DESCRIPTION:
This is the second of two songs I performed as poems at the Poet's Breakfast at the 2012 National Folk Festival in Canberra.

While we were in China, we heard the news that two men had been jailed for cooking and eating dogs. We found this a bit strange, as we often saw people eating dog meat in restaurants and at street stalls in mainland China. I felt I just had to write a song about it, and I did so from the point of view of one of the men jailed for the offence.

The song raises questions about where you draw the line between what can be regarded as food and what is out of bounds. When I first put the song on YouTube, it stirred up some predictable reactions from people who wouldn't consider eating dog, and therefore don't think dog should be part of anybody else's diet. What makes sheep, pigs (if you are not Muslim or Jewish) and cows (if you are not Hindu) okay to eat and dogs illegal? Traditionally Chinese seem to accept anything that moves as food, perhaps barring cannibalism.

The song is on my fourth CD, "Pigs Might Fly and Other Politically Incorrect Songs".

Lyrics and chords:
...... C ........................ F
My friend and I had something
.............. G7 .................... C
That we wished to celebrate.
......... F
The dogs that we’d been fattening up
G7 ....................... C
Finally met their fate.
......... F
We made a delicious canine stew
........ C
And served it on a plate
............ G7
And enjoyed each other’s company
............ C
As we sat and drank and ate.

F ................................................ C
Now I’m in the jailhouse doing time.
............ G7 ................................................ C
Since when did eating meat become a crime?

Where I come from there’s lots of dogs
That people raise to sell.
You can buy them in a pet shop
Or a butcher’s shop as well.
A tasty meal or man’s best friend,
It’s very hard to tell.
You eat your Christmas turkey,
While I suffer in my cell.

You see their carcasses hanging up
In shops along the street.
My elders always taught me
This is such a healthy meat,
Especially in the winter time.
It gives our body heat,
So why should you deny me
What I really need to eat?

You’ve got laws that don’t allow me
To light up a cigarette.
Now you say I can’t eat anything
That others call a pet.
I keep pet fish, but fish-eaters
Will not be jailed, I bet,
And I don’t believe that dogs
Are an endangered species yet!

I’m not consuming bear bile,
Or munching on their paws.
You told me “Don’t eat shark fin.”
I converted to the cause.
I can’t afford it anyway.
And I can’t afford your laws.
Please keep out of my diet –
And I’ll keep out of yours.

You can hear a playlist of my original songs (in alphabetical order) here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B9F8E3B7A8822951


Lyrics and chords of many of my songs are no longer available, as my website has expired. I am currently posting lyrics to the information panels on all my videos and those that are too long to post in full will be found on my new website: https://raymondsfolkpage.wordpress.com