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Which song about a dog who is no longer with us speaks more to you?


I EVEN ALMOST FELT LIKE DYIN'.

Shannon, hands down. :'(

But why? Wrikles came one Christmas in a basket. NOW HE'S DEAD. DOESN'T THAT MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?!

Yeah! And what a way to go - I'm hoping to flit this mortal coil in a similar manner.

Wrinkles wrules!

Happy holidays guys! :lol

'Shannon' by a C O U N T R Y mile and back again.  It immediately conjures up images of 'One More Tomorrow' and other great Gross songs and of the friendship between Henry and Carl. :hat

Other than that...this thread is going to the dogs.  For shame. ;)

I actually met Wrinkles back in the day. It wasn't a good experience and I'd be lying if I claimed not to savour every reminder of his demise. The song is no exception; heartwarming stuff.

 :-D

Just subjected myself to Wrinkles. Ho-lee-crap is that godawful. One of the worst things ever. Not one of the worst songs ever, one of the worst things. The voice...the lyrics...the cheesy strings. It's an abomination and it goes on for four and a half jaw-dropping minutes. Feels like an hour.

Has Mike ever been asked about Wrinkles? I just hope a fan or interviewer asks him, and that a recording device is around.  :lol

The poor dog was most likely forced to hear it blaring from the home monitors and dropped dead from noxious fumes. A real stinkpot of a song- anyone surprised? :thud

Your magnum opus OSD! :woot :woot :woot :woot :woot :woot  :woot :woot :woot :woot

Shannon was played a lot on the radio. I bought the single around the time it came out and Henry Gross had kinduva Brian Wilson style of singing - maybe closer to Carl, I dunno. Can't remember if I knew it was about Carl Wilson's dog before or after I bought it. Anyway, that's what I heard at the time.

Reading old topics, I remember someone said they asked Henry Gross if the song is about his or Carl's dog Shannon (if I recall, the dogs shared the same name but diff. breed). He confirmed the latter. Those with better memory, chime in.

I like both songs.

Henry Gross tells the story of "Shannon": When I was twenty-one years old a wonderful girl came into my life by the name of Kathy Reinmann. As if having her in my life as a friend, a wife and a friend again for the next twenty three years, until she died of lung cancer August 24, 1995, was not enough, she brought along with her into my heart her two year old Irish Setter, Shannon. She was an uncannily human dog whose ability to manipulate her human counterparts cannot be understated. I was touring around the country quite a lot in 1975 promoting an album called HENRY GROSS, the one with the yellow cover on A&M Records. I had the pleasure of doing long strings of dates with a group whose music always inspired me, The Beach Boys. Carl Wilson, arguably the finest solo voice in the group, was warm and welcoming from the very first show I played with them on a freezing cold day at the University of New Hampshire. After getting to know each other we realized we shared a love for much of the same music and a passion for fine vintage guitars. On a break from touring, while I was in Los Angeles, Carl invited me to his house to spend a day talking guitars, cars and rock & roll. While he was preparing lunch his two Alaskan Husky dogs reached up on the counter and inhaled our food. I told Carl, while admiring the military perfection of the raid executed by his Huskies, that I had an Irish Setter at home named Shannon. He was quite moved as he told me that he had an Irish Setter named Shannon that had been killed only recently when hit by a car. We spent the rest of the day jamming and driving around Carl's world which as a friend and to be honest a Beach Boy's fanatic was a thrill. When I returned to New York City, where I lived, I began work on my second A&M album, PLUG ME INTO SOMETHING. A few weeks later just as we were about to master the finished album I was sitting on my bed with Shannon strumming my guitar trying to write a song when I was disturbed by the loud bass sounds from the Latin music blasting from the apartment above me. Rather than complain I made an amazing discovery. If I tried to play records of my own choice I could drown out the intrusive bass sounds but was unable to concentrate. But I found that when I played an environments record called "The Ultimate Seashore" I could drown out the bass and have a pleasing and relaxing background sound that didn't interfere with my writing. In a matter of minutes with the ocean sounds guiding me, and my 1964 Gibson Hummingbird acoustic in my hands, my thoughts drifted to Carl, The Beach Boys and with a glance at my girl Shannon, the indescribable sadness that losing such a beloved partner in life must be. The song seemed to write itself taking no more than ten minutes and with almost no cross outs on the paper. I made a tape of it on my giant Sony cassette recorder and sent it off to Carl. I was hoping to stop the presses and record it for PLUG ME INTO SOMETHING which Carl had already sung on, adding background vocals to the opening song, ONE MORE TOMORROW, but it was too late. I had to wait for the next album to record it. I always wished I could have had Carl sing backgrounds on SHANNON but conflicting schedules dictated it wasn't meant to be. I believed after it was recorded for my RELEASE album, that it was destined to be a hit and lobbied hard for it to be the first single. You see, the man upstairs who had played the loud Latin music, beginning the entire chain of events, came down when he heard me playing mixes over and over to decide which I liked. However, rather than hearing the expected complaints, he said he loved the sound of the record and wanted to know where he could buy a copy. I reasoned if a salsa music fan who spoke little English loved the record through the ceiling, Shannon, Kathy and I had a hit on our hands. Fortunately, history and lady luck proved me right. And that is the true story of the song SHANNON.

Thanks, Mikie! Sounds like they both had the same breed AND name. But I was  right, it's about Carl's dog.

Wrinkles may have actually surpassed Mama Will Bark in my mind as the worst dog song ever. Actually no, Sinatra had no excuse for that.

The Singing Dogs version of 'Jingle Bells' might offer up some competition as the "worst".  Although... ... ...I suppose it was 'cute'...the FIRST time. :lol

Never much liked 'How Much Is That Doggy In the Window' either. :angry

My vote goes to Shannon. I still have the 45.

Was Wrinkles a shar pei?

You are a demon from hell.

 >:D

This thread had me rolling.

Shannon.. love the song and the tender vocal..