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Seamus (song)
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Wikipedia article
"'Seamus'" is the fifth song on Pink Floyd's 1971 album 'Meddle'. The group performs it in the style of country blues, with vocals, an acoustic slide guitar in an open D tuning, and piano. The song is named after the Border Collie (belonging to Humble Pie leader Steve Marriott) who howls throughout the 2:15 piece. Group biographer Nicholas Schaffner calls the tune "dispensable"; David Gilmour added "I guess it wasn't really as funny to everyone else [as] it was to us".
"Mademoiselle Nobs"
Film director Adrian Maben captured Pink Floyd's only live performance of "Seamus" (in a greatly altered form, excluding lyrics, and retitled "Mademoiselle Nobs") in his film 'Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii'. To recreate the song, David Gilmour played harmonica instead of singing and Roger Waters played one of Gilmour's Stratocaster guitars. A female Borzoi (Russian Wolfhound) named Nobs, which belonged to Madonna Bouglione (the daughter of circus director Joseph Bouglione), was brought to the studio to provide howling accompaniment as 'Seamus' did in the album version. There is also an audible bass guitar in this recording, likely overdubbed during mixing of the film soundtrack at another studio. For the 2016 surround sound mix of the film, released as part of the box set 'The Early Years 19651972' (2016), "Mademoiselle Nobs" was omitted for undisclosed reasons.
Reception
In a review for the 'Meddle' album, Jean-Charles Costa of 'Rolling Stone' described "Seamus" as "a great pseudo-spoof blues tune with David Gilmour's dog (sic) Seamus taking over the lead 'howl' duties". In a more negative review, 'Classic Rock Review' described "Seamus" a "throwaway" that's "meant to be a humorous filler with an annoying, howling dog throughout". 'Classic Rock Review' further said that Pink Floyd fans have ranked "Seamus" as one of their worst songs.
Personnel
* David Gilmour acoustic guitar, harmonica, vocals '(Meddle)', harmonica '(Live at Pompeii)'
* Roger Waters bass guitar '(Meddle', studio overdub on 'Live at Pompeii)', electric guitar '(Live at Pompeii)'
* Richard Wright piano '(Meddle)', dog '(Live at Pompeii)'
with:
* Seamus '(Meddle)' howling
* Nobs '(Live at Pompeii)' howling
References
Category:1971 songs
Category:Pink Floyd songs
Category:Blues songs
Category:Zoomusicology
Category:Novelty songs
Category:Songs about dogs
Category:Songs written by David Gilmour
Category:Songs written by Nick Mason
Category:Songs written by Richard Wright (musician)
Category:Songs written by Roger Waters
Category:Song recordings produced by David Gilmour
Category:Song recordings produced by Roger Waters
Category:Song recordings produced by Richard Wright (musician)
Category:Song recordings produced by Nick Mason
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