Who writes a dog about a security dog at JFK Airport? Well, Ian Hunter of course. Hunter writes Pavlov's Dog from the perspective of a dog sniffing canine just doing its job.
The title comes from Pavlovian conditioning (aka classical conditioning) which was discovered accidentally. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936) found the conditioning during the 1890s. Pavlov researched salivation in dogs in response to being fed. He inserted a small test tube into the cheek of each dog to measure saliva when the dogs were fed (with a powder made from meat).
Pavlov predicted the dogs would salivate in response to the food placed in front of them, but he noticed that his dogs would begin to salivate whenever they heard the footsteps of his assistant who was bringing them the food, i.e., Pavlov's dog!
At the airport the dogs are trained to respond to stimulus and if a person is suspicious they sense it and alert their handlers for a dog day afternoon. The lyrics reference the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon which is about three amateur bank robbers who plan to hold up a bank. A nice simple robbery: walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does. The song then is about a dog doing its job but if you try to sneak something in your day will be miserable.
Ian Hunter On Track for Sonicbond Publishing, TheDoctorOfDigital@pm.me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx_sH3E-kuQ
https://youtube.com/shorts/UlwqHfL9Unw?feature=share
Fun fact the instrumentalists from Stone Temple Pilots are playing the backing track
A drug-sniffing dog at JFK. Not many songs about that, but having heard this one, maybe there should be more. Somehow I think Ian is referring to a broader perspective here. It's not the person in front of you's fault. Cool it. Just guessing.
Pavlov's Dog · Ian Hunter · Eric Kretz · Dean DeLeo · Robert De Leo Pavlov's Dog ℗ 2023 Sun Label Group, LLC Released on: 2023-03-17 Producer: Andy York Producer: Ian Hunter Composer Lyricist: Ian Hunter