When I spoke to George Clinton the other week for this Fact piece, I also asked him which, of all the records he’s been involved, he was most proud of, and it was this one, Atomic Dog, that he pointed to, "just because it was that weird."
"It was just a weird situation how it happened. It couldn’t ever happen again because I was fucked up when I did it. They had the tape on backwards and I came in and tried to sing and I’m fucked, I don't notice that it’s backwards. They got the shit on the other side. They got to turn the tape back over to hear the music. But I had it on backwards, all I can hear is shh-sh-shh-shh. That’s why I'm talking: This is the story of a famous dog… Cos I’m trying to wait to see what key it’s in. But there’s nothing but beats so I did my whole part ad-libbing Why must I feel like that. Gary came back and instead of doing it right, he put the harmony on around what I did and I’m basically talking. Why must I feel like that / Why must I chase the cat / Nothing but the dog in me. And it sounds like a brand new style of shit. So now it sounds like its own arrangement. It was a weird way to make a record. They were gonna turn it back over but by this time they had put the bass on there while it was backwards. So now you got a brand new type of thing. I wouldn't even try to do that again. Don't even think about that. It just happened like that."
