Walkin' My Cat Named Dog by Norma Tanega

Album: Walkin' My Cat Named Dog (1966)

Charted: 22 22

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Norma Tanega was rather eclectic, even by the standards of 1966. "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog" was her big hit, charting at #22 in both the US and UK. It's a true story: She lived in New York City and wasn't allowed to have a dog in her apartment, so she got a cat and named it dog. And took it for walks.

There is a deeper meaning behind it: the song is about freedom and self-expression. People will stare when you put a cat on a leash and walk it down the street, but that's their problem.
Tanega didn't set out to be a singer. Born in 1939, she studied art and earned a degree from Claremont Graduate School in 1962 with plans to be a college professor. Instead she detoured to New York City and became part of the folk music community. Singing at a summer camp in the Catskills brought her to the attention of Bob Crewe, who wrote many hits for The Four Seasons. He signed her to his New Voice label and put out "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog" as the first single. She ended up on a package tour with Gene Pitney, Bobby Goldsboro and a few other acts, where she performed her hit in a three-song set.

"I just want to sing for people," she told a reporter for the Detroit Free Press "You might say it's mass love. It's not the money. I don't know what to do with money."

Tanega's next single, "A Street That Rhymes At Six A.M.," reached #129 in the US and was her last chart showing. She moved to London, where she lived for five years before moving back to Claremont, California, where she opened an art gallery and started teaching at California State Polytechnic University. In 2014, her song "You're Dead," the first track on her 1966 debut album, Walkin' My Cat Named Dog, was used in the movie What We Do In The Shadows. It became the theme song to the TV adaptation in 2019, the same year Tanega died.
Barry McGuire of "Eve Of Destruction" fame covered this song, releasing it as a single in 1966. It was also covered in French by Les Surfs, a group from Madagascar.

Comments: 6

Barry from Sauquoit, NyNorma Tanega passed away at her home in Claremont, California on December 29th, 2019, she was 80 year old...
She was a folk singer and experimental musician who had a single hit, the 1966 song “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog.” The track reached No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was later covered by artists including Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, Yo La Tengo, and They Might Be Giants...
Her other songs include “You’re Dead,” which was used as the theme song for the 2015 movie 'What We Do in the Shadows'...
Tanega was also a songwriter who wrote and co-wrote songs for Dusty Springfield, with whom she had a romantic relationship, including “No Stranger Am I,” “The Colour of Your Eyes,” and "Midnight Sounds"...
May she R.I.P.
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn April 16th 1966, Norma Tanega performed "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
Two months earlier on February 20th, 1966 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #87; and on April 3rd it peaked at #22 (for one week) and spent 9 weeks on the Top 100...
It was her only Top 100 record; and as stated above it also reached #22 in the United Kingdom...
Ms. Tanega celebrated her 75th birthday three months ago on January 30th.
Matthew from Toronto, OnGee, Norma, we hardly knew ya. Whatever this song was about, it had a unique, completely original sound. To this day, I can't think of any song like it. The lyrics suggested hope, change, potential, and just being who you were. A classic 60's anthem.
Bill from Rensselaer, NyNorma was very good friends with Dusty Springfield
Steppenwolf from Out There, BcI remember the tune when I was a kid. I'm a cat fan. My older cousins, who were all hippie radicals, used to play a lot.

Doug from Oakland wrote:

>>>"The song is about pot. "Happy sad and crazy wonders,choking up my mind with perpetual dreaming"

Are you sure it's about pot? You could get that high just from breathing the smoggy air in the LA basin.
Doug from Oakland, CaThe song is about pot.
"Happy sad and crazy wonders,choking up my mind with perpetual dreaming"

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