Popular Bahamian Song and IDEAS
“Who Let the Dogs Out?” is a song not meant for beauty or social influence, but rather a basic club or party, dance song. This song would be an economic influence on the Bahamas since it has such a call to tourists and is popular to Americans and Europeans. The Baha Men grew up in the Bahamas and spent over 8 years in the music industry mainly on the Bahama islands until this popular hit made them known worldwide. An economic influence on the song’s development would be its strong use of Bahamian musical culture with its use of basic instruments, a chanting chorus, a call and response vocalist, and its basic “dog ” theme. However, the song has a commercialized twist that includes rapping, the use of electronic sounds and new technology. Another commercialized aspect of the song’s popular influence is its accompanying music video and its use in many television and radio commercial publications.
The images from the music video show snippets of the Bahamas which would be another tourist attraction. It is reasonable to assume that the Baha Men would want to show their homeland in a positive way, and their own popularity would help spur the islands’ popularity. Since the Bahamas have a tourist driven economy with almost half of the working population being employed by the tourist trade, it is important to look at the music video as it portrays the beauty and attractiveness of the Bahamas. The use of traditional island housing is shown, yet island people and activities are altogether vacant in the video.
It has very little underlying meaning, but the song has turned a basic event into something to sing about. The artists took the simple act of letting the dogs out by accident and made it fun. The song has no spiritual connection in its lyrics despite the Baha Men singers and band being very religious and coming from the Bahamas which is widely known for its religious base. While the Bahamas have had a connection to American Southern Gospel music and related religion due to the fact that many slaves were moved from the American south to the Bahamas in the 1700′s, there is little noticable influence on this song.
This song uses some very traditional Bahamian instruments like the goat skin drum and cow bell which are typical of goombay music. The underlying beat and melody, as well as the vocalists’ accent and call and response tune, deliver a feel for the Bahama beach. At the same time the loud, fast beat has an attitude about it that makes the listener feel like dancing and partying. The lyrics and melody are appropriate for what the song was meant for, i.e. a dance song. A listener might hear this song being played literally on the beach, at a party or in a club. Another appropriate place where a listener might hear “Who Let the Dogs Out?” would be at a gym or fast paced activity since it instills a need for motion.
There is no doubt that when this popular hit song, “Who Let the Dogs Out?” was released and spread throughout the world that money changed hands in favor of the Bahamas. This is an example of the profitable side of Bahamian musical culture.
REFERENCES
Baha Men. Who Let The Dogs Out. Artemis Records. 2000.
