''Beatle Barkers'' is a 1983 album released by the Woofers & Tweeters Ensemble on the

Passport Records Passport Records was a U.S.-based independent record label that existed between 1973 and 1988. It was notable for popularizing such artists as Larry Fast, FM, Richard Barone, and Wendy O. Williams. It was distributed by Jem Records in the Unit ...

label. The album consists of dogs barking a parody of popular

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

songs. The guitar and other instrumental tracks, performed by anonymous backing musicians from Germany, are very similar to the original Beatles recordings, with the animal sounds taking the place of the sung lyrics.

Production

The album was a collaboration between engineer Roy Nicolson and producer

Gene Pierson Gene Pierson (born Giancarlo Salvestrin, 29 April 1946) is a musician, who had an early solo career in New Zealand and then in Australia. His 1960s and early 1970s songs, "Love, Love, Love", "You Got to Me" and "Reach Out", achieved local chart ...

. Nicolson had begun experimenting with animal sounds on an

E-mu Emulator The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy-disk storage that was manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Although it was not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was innovative in its integratio ...

I, an early sampler. Pierson jokingly asked him if he could play "

Paperback Writer "Paperback Writer" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, the song was released as the A-side of their eleventh single in May 1966. It topped sing ...

" using dogs barking. He did and soon Pierson had commissioned him to create the album, which was made in about two weeks on an

8-track tape The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic-tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, ...

machine, with two tracks for the backing tracks and six for the animals, which included not only dogs but also sheep, farmyard fowls and a cat. All the animal sounds were sampled from real animals except for the howling dogs which were recorded by a dog impersonator. The album was released on Passport Records and marketed by Demtel. American soul singer

Swamp Dogg Jerry Williams Jr. (born July 12, 1942), generally credited under the pseudonym Swamp Dogg after 1970, is an American Southern soul, country soul and R&B singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. Williams has been described as "one of the ...

has previously claimed to have sung on this album, but he admitted in a 2015 interview that he was only involved in its sales outside Australia, particularly in the US.

Reception

In 1984, a reviewer from ''

The Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the now defunct ''Boston Phoenix'', '' ...

'' said that the album was "a real howler".

Track listing

All songs written by Lennon/McCartney. #"

I Wanna Hold Your Hand "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Recorded on 17 October 1963 and released on 29 November 1963 in the United Kingdom, it was the first Beatles record to be mad ...

" #"

Love Me Do "Love Me Do" is the debut single by the English rock band the Beatles, backed by " P.S. I Love You". When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the United States i ...

" #" Ob La Di Ob La Da" #"

We Can Work It Out "We Can Work It Out" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It was first issued as a A-side and B-side#Double A-side, double A-side single with "Day Tripper" in December 1965. The song was rec ...

" #"

I Saw Her Standing There "I Saw Her Standing There" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It is the opening track on the band's 1963 debut UK album ''Please Please Me'' and their debut US album '' Introducing... The B ...

" #"

I Feel Fine "I Feel Fine" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in November 1964 as the A-side of their eighth single. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The recording includes one o ...

" #"

Can't Buy Me Love "Can't Buy Me Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in March 1964 as the A-side and B-side, A-side of their sixth single. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The s ...

" #" All My Loving" #"

Day Tripper "Day Tripper" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double A-side single with "We Can Work It Out" in December 1965. The song was written primarily by John Lennon with some contributions from Paul McCartney and ...

" #"

She Loves You "She Loves You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released as a single in the United Kingdom on 23 August 1963. The single set and surpassed several sales records in the United Kingdom c ...

" #" A Hard Day's Night" #"

References

{{Authority control 1983 albums Novelty albums The Beatles tribute albums Musical parodies Passport Records albums 1980s comedy albums