Walking My Gargoyle

This song's so great. It's upbeat and quirky, and quirky's what the gothic archies are all about. Nice song.

I've heard that Stephin Merritt wrote this as a homage to his pet dog. Apparently the dog looks unusual (I think it's a pug or something, one of those weird little dogs), which garners a comparison to a gargoyle. But Mr. Merritt still loves his little doggie, and it doesn't matter to him that people stare at it when he takes it for walks. So I suppose he channeled the feeling of walking his unusual dog into this song, only writing it about an actual gargoyle, so he could humorously use references to common horror/gothic stereotypes (like the gargoyle helping with his mad scientist research).

I never really bothered to rank them, but I think this is probably one of my favorite Gothic Archies songs. It's impossible for me to feel sad when I'm listening to it, really.

"puddles may boil when we walk by my gargoyle and I, happy again beautiful men? yes, without fail I'm wagging my tails walking my gargoyle"

Like the idea of it being about his ugly dog Pippin but from the final verse I've always assumed its about a man walking down the street holding hands with his boyfriend, and the reaction that gets from some people. When you read back the other lyrics it seems to fit - Merrit's sarcastic "people recoil when they see me/ obviously, I'm pretty extreme" sums up the reaction. Also the final line suggests the narrator himself is also a gargoyle - both are considered to be outside society's norms.