(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?

"Doggie" was one in a series of successful novelty songs since the 1930s, following on the success of songs such as Bing Crosby's "Pistol Packin' Mama" and Merv Griffin's "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts". Prior to the release of "Doggie", composer Bob Merrill penned "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake".[3] The original Page recording included the sounds of dogs barking, credited on the label as "Barks by Joe and Mac" (her arranger, Joe Reisman, and a violinist). The recording also features Page's signature multi-part tight harmonies, all sung by Page. Throughout the years, she recorded several other versions as well.

On April 4, 1953, singer Patti Page's rendition of "The Doggie in the Window" went to No. 1 in the US Billboard magazine chart, staying at that top spot for eight weeks.[3] The song was wildly popular across a wide demographic. The song had school children "yipping"; Mercury Records was besieged with requests for free puppies; and the American Kennel Club's annual registrations spiked up by eight percent. In all, Page's record sold over 2 million copies.[3]

Following the top ten entrance of Lita Roza's cover version on March 14, 1953,[4] the Patti Page version of the song was released in the UK on March 28, renamed "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window" (sans question mark), under Mercury's "Oriole Records" label. Given the delay getting to market in the UK, it was not as successful as the Roza version, only entering the charts at number nine before leaving the charts altogether five weeks later.[5] The Roza version went to number one, lasting in that spot for one week.[4] But for five weeks between 28 March 1953 and 25 April 1953, there were two versions of "Doggie" in the UK top twelve singles chart.[4][5]

According to rock historian Michael Uslan, "novelty songs" like "Doggie" led to the "fervent embrace of rock & roll"[3] by 1955. "A lot of songs at that time were extremely bland, squeaky-clean stuff. The music field was ripe for something new, something vibrant to shake the rafters."[3]

The song has since become a popular children's song. Bob Merrill's lyrics were reworked by Iza Trapani into her 2004 children's book, How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?.[7]

The phrase "How much is that doggie in the window?" seemed innocent enough in 1953, but in modern times it has become synonymous with the trade in puppies from pet shops, often originating in puppy mills.[8][9]

In 2009, Patti Page recorded a version of the song with a new title ("Do You See That Doggie in the Shelter") together with new lyrics by Chris Gantry, with the hopes of emphasizing the adoption of homeless animals from animal shelters.[10] The rights to that song were given exclusively to the Humane Society of the United States. Said Page:

"The original song asks the question: 'How much is that doggie in the window?' Today, the answer is 'too much.' And I don't just mean the price tag on the puppies in pet stores. The real cost is in the suffering of the mother dogs back at the puppy mill. That's where most pet store puppies come from. And that kind of cruelty is too high a price to pay."

— Patti Page, 2009[10]

Upon Page's death in 2013, the Humane Society wrote in its online eulogy, "We remember her fondly for her compassion for animals."[10]

The song, and Page's version in particular, gained some notoriety for its use in the infamous final scene of John Waters' 1972 film Pink Flamingos.

A season five episode of Cold Case, "Devil's Music", used Patti Page's recording in the opening.

The 2007 video game BioShock does not use the original overdubbed Mercury recording.[11] Instead a 1966 re-recording by Patti Page with full orchestra for Columbia Records was substituted.[12]

Roza was a singer with The Ted Heath jazz band during the 1950s.[13] During this period, she was voted Favourite Female Vocalist in a Melody Maker poll from 1951 to 1955 and a similar poll in New Musical Express from 1952 to 1955.[14]

In 1951, she recorded "Allentown Jail" with the Heath Band, which led to her A&R Dick Rowe asking her to sing "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?". Her initial response was negative, "I'm not recording that, it's rubbish."[14] She recalled that he pleaded with her, responding "It'll be a big hit, please do it, Lita."[14] She relented, saying she would record it but never sing it again afterwards.[14]

"Doggie" was a new entry in the UK charts on 14 March 1953 at number nine. It moved up to number three in its second and third week of release before dropping down to number four on 4 April. On 11 April it moved up to number two for a week, before becoming number one on 18 April.[4] This made Lita Roza both the first female vocalist to top the UK singles chart and the first person from Liverpool, long before the success of The Beatles or Cilla Black.[15] It held the top spot for one week, before gradually dropping down the top ten over the next five weeks, with its final week in the top ten being at number nine on 23 May.[4]

Lita Roza was widely reported to have strongly disliked her song. In an interview in 2004 she revealed that she had kept her promise never to perform the song, "I sang it once, just one take, and vowed I would never sing it again. When it reached number one, there was enormous pressure to perform it but I always refused. It just wasn't my style."[13] However, she would go on to be most widely remembered for that song.[14] In 2001, Roza opened Liverpool's Wall of Hits on Matthew Street, home of The Cavern Club. On display were various discs from every British number-one from Merseyside, the first being her own.[15]

The song returned to the spotlight briefly during the 1980s as the result of an interview with Smash Hits magazine, wherein Margaret Thatcher, who was then serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, admitted that Lita Roza's version of "Doggie" was her favourite song of all time.[16]

Following Roza's death in August 2008, she left £300,000 in her will to charities, of which £190,000 went to three dog-related charities: Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, and The Cinnamon Trust.[13]

The song has also been parodied a few times, including:

• In 1953, the year of the original's release, country musicians Homer & Jethro, "the thinking man's hillbillies," released their parody, "How Much Is That Hound Dog in the Window?" ("Window" was pronounced "winder", and the lyrics continued with, "... I do hope that flea bag's for sale....") It was to become an enormous hit – their first crossover hit – and rose to No. 2 on Billboard's country charts.[17] It also made number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Another notable (but hardly at all known) parody, according to David English, former president of RSO Records – which went on to become Eric Clapton's and the Bee Gees' record label – was the very first record released by that company in 1973, with Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The record was "Window The In Doggie (That is Much How)" – sung to the tune of "Doggie", but with each line of lyrics sung backwards.[18] According to the pseudonyms listed on the label, the artist was "Rover", and the song was produced by "Jo Rice" and arranged by "Don Gould". English would later quip that the record "sold about eight copies".[19]
• "How much is that window in the doggie ?" was written by the quadriplegic cartoonist John Callahan. A pane of glass falls from a building and slices into a man's seeing eye dog. A child observer asks the inverted question. His cartoons oft dealt with taboo subjects.[20]
• In the 1970s the repertoire of the Federation of Conservative Students included 'How much is that Trotsky in the window? The one with an axe in his head. How much is that Trotsky in the window? I'm so glad that Trotsky is dead.'