Videos – Singing Dogs

The First Noel

I just finished editing and uploading our latest Christmas song, The First Noel. Check out the new video here;

The First Noel – Merry Christmas!

It's a Christmas caroling classic and Sierra really enjoys singing along to it. I only made a few takes of this song but I felt this one came out the best. Sometimes Sierra just stops in the middle of the song and gets distracted. Here she has an itch she feels she has to take care of I guess. There is usually something wrong with each The First Noel takes we did so you just use whichever came out best on video. (We have better audio versions but sometimes the Singing Dogs are not in the frame.)

Unfortunately Cody seems to not like The First Noel so much as it seems he doesn't feel like this is one of his “songs” he can sing along to. Cody tends to like more Rhythm and Blues songs where he can express his deeper baritone-bass voice honestly. At least he enjoyed listening from the other room I was told. He does at least appreciate music, more than other dogs.

Anyway, sorry we haven't been posting as much videos lately but I hope The First Noel satisfies fans of the Singing Dogs. We hope that you will considering donating any money or other items that are needed by animal rescues and shelters this time time of year. We've done rescue work in the past fostering dogs and it can be a rewarding and joyful experience.

Merry Christmas! …or Happy Christmas as they say in the UK. What are doing this holiday season? Do you have any special requests for the singing dogs?

The Girl from Ipanema [VIDEO]

Today we have decided to go to Brazil for our latest video, “The Girl From Ipanema“. Sierra sings probably one of the best known song's in entire the world. It certainly is used in movies and TV a lot and is used to create a “Brazilian” or South American sound.

So here is the Singing Dogs version. Just as an FYI, Sierra doesn't start singing until about 30 seconds into this video. She really needs to moved by the music to sing. She is after all a diva.

The Girl from Ipanema

Notice that we decided to be outside since it is summer. It isn't as hot as it is in Brazil but it can get pretty humid in Maryland sometimes.

The Girl from Ipanema was made famous by the tenor saxophone player Stan Getz. He collaborated with the Brazilian guitarist Joao Gilberto for the 1964 album Getz/Gilberto where the “The Girl from Ipanema” was first heard. The song also featured Astrud, Gliberto's wife (then). Astrud Gilberto is known as the Queen of Bossa Nova for singing on that track and on the album.

The Girl from Ipanema is an extremely well known song and epitomizes the “Bossa Nova” sound. Bossa Nova is a subset of Jazz but is influenced by Brazilian music and rhythms which gives it a lain flare. Ipanema is beach in Rio de Janiero and the Getz/Gilberto introduced Bossa Nova to the world. There are many other great songs on the album like “Desafindo” and “Quiet Night of Quite Stars.” We might have to do versions of these Bossa Nova tunes in the future.

Sierra wanted to do “The Girl from Ipanema” since she thought it was a kind of sad that Brazil had that horrible loss against Germany in the semi-final of the World Cup. Then the Brazilian national soccer team played the Netherlands for third place they lost 3-0. It was disappointing since Soccer (natives like Adriana Lima call it football) in Brazil is such a big part of the national identity. This would be like the United States losing an international tournament in Baseball or American Football.

Hopefully Brazilians around the world appreciate Sierra's version of “The Girl from Ipanema” and it makes you feel happy. The real question is why a singing dogs wouldn't make you feel happy?

Sierra Rubbing her Scent on a Ball [VIDEO]

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and enjoying the first days of Spring. The Singing Dogs and I certainly are as today was a beautiful day with mild temperatures. Great for a long stroll with the puppies.

I thought I'd post this funny video of Sierra. It's not of her singing or anything but shows how she likes to rub her scent on these soft balls we have in the house. Instead of using tennis balls or any hard balls indoors we like to use soft balls so nothing breaks. Of course somehow they still can make for some crazy situations.

Sierra likes to take these soft balls and rub her scent on them. I guess it is an Alpha Dog instinct and makes it so that Cody knows who's ball it is. Funny thing is Sierra doesn't really fetch these balls inside but just like to rub on them It makes Cody crazy when he wants the ball and Sierra is hogging it rubbing her back on it.

I like the look Sierra has when she is on her back and how she tries to reach for the ball. You can see her grab the blue ball at the end of the video if you watching carefully.

I find it pretty funny but maybe that's just because I see the whole scenario unfolding. Let us know what you think of Sierra's antics.

Original Dogs Have the Blues [VIDEO]

Yesterday we posted about Cody and Sierra's appearance on the BBC One Show in a documentary about dogs and music. I'm not sure if they used our “Dogs Have the Blues” video but I realized that I hadn't post our original “Dogs Have the Blues” on our website yet. I did post this video of the Singing Dogs jamming to the blues but the original one that is up on our Youtube channel has only been posted on our Video page.

So here is our original “Dogs Have the Blues” video which I believe was used on the BBC One Show for the documentary which aired in the UK last night.

Dogs Have the Blues

Let us know if you like this blues improvisation over our other video and what you think. I think we sound pretty good but you never know. Cody and Sierra seem to really like it when I just run blues scales on my saxophone. I guess these Dogs have the Blues! Of course their lives are pretty easy but I'm not sure if they think that.

If you are looking for more blues dogs videos you might remember when Sierra was teaching a foster puppy we had named Scout to sing. Sierra and Scout improvised the blues. Scout wasn't quite singing all the time, he was sort of barking, but I thought Sierra and him made a good musical duo even if the band was not together for long. That's the way some bands are.

We'll let everyone know when we get the DVD from producers of the “Canine Concert” documentary that featured Cody and Sierra. We hope we will get more offers from our UK cousins for gigs.

Happy New Year 2013

The Singing Dogs just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2013! We appreciate all of our fans and readers of this blog and hope that 2014 brings you good luck.

What better way to bring in the New Year with a great rendition of Auld Lang Syne by Cody and Sierra. Remember this was the video that got us on “Anderson” with Anderson Cooper.

Singing Dogs “Auld Lang Syne”

Pretty cool! I still like how in the end of “Auld Lang Syne” Sierra decides that she is done and can leave and encourages Cody to do the same.

Sierra is a bit of a dog diva and will only sing under certain circumstances. For instance sometimes she prefers to sing lying down on her side.

Sierra Lazily Sings “Auld Lang Syne”

If you like our versions of “Auld Lang Syne” be sure share them to bring in the New Year. Let us know if you have any New Year's Resolutions that you are going to try to keep. Anything Resolutions that involve pets or animals? Let us know below.

Happy New Year!

“My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music

Cody and Sierra decided that they wanted to do a song from the much loved and well known musical “The Sound of Music.” Checkout our version of “My Favorite Things” which happens to be one of the Singing Dogs favorite songs.

My Favorite Things

Let us know if you liked this version of My Favorite Things below. The Singing Dogs love to hear feedback and comments from fans! 🙂

I personally think our version is pretty good but I still manage to laugh (yeah… mess-up) when I am playing since having two dogs sing along to your saxophone playing is pretty entertaining even if you are used to it. I just hope Julie Andrews likes this version since she is best known for singing My Favorite Things and playing the part of Maria.

I don't think we will be invited to be on any future productions of The Sound of Music but it still is fun to post videos of the dogs ‘talent.' Some of you probably watched the NBC's live production of The Sound of Music on TV a couple days ago. Sierra actually wanted to try out for Liesl, the oldest daughter in the Von Trapp family, but I wasn't so sure that the producers of the show would let a singing dog on a live national TV musical production. Although that would be really cool. Also I don't recall there being any roles for dogs in the Sound of Music. Perhaps Sierra could be in a production of Annie since there is a dog in that musical.

Anyway, if you saw the Sound of Music Live on TV with Carrie Underwood, what did you think of it? Did you enjoy it or not like it? Also, let us know what your favorite things are? Do you have any favorite songs? We'd be happy to know.