--You&Me!! (talk) 09:10, 8 March 2023 (EST)

This Song Sucks

and i love it.