"Seamus" is the fifth song on

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

's 1971 album ''

Meddle ''Meddle'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released by Harvest Records on 5 November 1971 in the United Kingdom. The album was produced between the band's touring commitments, from January to August 1971 at a se ...

''. 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 Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

in an

open D tuning Open D tuning is an open tuning for the acoustic or electric guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are (from lowest to highest): D A D F A D. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a D major chord: D (the root note), F ...

, and piano. The song is named after the

Border Collie The Border Collie is a British list of dog breeds, breed of herding dog of the collie type of medium size. It originates in the region of the Anglo-Scottish border, and descends from the traditional Sheep dog, sheepdogs once found all over the ...

Seamus (belonging to

Humble Pie Humble Pie are an English Rock music, rock band formed by Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton in Moreton, Essex, in 1969. They are known as one of the first Supergroup (music), supergroups of the late 1960s and enjoyed success in the early 1970s ...

leader

Steve Marriott Stephen Peter Marriott (30 January 1947 – 20 April 1991) was an English actor, musician, guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London and appeared in the West End, before taking a r ...

) 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 includ ...

calls the tune "dispensable";

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

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,

played harmonica instead of singing and

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...

played one of Gilmour's

Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporati ...

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; until 1936, the breed was known as the Russian Wolfhound. Etymology The system by which Russians over the ...

(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 (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

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 ...

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 compiles 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 ...

'' (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. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' described "Seamus" as "a great pseudo-spoof

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

tune with 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

– acoustic guitar, harmonica, vocals ''(Meddle)'' *

– 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