"Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" is the 1971 debut single by
Lobo. Written by Lobo under his real name Kent LaVoie, it appears on the ''
Introducing Lobo'' album.
Composition
Lobo recalls: "I was working on several songs, including a tune about traveling around the country with this girl, and I was trying to rhyme 'you and me.' Now 'me and you' would have been easier, but I was trying to do it with proper grammar. I couldn’t find anything to rhyme that fit what I wanted to say in the song. Finally, after I got back home to Florida, I decided to turn the phrase around to 'me and you.' I was thinking about it, sitting in a room that had a big sliding glass door overlooking the back yard. My big German Shepherd dog: Boo, came running around the corner and looked in at me. I said: 'Well, now, that’s kinda freaky. How about putting 'a dog named Boo’ into the song?” That’s literally how it came about. All of a sudden the song really started coming together. I hadn’t been to any of the places mentioned in the song except Georgia, but I just kept putting in places that sounded far away like Minneapolis and L.A."
Impact
The single peaked at #5 on the
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
and was the first of four of his songs to hit #1 on the
Easy Listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
chart, where it had a two-week stay at that
top spot in May 1971. The song also reached #4 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
in July 1971
and spent four weeks at #1 in New Zealand.
Internationally, "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" was Lobo's second most successful song among more than 15 single releases, surpassed only by "
I'd Love You to Want Me
"I'd Love You to Want Me" is a song by American singer-songwriter Lobo. It was released in September 1972 as the second single from his second album '' Of a Simple Man''.
The song was Lobo's highest charting hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 ch ...
" the following year.
Chart history
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Cover versions
* Later in 1971, country artist
Stonewall Jackson
Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, considered one of the best-known Confederate commanders, after Robert E. Lee. He played a prominent role in nearl ...
recorded the song, which was his final
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
hit on the US country chart, peaking at #7.
*
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...
recorded the song for his 1971 album ''I Think of You''.
* In 1972, a version was sung by ''
The Brady Kids
''The Brady Kids'' is an American animated television series and a spin-off based on the ABC live-action sitcom ''The Brady Bunch'', produced by Filmation in association with Paramount Television. It aired on ABC from September 9, 1972, to Octobe ...
'' in the episode "Who Was That Dog...?" on their Saturday morning cartoon show.
*
Agnes Chan
Agnes Meiling Kaneko Chan (; Japanese: 金子 陳美齢, ''Kaneko Chan Meirin'') is a Hong-Kong-born Japanese singer, television personality, university professor, essayist and novelist. Since 1998, Chan has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador a ...
recorded the song for her 1972 album ''Original I (A New Beginning)''.
See also
*
List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1971 (U.S.)
Adult Contemporary is a chart published by ''Billboard'' ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the adult contemporary music (AC) market. In 1971, 19 songs topped the chart, then published under the title Easy Listening, based ...
*
List of number-one singles in 1971 (New Zealand)
References
1971 debut singles
Lobo (musician) songs
Songs written by Lobo (musician)
Stonewall Jackson (musician) songs
Number-one singles in New Zealand
1971 songs
Big Tree Records singles
Songs about dogs
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