This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
You call me a dog, well, that's fair enough
'Cause it ain't no use to pretend you're wrong
And you call me out, I can't hide anymore
I have no disguise you can't see through
You say it's bad luck to have fallen for me
What can I do to make it good for you?
You wore me out like an old winter coat
Trying to be safe from the cold
Oh, when it's my time
To throw the next stone
I'll call you beautiful
If I call at all, ooh
You call me a dog
And you tell me I'm low 'cause I've slept on the floor
And out in the woods with the badgers and wolves
You threw me out 'cause I went digging for gold
And I came home with a handful of coal
But when it's my time
To throw the next stone
I'll call you beautiful
If I call at all
And when it's my time
To call your bluff
I'll call you beautiful or leave it alone, yeah
You call me a dog
And that's fair enough
It doesn't bother me as long as you know
The bad luck will follow you
If you keep me on a leash and you drag me along
And when it's my time
To throw the next stone
I'll call you beautiful
If I call at all
And when it's my time
To call your bluff, ooh
I'll call you beautiful
I'll leave it alone, yeah, yeah
You call me dog
'Cause it ain't no use to pretend you're wrong
And you call me out, I can't hide anymore
I have no disguise you can't see through
You say it's bad luck to have fallen for me
What can I do to make it good for you?
You wore me out like an old winter coat
Trying to be safe from the cold
Oh, when it's my time
To throw the next stone
I'll call you beautiful
If I call at all, ooh
You call me a dog
And you tell me I'm low 'cause I've slept on the floor
And out in the woods with the badgers and wolves
You threw me out 'cause I went digging for gold
And I came home with a handful of coal
But when it's my time
To throw the next stone
I'll call you beautiful
If I call at all
And when it's my time
To call your bluff
I'll call you beautiful or leave it alone, yeah
You call me a dog
And that's fair enough
It doesn't bother me as long as you know
The bad luck will follow you
If you keep me on a leash and you drag me along
And when it's my time
To throw the next stone
I'll call you beautiful
If I call at all
And when it's my time
To call your bluff, ooh
I'll call you beautiful
I'll leave it alone, yeah, yeah
You call me dog
Lyrics submitted by fadel, edited by BarnWoodGuy
Call Me a Dog Lyrics as written by Christopher J. Cornell
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think two people are in a relationship and one person loves the other, but can't get over certain events in their past, ei..."You tell me I'm low 'cause I've slept on the floor". This person continues to berate the other and when "it's [his] time to call your bluff" for everything that she claims to be, he can't because he is so in love with every other aspect of her and can't bear to take her from the pedastal he's put her on.
Chris Cornell has one of the, if not, greatest voices in rock. He writes killer lyrics too.
I think it's about a couple when one person treats the other as low and complain about him all the time, but the other one doesn't care since he love her so much.
Oh yeah, and I think this song is about someone who loves someone who isnt returning their love, so they "call me a dog", but this person doesnt mind, because they know they arent perfect, but they arent going to give up on trying to get the other person return their unrequited love
Is it about a heroin dealer who sells heroin to a friend, and now they hate him because they're hooked:
You say it's bad luck to have fallen for me What can I do to make it good for you?
The vibe of the song is definitely you hate me, and I deserve it, but at the same time.. Too bad you.
OMG, WHy hasnt anyone commented on this song???? I love this song! I went to see audioslave last June In Cardiff, Wales, And Chris Cornell did a solo acoustic version of this song, and it was amazing! But no-one in the crowd had really heard of it, I dont think, and It was really quiet, Which sucked, cause Chris did it beautifully
I think it is about a flawed relationship and the speaker is tired of the games and doesn't want to play any more. The speaker wants the other to let him go and leave him alone...maybe he is afraid to end the relationship.
I decided to take Eddie Vedder's advice on figuring out the world and smoke a little something, and then I spun this song, and here's what I came up with...
"Call Me a Dog is about a guy telling his asshole ex that he will defend her and call her beautiful when people ask but openly telling her only that he hates her bguts in the worst way and to fuck off and leave him alone, but he also kinda giving her the benefit of the doubt."
tribute album by a tribute band. all about Andy Wood. anyone that looks this up should read up on him
I'm pretty sure he where its written "You say it's bad luck to have fallen for me" he actually says "Its such bad luck to have fallen for me". The only reason I bring this up is because I believe it adds so much more to the song. It is probably my favorite line in the song and listening to it I really can't hear it any other way
Well, my understanding is the entire album is a tribute to Andrew Wood who was the lead singer of mother love bone and one of the Seattle bands that got the grunge scene on the map. A couple of the members of that band went on to form pearl jam with Eddy Vedder. Wood died from heroin overdose. I don't know for fact but I've always thought this song was about him putting his addiction before his girlfriend. "I call you beautiful, if I call at all". Anyone who knows a heroin addict can relate.