TV On The Radio #16: Deputy Dog

As soon as I heard today's closing tune on an old car compilation, I knew I had to feature Deputy Dawg. However, the character I pictured in my head was not the one I discovered when I put his name into google. Turns out, I was confusing D-Dawg with Huckleberry Hound... making me wonder if I've ever even seen a Deputy Dawg cartoon. Having watched a couple on the tube of you, I'm not sure I've missed anything. Feel free to tell me otherwise if you've got the DVD box set at home and posters on your bedroom wall.

Still, it's the music that matters, and DD's name crops up in a surprising amount of pop songs, besides the one I knew. Let's kick off with the Woolly Bully people...

Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs - Deputy Dog

Or you may prefer a more soulful take...

Roosevelt Grier - Deputy Dog

When I saw the band name below and the album title "Kill Us All", I imagined a very different sound to the one I actually heard. Give it a try, you might be pleasantly surprised...

Dead Marines - Deputy Dawg

Robi Mitch is from Bristol and now lives in Cornwall. I shoehorned him in because I liked his tune...

Guess that I'll live longer than some good ones

Guess that I'll go sooner than some bad ones

Cos the good lord gives and he takes away

In a way that doesn't make sense to me

Guess that it's a good job that he's the top dog

And I am just a deputy

Robi Mitch - Deputy

And now here's The Cult...

Jimi was a boogie man

Took a shotgun in his hand

Turned on dude candy-man

He walked into the wrong town

Deputy Dog man wait inside

Jimi thought he'd better hide

Suddenly changed his mind

Shot 'em all on sight, yeah

The Cult - Outlaw

I'm not sure if anyone will have guessed today's winner, but it was obvious to me. How could I not love a song that goes thus...?

No one in the world ever gets what they want

And that is beautiful

Everybody dies frustrated and sad

And that is beautiful

TMBG songwriter John Linnell insists this isn't a depressing song, saying he made the words up just to fit the tune. Which probably explains this...

When you are alone

You are the cat, you are the phone

You are an animal

The words I'm singing now

Mean nothing more than "meow" to an animal

Wake up and smell the cat food

In your bank account

But don't try to stop the tail

That wags the hound

Meanwhile, the video is anything but depressing, as the band run around with rolls of carpet sticking out the tops of their heads... you won't see Ed Sheeran doing that, will you? Oh, and Deputy Dawg is in there too. Just stick with it...