Who Let the Dogs Out?
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Released July 26, 2000
Format CD single
Recorded 1999
Genre
Soca junkanoo calypso
Length 3:18
Label
S-Curve
Songwriter(s) Anslem Douglas
Producer(s) Steve Greenberg, Michael Mangini
“Who Let the Dogs Out?” is a song performed by Bahamian group of the Baha Men, released as a single on July 26, 2000. Originally written by Anslem Douglas (titled “Doggie”) for the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival season of 1998, it was covered by producer Jonathan King under the name Fat Jakk and his Pack of Pets. He brought the song to the attention of his friend Steve Greenberg, who then had the Baha Men cover the song. The song became the band’s first hit in the United Kingdom and the United States, and it gained popularity after appearing in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie and its soundtrack album.
The song peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, as well as topping the charts in Australia and New Zealand, and peaked within the top forty of the charts in the United States. It was Britain’s fourth biggest-selling single of 2000, and went on to become one of the highest-selling singles of the decade not to reach number-one. The track went on to win the Grammy for Best Dance Recording on the 2001 Grammy Awards. It was the subject of a major lawsuit over copyright ownership that was settled.
Band member Dyson Knight told Vice that the song “…was originally sung by a Trinidadian artist whose name is Anslem Douglas. The manager of the Baha Men at that time heard a version of the song in Europe. He called [Knight’s bandmate] Isaiah [Taylor] and told him it was an absolute must that Baha Men record that song, because they had the vibe to make it a huge hit. Isaiah heard the song and said there was ‘no way in hell we’re recording that song’…Management had the vision, and the Baha Men were reluctant, but the group went in and recorded it anyway.”