The Dogs of War (song)

Composition

Musically, the song follows a twelve-bar blues structure in C minor, only with significantly different chord changes. A standard blues song in C minor would progress as C minor, F minor, C minor, G (major or minor), F minor, and back to C minor. "The Dogs of War", instead, progresses in this way: C minor, E flat minor, C minor, A flat seventh, F minor, and back to C minor. All minor chords include the seventh.

Singer David Gilmour often approaches the C minor chord by singing on the diminished fifth, G flat, before descending to the fourth, minor third, and root. This melody is also compatible with the next chord, E flat minor, in which G flat is the minor third. It also appears in the A flat seventh chord, as the dominant seventh.

The majority of the song is in a slow 12/8 time. After a bluesy guitar solo, the song switches to a fast 4/4 tempo for the saxophone solo. This is not unlike what happens in "Money", a minor-key blues-based song from The Dark Side of the Moon, in which a saxophone solos over the song's predominant 7/4 tempo before switching to a faster 4/4 tempo for the guitar solo. "The Dogs of War" also imitates "Money" in its ending sequence, with a "call and response" between Gilmour's voice and his guitar.

Video

The video for the track composed of the backdrop film directed by Storm Thorgerson which depicted German Shepherds with yellow eyes running through a war zone plus a live recording and concert footage filmed during the band's three night run at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia in November 1987 directed by Lawrence Jordan (who has directed concert films for Rush, Mariah Carey and Billy Joel). Videos for "On the Turning Away" and "One Slip" were also filmed from this concert where the video for "The Dogs of War" was filmed.

Personnel on studio version

David Gilmour – guitar, vocals, vocalisations

Additional musicians:

Jon Carin – keyboards

Tony Levin – bass guitar

Carmine Appice – drums

Bill Payne – Hammond organ

Scott Page – saxophone

Tom Scott – saxophone

Darlene Koldenhaven – backing vocals

Carmen Twillie – backing vocals

Phyllis St. James – backing vocals

Donnie Gerrard – backing vocals

Personnel on live versions

David Gilmour – lead guitar, vocals and vocalisations

Nick Mason – drums and percussion

Rick Wright – organ and synthesizer

with:

Guy Pratt – bass

Tim Renwick – rhythm guitar

Jon Carin – keyboards and effects

Gary Wallis – percussion

Scott Page – saxophone

Margret Taylor, Rachel Fury, Durga McBroom, Roberta Freeman (video version) and Lorelei McBroom (video version) – backing vocals

Cover version

Slovenian industrial group Laibach covered the song on their album, NATO (1994).