(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?

Background "Doggie" was one in a series of successful novelty songs since the 1930s, following on the success of songs such as Bing Crosby's "Pistol Packin' Mama" and Merv Griffin's "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts". Prior to the release of "Doggie", composer Bob Merrill penned "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake". Following the UK top ten debut of Lita Roza's cover version on March 19, 1953, the Patti Page version of the song was released in the UK on March 28, renamed "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window" (sans question mark), under Mercury's Oriole Records label. Given the delay getting to market in the UK, it was not as successful as the Roza version, entering the charts at No. 9 on April 2, before leaving the charts altogether five weeks later. The Roza version reached No. 1 on April 23, where it stayed for a single week. For five weeks between March 28, 1953, and April 25, 1953, there were two versions of "Doggie" in the UK's Top 12 singles chart. Charts Legacy According to rock historian Michael Uslan, "novelty songs" like "Doggie" led to the "fervent embrace of rock & roll" In 2009, Page recorded a version of the song with a new title ("Do You See That Doggie in the Shelter") together with new lyrics by Chris Gantry, with the hopes of emphasizing the adoption of homeless animals from animal shelters. The rights to that song were given exclusively to the Humane Society of the United States. Said Page: Upon Page's death in 2013, the Humane Society wrote in its online eulogy, "We remember her fondly for her compassion for animals." He also remarked that the story of BioShock is "a sad story – not a horror story" and "we counterpoint it with [Patti Page's] '(How Much Is) that Doggie in the Window'". However, due to licensing restrictions, Levine noted they had to use "another version of the recording": the game does not use Page's original 1952 overdubbed Mercury recording and instead uses her 1966 re-recording with full orchestra for Columbia Records. ==Cover versions==

Lita Roza version Background Roza was a singer with the Ted Heath jazz band in the 1950s. In 1951, Roza recorded "Allentown Jail" with the Heath Band, which led to her A&R man Dick Rowe asking her to sing "(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window". Her initial response was negative: "I'm not recording that; it's rubbish." She recalled that he pleaded with her, responding, "It'll be a big hit; please do it, Lita." She relented, saying she would record it but never sing it again afterwards. Reception "(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window" was a new entry in the UK charts on March 14, 1953, at No. 9. It moved up to No. 3 in its second and third week of release before dropping down to No. 4 on April 4. On April 11, it moved up to No. 2 for a week, before reaching No. 1 on April 18. This made Lita Roza both the first female vocalist to top the UK singles chart and the first artist from Liverpool to do so, long before the success of The Beatles or Cilla Black in the 1960s. Roza held the top spot for one week, before gradually dropping down the top ten over the next five weeks, with its final week in the top ten being at No. 9 on May 23. Charts Legacy Lita Roza was widely reported to have strongly disliked her song. In an interview in 2004, she revealed that she had kept her promise never to perform the song: "I sang it once, just one take, and vowed I would never sing it again. When it reached number one, there was enormous pressure to perform it, but I always refused. It just wasn't my style." However, she would go on to be most widely remembered for that song. Following Roza's death in August 2008, she left £300,000 in her will to charities, of which £190,000 went to three dog-related charities: Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, and The Cinnamon Trust. It also made number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. • A Yiddish version by Mickey Katz entitled "(How Much Is) That Pickle in the Window" was released when the song was first popular in 1953. • Another notable (but hardly known) parody, according to David English, former president of RSO Records – which went on to become Eric Clapton's and the Bee Gees' record label – was the very first record released by that company in 1973, with Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The record was "Window The In Doggie (That is Much How)" – sung to the tune of "Doggie", but with each line of lyrics sung backwards. According to the pseudonyms listed on the label, the artist was "Rover", the song was produced by "Jo Rice", and it was arranged by "Don Gould". English would later quip that the record "sold about eight copies". • "How much is that window in the doggie?" was written by the quadriplegic cartoonist John Callahan. A pane of glass falls from a building and slices into a man's seeing-eye dog. A child observer asks the inverted question. Callahan's cartoons often dealt with taboo subjects. • An adapted version of the song is also one of the 27 demo songs played on the Meowsic Interactive Cat Piano made by B. Toys. ==See also==