Comments on: LITA ROZA - “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?”

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:18:44 +0000

So, sadly, I guess this is how she’ll be remembered. I feel obliged to dig out her - supposedly excellent - sultry torch song material; I may report back. In the meantime I can at least recommend Leave Me Alone, a Decca single from 1955 with a mink and smoke-ring atmosphere that must be on cd. It conjurs up the make-do-and-mend glamour of fifties Soho covered by Gordon Burn’s Alma Cogan - with its smudges of illegality and late-period ration cards - more vividly than Alma’s own chirrupy catalogue.

Patti Page had a similar dislike of Doggie In The window, but she also had Tennessee Waltz and Old Cape Cod up her sleeve for the obits, unlike poor Liverpool Lita.

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:51:01 +0000

R.I.P.

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:44:06 +0000

Bob Merrill wrote this after a trip to Amsterdam. Think on…

The fierce dog sounds a lot fiercer (ie 4 times as loud as the vocal) on the Patti Page version.

Lita Roza is now quite frail (she’s been diabetic for 50 years), lives alone in a house on Wandsworth Common, and is haunted by the idea that when she goes this is what people will remember her for rather than her torch songs. Like Tom, I don’t remember the robber part at all which lends it a rather surreal air; How Much Is That Guard Dog In The Window probably wouldn’t have earned it so many spins from Stewpot.

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:02:51 +0000

Another dear old Bob Merrill number one, truly the Bill Martin of his day - novelties by the yard. I’ve already put this link on She Wears Red Feathers but it can’t hurt to stick it here as well. It’s a gem:

http://www.slate.com/id/2898/

By: intothefireuk

intothefireuk — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:11:09 +0000

A very familiar song though I’m not sure which version it would have been that I’d previously heard - I certainly don’t remember the fact that the doggy’s primary purpose seems to be chasing robbers off & protecting her ’sweetheart’ while the singer scoots off to California for reasons unknown. Of course it may just be that I only remember the first two lines. It would have helped the recording if they’d actually used a real ‘ruff ruff’ instead of the impersonated version we get here. Which also reminds me that Blackburn may well have played this during his Radio 1 JC stint, over-dubbing Arnold at the appropriate moments. No more than a passing novelty and future kids records stalwart.

By: Doctor Mod

Doctor Mod — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 23:30:13 +0000

My older sisters used to torment me with the Patti Page version of this song. I made me cry. I have no idea what it was about it–I mean, I was two years old! Still, the sibling traumatizing most have left its mark, as I still get very anxious whenever I hear it, which, thankfully, isn’t very often anymore.