Two of Pink Floyd’s lesser-known guest appearances come from Seamus and Nobs, two very good dogs who were lucky enough to perform with the best.
Some of the earlier and more prolific adopters of sampling, Pink Floyd wrote a score of now-iconic songs using wacky soundbites. There’s the cash register in the opening of Money, the slop which introduces Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast or the short radio broadcast precluding the mighty vocals of The Great Gig In The Sky, to name a few.
Seamus was the name of the lucky pup who barked his way into one of these recordings. Seamus, the last track on the A-side of Meddle (which leads into the sprawling 23-minute Echoes) features this good boy on… backup vocals I guess?
Seamus was a German Shepard belonging to Small Faces and Humble Pie frontman Steve Marriot, who was delighted to one day find out his best friend would howl in tune to music.
Seamus, the song, was received largely with distaste, from critics who were obviously taking themselves too seriously. Speaking of the song, David Gilmour has said “It wasn’t really as funny to everyone else [as] it was to us.”
Pink Floyd would go on to never play Seamus onstage due to logical, dog-related difficulties. They did, however, play the song with a Russian Wolfhound named Nobs in the Live At Pompeii doco.
The segment was dubbed Mademoiselle Nobs. Here’s the video.
