Added: 5 years ago
From: FairDealDan
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  • Have always enjoyed this fun loving song, she does a beautiful job and looks like she has fun doing it. She's wonderful.

  • Living in Redondo Bch. in '66.Probably heard it on KRLA. 7th grade at Hillcrest Jr. High on Prospect Ave. Just a cool song.

  • This was a regular on 93 KHJ AM radio Los Angeles in 1966 when it first came out. I loved it then and now. KHJ played some hip stuff for AM, it's where I first heard Hendrix, Love, the Doors, Capt. Beefheart, Cream, Steve Winwood....all on my little pocket transistor radio that my great granma give me. Wish I could go back in time....but who doesn't?

  • Oops, meant to say regular rotation on our AM radio station's song list...

  • This song was in regular rotation in 1966 when I lived in Lynchburg, VA. Haven't heard it in 45 years!  Damn I'm old!!

  • @jb2625 age only matters if ur a cheese...))

  • I got a similar SG

  • Also heard it in South Louisiana on local radio (KVOL AM), in fact while I was attending the Breaux Bridge crawfish festival in about 1966 or so. I have the 45 and was glad to be able to see her perform it. Thanks

  • Many of the big cities never gave this wonderful song any play time. I always heard it on our small town radio station in SW Louisiana...great programmers...I'm grateful for their appreciation of usual music from that time....

  • Beautiful! This was a hit in UK too. Check out the way Ms Tanega expertly mimes the guitar part, on an SG Junior!

    Great to see this and thank you for posting:)

  • In 1967! Living in Arica.. Chile I got this 45 rpm.. I was 12 years old!! Oh my God! What a memories.. Norma I love you!!

  • loved this song when it came out. off the wall. I was a big KRLA fan.. remember bob hudson? " off the freeway pheasents, your highness is coming!" that was his closing monologue.

  • This must have been a regional hit in California... never heard it during the 60s here in NYC...

  • @vootie99 i grew up in nyc and heard it all the time back then. have the single too.

  • Ok, 1966 or 67, inner city St. Louis. We find this stray dog. Name him Cat. Our auntie was upset. Said we would confuse the dog by calling him Cat. You know cat did not care. Just wanted dog food and to be scratch behind the ears.

  • @brotherman10 That's a great story brotherman.

  • Like if Tuning Signal sent you here

  • one of my cats is named Dog

  • I've been reading this is Dusty Springfields lesbian lover.

  • @lakeseminole One of the youtube suggestions for this video (the ones to the right) is Dusty doing "I Only Want To Be With You". She and Norma would be a nice couple. If what you are repeating is factual.

  • Thanks for posting this one. It has been on of my favorites since it came out.

  • forgot to mention that was Beaufort, SC...those many years ago...

  • I remember my hometown top 40 (or some version of it) WSIB, where I got

    my career start playing this...what a cool forgotten 45...

  • but did ya know she was a teacher?

  • Me too!

  • Flans sent me here.

  • I remember this from KHJ 930 AM Los Angeles in the early 60's.....I love it...they used to play it every now and again, and I was ecstatic every time I heard it. I am a cat person, though....

  • Love that sound of an acoustic guitar being played on a Gibson SG. Never knew what she looked like until now...She's hot in my book. Haven't heard this song since it came out.

  • This song is just wilful stupidity.

  • This video looked like it was from Lloyd Thaxton in the 60's. However, I have not heard this song in about 49 years!!! Thanks for posting it!

  • real fine

  • I was a weekend disc jockey at WAHR-FM (99.1) in Huntsville, Alabama during the mid-1970's. This song was an "oldie" by the mid-70's, but I played it quite often when I was on the air. I got a big kick out of singing right along with Norma - especially the hook where she goes "Dog is a good old cat ... people what you think of that?" The scene in the movie "American Graffitti" where Richard Dreyfus's character goes to the radio station - the control board is identical to what WAHR was like.

  • I loved this song as a kid. Thanks for posting. And thanks for solving the question my partner and I had today: Who sang Walking My Cat Named Dog?

  • Wow, thanks for posting this. I always loved this song and I was only 10 at the time! Remember it playing on the radio that was always on at home.

  • ok, where's the acid? WHO'S HOLDIN'?

  • @MrRcheek hilarious

  • ok, where's the acid?

  • Got a kick out of this when I first heard it. Heard it again, 40 years later, and liked it all over again!

  • i keep kummin back to this tune...its got sum kinda hold on me...))

  • Dan: love your handle. I think its from a munster's episode. truely 60's

  • I used to listen to this in 1966 on Wonderful Radio London, Radio Caroline, Radio Essex and Radio City.

  • I used to listen to this on whyn the mighty win. I would make my models and listen to my brother,'s hi fi radio. thanks for the memories.

  • I' loved this song as a teen . None of my friends remember it . You still have a small following Norma

  • In the late sixties and early seventies we had a place where everyone came late at night to hang out. The one album Norma made was one I'll never forget from that time. She had a wonderfully alternative and intelligent view on life. Killer songs also. Great to hear this and others by her here on YouTube.

  • @TheWoodlandGlade Oh so true!! Have the fun was the tunes on the juke box!!!!

  • @TheWoodlandGlade Oh so true!! Half the fun was the tunes on the juke box!!!!( or in some cases,the stereo)

  • This is certainly one from the pirate radio days!

  • Good NIght! I forgot About This Fun Song!!

    Loved it!

    I Didn't Know That She Was Dusty Springfields Partner!

    Wow, Two Hot Ladies*****Very Intreging To Me!

  • This song always reminds me of Radio Caroline, BIG L and the other offshore pirate radio stations in the cold winter of early 1966.

    Well it was in Brighton (UK) anyway.

    What a great song this is. Sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it!

  • This was my favorite song of 1966.somehow I think of Northern California when I hear this. Maybe Norma started the whole "flower power" movement with this song. Though I think less than 1% of my generation could remember the record. If she had other hits, things might have different. Thank you Norma, wherever you are.

  • I recall the song very well but didn't remember her name at all. It seems like this is the sound that every Indie soundtrack tries to capture.

  • Gotta love '60s TV producers. They handed her this unplugged SG and said "here, pretend to play while you're pretending to sing". And, being a folkie who typically played a nylon string acoustic, she thumb-picked and strummed like nobody's business.

    Loved this tune. It got lots of air play in NorCal too.

  • I remember hearing this song on KRLA back in the early so cal days. Thanks for a great memory!

  • wow..wicked good!!!!!!!!!!!

  • im kinda stupid i didnt know this was an old tune...my bud told me about it n i thought it was brand new n i really luv it...i gotta cat named Fido who thinks hes a dog n we r listenin to this together...))

  • The B/side "Im The Sky" is great also if you flip it over

  • I have not thought of this song since 1964 or 65? I saw her perform it with Chad and Jeremy in New Haven. I was nine. My first live rock concert! I remember wearing green, knee high water proof boots. That was the coolest thing I had to put on I thought. I believe Chad and Jeremy were headlining, but I went to hear "walking my cat named dog."

  • I LOVED this song when I was a kid in the 60s; I was just CRAZY about it. I played it in my head all the time. One day they were advertising that Norma was going to play it on some TV show, and I was so excited. But when the time came, my sister said that she wanted to watch something else, so my dad said to flip a coin, and my sister won. Man, I am still pissed.

    Norma, if you are still around, you rocked my world. And release an MP3 version of this song on iTunes!

  • @Fekmann Hey, I know you can't find this song on itunes, but you can turn this video into an mp3. That's what I do with most of my songs. I find the video and convert it into an mp3, which I then put on my itunes. Video2mp3(dot)net is a good converter. All you do is: press the share button, copy the url, paste the url into the video2mp3 site, wait until it converts, then download it. Now you can enjoy this song and maybe burn a couple others to a cd and enjoy. Hope this helps you.

  • Back in the day when the world made a little more sense.

  • she's playing a friggen SG !!! With snazzy short cuts.....

  • Norma is still rocking, just no commercial hits. She was my first percussion teacher. 40 years after this video she is just as beautiful and her smile just as big. I'd never seen her in a dress or with long hair before. Norma is GREAT!!!!

  • @GurubachanKaur .I wish she had been my music teacher, I might have stayed at it. You are most fortunate to have learnt from such an excellent teacher :-)

  • @GurubachanKaur Tell her to pick up the guitar and start singing that West Coast Folk again. Glad to hear she's still vital, still inspired. She and we deserve it.

  • THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS! Been searching for it for over 40 years, no one I asked remembered it! Was briefly on the radio here in Pittsburgh, PA then poof! It was gone!

  • She is sofa king cool.

  • This song popped into my head just now (don't know why) and had to look it up. Great to hear it again. :)

  • It was 1965 when I was in the USAF studying Russian at Syracuse Univ. and this song came on. Amazing! I had to stop studying and just listen. After it left Top 40 I never heard it again, but through the years I always had it in the back of my mind. Whenever I was buying music I unconsciously searched for it. Glad I finally found it. Thanks for posting it.

  • I played my 45 of this over and over. I loved it to pieces. I named my cat "Dog", too.

    

  • I like her eyes and smile. She seems to have a great soul and it shows on her face and in her expressions. Too bad she never did more. Thanks for posting this " Dan " !

  • This reached the top 10 in the UK I seem to recall. It takes me back to being 14 years old and walking my dog (not called cat!) by the sea at Dover. One of those songs which takes me back to a very specific place and time whenever I hear it, which is not often! Thanks for the memories!

  • This reached the top 10 in the UK I seem to recall. It takes me back to being 14 years old and walking my dog (not called cat!) by the sea at Dover. One of those songs which takes me back to a very specific place and time whenever I hear it, which is not often!

  • Truly strange arrangement and lyrics. Not surprised she was a one hit wonder.

  • @andrewr62 Doesn't sound like you were there... or may be you just weren't tuned in. I was only about 11 and livin in a small Wyo. town and even I got this tune.

    Frankly I think she had better style and more soul than many of the multi-hit performers of the time.

  • CHOKING UP MY MIND WITH PERPETUAL MOTION I CAN DO THAT LOL

  • wow i never knew this was from 60s

    i really thought it was from today

    n i LUV this tune!

    ty...))

  • LSD !!

  • One of my all time favs a small hit in the UK

  • loved this song as a teen, it got some air play in orange county california. My dad loved it too.

  • @veronicabean900 You're right. I posted the vidoe and I lived in OC back then and still do. Probably heard it on on 93KHJ with Humble Harve or Sam Riddle or The Real Don Steele

  • @FairDealDan Yeh, I remembe listening t this on KHJ with Humble Harv.

  • @veronicabean900 # cheers for OC back in the '50's and 60's. It was paradise!

  • one of the earliest of dope reference songs. "walking high against the fog" "perpetual wonder"...all referencing one's first REAL high on weed

  • They played this often on Boston's WBZ.

  • was beginning to think I dreamed up this song, (good old youtube, cant believe I found it) must have been a bit of a hit in GB in the early 60's, cos I remember really liking it!!

  • what a great song!The coolest & weirdest song from the 1960's.her guitar work in the video looked so believable!

  • I remember hearing this song on the radio in 1966 and saw her sing it that summer on television.I don't know if this is on a program or just a film but I definitely liked this song.I thought she looked younger,but that was 44 years ago.She was 27 in 1966.

  • This takes me back to RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire UK where I was stationed with the USAF in the late 60s. How interesting that she plays a Gibson SG (ala AC/DC) using fingerpicks. She does have a wonderful, open face and obviously so thought Dusty Springfield, with whom she had a thing going. I like her and her work.

  • This mostly sounds like Spanky and Our Gang.

  • Poetry Man would've been tailor made for her.

  • If I had only one channel on a deserted island, Youtube would be it. I haven't watched regular TV in over five years since.

  • I'm trying to think off hand what other female up to this time in '66 and for a while after played electric guitar and sang?

  • She has such a beautiful open face...and she looks so much fun. Its weird that she wasnt /isnt better know. Love the song. its COOOOOL MAN! xx

  • I was just asking a friend of mine if they remembered this dog. I remember my mom and dad had this record and I listened to it as a little girl.

  • Weird?? It's exquisite.

  • @seckhoffable I didn't have to do any drugs to enjoy it.

  • @seckhoffable Ain't it the truth my friend :-)

    The tune just had a different take on tings, and a little bit of a lazy feelin' , which I though was pretty cool at the time, I can still appreciate it. I remember being "strangely" attracted to her voice, though I never knew what she looked like.

  • wow, I have not heard this screwy song in years. she was JUST lovely, I had never seen her. This song was out in '66. I was in Vietnam and had been over there and out of touch with the music scene back home for a year and one of the guys went on R and R and brought this 45 rpm back and we played it on a little wind up record player and were confused as hell. Help me Rhonda was a hit when we went overseas and now this stuff. Little did we know what was coming. Cool old song tho, thanx.

  • @larrydh2 Great story!!!

  • and playing bass as well...who else did that back then?? what talent!

  • 1966. I was in 8th grade. Used to (and still do) love this song!!!

  • omg they are take this one away-- its too good- one will soon be forced to pay for a recording-- all the good stuff we force one to pay for... no joke

  • Norma was a dear friend of Dusty Springfield. I never thought I'd ever see this clip or hear the song again...what a wonderful 60's memory . Thanks for the post !!!

  • remember a snowy winters day watchin the drifting snow in Boston & luvin this tune always a fav om mine.

  • Comment removed

  • i don't know who the hell this person is but who ever she was. She had the skills of an awesome guitarist.

  • I have the album on vinyl this came from. Need to dig it out again.

    Thanks for posting this video.

  • Brings back memories of high school. Surf, girls, not a care in the world.

  • So I'm curious, where is she now? Anyone know?

  • @MandoMama1

    She's still around. Google her name to find her Web site.

  • I've tried to find this as an mp3 EVERYWHERE!

  • This was one of my all time favorite songs as a kid!

  • She is sooooo HOT !!!! I saw her sing this song on some TV show and she was completely dressed up like the most beautiful hippie chick. It was the first time I ever saw a woman dressed up like a hippie and she blew me away. This was '65, the year I saw the Beatles. I was 13.

  • @Aldebaron9 - I agree ... HOT!,,,, she has a timeless coolness. Her personality comes across so great. I get an eerie feeling that she's looking through time and sayin', "yeah .... it's cool"

    BTW, she IS a bitchen guitarist as well. I dig the thumb technique :-)

  • Well done FairDealDan for sharing this. Did Norma release this song in the UK under the name Billie Bonds?

  • LOVE this! Quirky, catchy. great song. And so amazing someone had a clip of it. THANK YOU!

  • Marysue is pretty darn cute. too

  • thank you for sharing this video, it is a strange song indeed, pretty cute, i like it. I heard about Norma Tanega while doing some research on Blossom Dearie, who is one of my favorite artists.

  • Such a happy song ...and I love watching this sweet woman performing it : )

  • great song, remember it from the 60s

  • I want that SG

  • The back-up vocals sound like the Blossoms (Jeanie King, Fannita James, & Darlene Love).

  • someone please cover this song!!

  • never heard this before,but I agree this would be a great song to cover.

    I think Brandi Carlyle would be a pretty fit for this tune.

  • @s0undch4ser

    i'm thinking Charlotte Gainsbourg or She and Him :)

  • I loved this in the 60s ... nobody I know even remembers this song, but I never forgot it!

  • @estraven2008 I remember it!! I was 8 I think!

  • Where's the harmonica player in this video?

  • They used to have this song on iTunes. Why was it removed?

  • I never heard this song before. Love her voice! This is why Youtube is so great!

  • ha ha....BUST EYES!

  • love the cool SG gibson guitar.

    she's a "rebel"... that girl.

  • I never forgot this song. Only heard it a few times on the pirate stations in holland and england. So strong after 45 (sic) years. Almost forgotten . Thnx very much FairDealDan for posting it. I now see for the first time Norma Tanega

  • Some listeners may see this as a simpleminded sillyditty, but it's an effective emotional snapshot of the feel of everyday streetlife told in simple language. Check out the Collectables CD reissue of her LP : "You're Dead", a dressing down of an unnamed sellout utilizes sarcasm to render its target a pile o'junk ; "A Street That Rhymes At 6AM" was the followup single that bombed when it deserved to be a hit. Maybe Dusty Springfield loved her for being a no-nonsense, intelligent lady!

  • This song always reminds me of a snowy winter in Boston as a kid....I always liked "off beat " stuff like this and to this day(im 56) I listen to college radio for new and unique sounds

  • This song was played alot on the local radio station in the mid-sixties. I always liked it. Was so different than anything else on the radio at that time.

  • This was a very elusive record to find in Portland, Oregon in the late 60's. I do have the 45 AND the CD now. Have always loved this song.

  • Didn't Norma Tanega compose or write lyrics for a number of songs from the Dusty Definitely period - No Stranger Am I, Morning (Bom Dia), The Colour of Your Eyes? I always thought her compositions really suited Dusty's 'soft' voice. She was interviewed in one of the Dusty tribute documentaries and came across as a really nice person - also remarkably unchanged from this clip.

  • weirder song that i thought possible. and really shit rhyming lyrics imo.

  • Heck, ATA, you just ain't never ever heard my recordin's or else you'd know what weird REALLY is.

    This is a wonderfully beautiful song.

  • yes that's the one....lovely huh? NOT

  • Wrong. You all should check your facts. The incident you refer to happened many years after Dusty's relationship with Norma. Norma had nothing whatsoever to do with it. SHAME!

  • well i sincerely apologize, i was misinformed by someone. I checked on the internet and it was Tedda Bracci. again my apologies to all. I love Dusty and am sorry also to Norma.

  • Good for you. Thanks!! By all accounts, Norma is a very accomplished soul who continues to teach in the arts after all these years...

  • Glad to hear Norman still contributes to the arts. Wish she would record some songs!!!

  • She's a college professor and is still musically involved but with more experimental kinds of material. I agree. She's an exceptional, utterly unique talent--a great writer-- who I'm sure could whip out a killer "Cat Named Dog" anytime she was so inclined...

  • isn't this the woman who smacked Dusty in the face with a sauce pan and sent her to the hospital knocking out her teeth?

  • nup. some other lover from the mid 70 or something apparently.

  • yes my mistake it was teddi bracci

  • A real rare gem from the sixites a real classic

  • I have wonderful memories of this song.

    Thanks for posting!

  • Babyhowdy233 : She originally was from Vallejo, Cali;

  • Yes, iowa61, I agree Norma and Dusty made a handsome couple. They lived together in London. But the press strangely ignored it. Sort of like with Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. They did everything but announce it but the public wanted to pretend, I guess. Dusty Springfield fretted about telling her own parents she was a lesbian and when she did they flubbed it off say "Oh, our Mary (her real name) would say something like that!"

  • Her lover was Dusty Springfield for years

  • Good taste on both their parts...

  • I LOVE this song;it was one of the very first British singles by a female that I can remember hearing as a child...this and "Girl Don't Come" by Sandie Shaw!

    I remember Cat Stevens-now known as Yusuf Islam-saying this song helped to inspire him to change his name to "CAT Stevens"! =)

  • This song chokes up my mind with perpetual dreamin'.

  • Oh yeah, I remember this one from its original release. I always thought it was Ian Whitcomb; has that same quirkiness as You Turn Me On.

  • Funny thing is she seems something like Kaki King Hokuto Jedi Master and you can't even hear a guitar in the song. Nice song anyway...

  • love, love love it1

  • This little guilty pleasure is worth a visit every few months--it's total fluff, but the song is catchy and NT is cute, TOO.

  • No fluff here whatsover. Just great, original, delicious music.

  • This is a funky song! Who said pop music can't be really, really strange!

  • Norma Tanega "Walkin' My Cat NameD

    ADogoATMsgalaCedwarDraweDSinBA­d

    Norma Tanega "Walkin' My Cat NameD Dog"edgrayreal good,Tell me what mOre

    Bc do you want_potted meatm

  • I think I just found a name for my cat.

  • 1966. Yea banged up..lovely song.

  • I remeber this song in my teena nd never did hear it again till just recently. It sounds great.

  • Cat Stevens says he partly got his name from this tune.

  • Spring 1966. How could I forget?

  • Weird is right, but I loved it. I was in grade 5 when it came out...fabulous memories.

  • Separated at birth? Compare this tune and vocal with

    Canned Heat - (BEST QUALITY) Going Up The Country

    Hmmm...

  • LOL!! You're so right!! Hey, it was the times. The 60's right. I'll never forget 'em.

  • I hear that she's back in Cali, and is into artwork. I believe she was born in now bankrupt Vallejo, where the Zodiac killer once lived. But was living in upstate New York when this song was on the charts.

  • It really sucks that so much music on TV was lip-synced. Nice guitar, though.

  • What a beautiful woman, and a great song. The LP (now on CD) is consistently good, too. She should not have been a one-hit wonder.

  • I so agree! Fabulous voice. If I remember right, she's a painter too. Yep, check out Wikipedia and her own site.

  • @ivycompton : re beautiful woman & great song, i totally agree. re good CD i had no ieda. amazing. i wonder what happened to keep her in 1-hit wonder land.

  • @ivycompton yes, she was Dusty Springfield's lover at one time.

  • Where is Norma today? love you!