"Seamus" is the fifth song on Pink Floyd's 1971 album ''

Meddle ''Meddle'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released by Harvest Records. The album was produced between the band's touring commitments, from January to August 1971 at a series of locations around London, including EM ...

''. The group performs it in the style of

country blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...

, with vocals, an acoustic slide guitar in an open D tuning, and piano. The song is named after the

Border Collie The Border Collie is a Scottish breed of herding dog of medium size. Widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed, they are descended from landrace sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles, but became standardised in the Ang ...

(belonging to Humble Pie leader

Steve Marriott Stephen Peter Marriott (30 January 1947 – 20 April 1991) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He co-founded and played in the rock bands Small Faces and Humble Pie, in a career spanning over two decades. Marriott was inducted pos ...

) who howls throughout the 2:15 piece. Group biographer

Nicholas Schaffner Nicholas Schaffner (January 28, 1953 – August 28, 1991) was an American non-fiction author, journalist, and singer-songwriter. Biography Schaffner was born in Manhattan to John V. Schaffner (1913–1983), a literary agent whose clients include ...

calls the tune "dispensable"; David Gilmour added "I guess it wasn't really as funny to everyone else sit 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 The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

guitars. A female

Borzoi The Borzoi or Russian Hunting Sighthound is a Russian breed of hunting dog of sighthound type. It was formerly used for wolf hunting, and until 1936 was known as the Russian Wolfhound. Etymology The system by which Russians over the ages n ...

(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 The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

in this recording, likely overdubbed during mixing of the film soundtrack at another studio. For the 2016

surround sound Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener (surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to s ...

mix of the film, released as part of the box set ''

The Early Years 1965–1972 ''The Early Years 1965–1972'' is a box set that details the early work of the English rock band Pink Floyd released on 11 November 2016. It was released by Pink Floyd Records with distribution held by Warner Music for the UK and Europe and So ...

'' (2016), "Mademoiselle Nobs" was omitted for undisclosed reasons.

Reception

In a review for the ''Meddle'' album, Jean-Charles Costa of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seamus (Song) 1971 songs Pink Floyd songs Blues songs Zoomusicology Novelty songs Songs about dogs Songs written by David Gilmour Songs written by Nick Mason Songs written by Richard Wright (musician) Songs written by Roger Waters Song recordings produced by David Gilmour Song recordings produced by Roger Waters Song recordings produced by Richard Wright (musician) Song recordings produced by Nick Mason