Mitzy wrote:
I remember the tune and a few words of a song from fifty-two years ago, but I do not remember the name. The part I remember is “the cat and the dog… with the big bow-wow and the little meow, meow, bow-wow, meow, bow-wow, meow.”
Okay, so maybe I’m nuts, but I will do anything and look anywhere to find the song, and the words. If you can help, I really would appreciate it. If not, thank you anyway for your time and attention.
Mitzy German
If anyone can help out with this song, please comment below or email me.
Thanks!
Lisa
UPDATE: We’ve learned that this song is Ol’ Commodore Grey from Little Songs on Big Subjects. Check out our blog post “Little Songs on Big Subjects” for much more information!
This article was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 9:12 pm and is filed under Australia, Canada, Cartoons, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, English, Government Sponsored Commercials, Languages, Little Songs on Big Subjects, Movies, TV & The Internet, Music, Questions, Readers Questions, United Kingdom, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
26 Responses to “Does Anyone Know a Song about “The Big Bow-wow and the Little Meow”?”
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June 30th, 2007 at 12:44 am
hi
may be its that song old mac donald had a farm eeee yaaa eee yaa ooooooooooo or may be some other song i am not sure about that thanq and take care bye have nice day
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Have you heard of “The Duel”,The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat?
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Yes, I have! It was written by Eugene Field. I happen to have a Eugene Field Page with “The Duel” (The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat), “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” and some other poems he wrote. You can click the link to visit the page.
-Mama Lisa
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Is this the big bow-wow and little meow you are looking for?
November 8th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
When I was a kid in the late fifties, there wre these short public service cartoons that would come on WCAX TV Channel 3 in Burlington VT. I remember a song to one that went like this:
Oh commodore Bob had a dog and a cat
With a big bow-wow and a little meow.
They both got along without ever a spat!
How in the world did they ever do that,
With a big bow-wow, and a little meow…
Meow…Bow-wow…meow…Bow-wow, Meow.
Another cartoon promoting racial harmony went like this:
You can get good milk from a brown-skin cow,
The color of its skin doesn’t matter no-how.
Ho ho hee, can’t you see:
The color of your skin doesn’t matter to me.
Ooh-ooh, wee awee wee.
They are probably not politically correct these days, but they were cute and must have made an impression on me. I came across your question on this website because I was looking to see if any of these classic shorts are around anywhere.
Hope this is of some help.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Barry sent me this email:
Lisa:
I know Mitzi’s song well! In the early 50’s, there were these animated TV commercials that must have been government sponsored, meant to promote “brotherhood” and tolerance in our changing post-WWII society. The song I’m thinking of sounded like a sea chantey and involved an old salt and his cat and dog and how they got along so well on the boat. I can’t remember the verses, but the words to the chorus went EXACTLY as you’ve written them.
Along the same lines, and maybe the subject for a new thread, I remember another animated spot from that time that was about ethnic diversity. Maybe you remember it, too:
I have a little friend,
His name ends with a “ski”
And this is what my father said
As I sat on his knee:
A ski, a witz, an off or cu
When added to a name,
Just teaches us the family
Or town from which it came.
A name like Thomas Jefferson
In some lands o’er the sea
Would not be Thomas Jefferson,
But Thomas Jefferski.
Or Jefferwitz, or Jefferoff or maybe Jeffercu,
So do not let a ski, a witz or off seem strange to you.
I feel the same towards every name
No matter how it ends,
‘Cause people with the strangest names
Can be the best of friends!
The animation was fairly primitive but it was a little boy and a little girl with their lunchboxes and hers said Mary Jones on it, while his said Tommy Popski. In the end, I remember them walking away together holding hands (innocently, of course). Jog any memories? I’d LOVE to know if anyone but me (and Mitzy) remembers these PSA’s and if copies of them exist in some goverment vault somewhere!
November 15th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I wrote more about these commercials in a later post – feel free to check it out at…
http://www.mamalisa.com/blog/?p=595
-Mama Lisa
January 27th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
It’s available on TVDays.com’s classic commercials of the 50s and 60s volume 18, right after a MINIPOO Ad. It says “Copyright 1953 Anti Defamation League” – and “Little Songs on Big Subjects”. You can check it out on YouTube.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Thanks for the info John!
Would you know what to type in to find the commercials on YouTube? I wasn’t able to find them.
-Mama Lisa
January 31st, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I remember it as:
Commodore Grey had a dog and a cat
with a big bow wow and a little meow……………….
As I vaguely recall the cartoon was of a sea captain and the dog and the cat were on his ship.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Commodore Gray had a dog and a cat
With a big bow-wow and a little meow
They all lived together with never a spat
How in the world did they ever do that
With a big bow-wow and a little meow
Meow, bow-wow,
Meow, bow-wow, meow.
The dog and the cat had a barrel of fun
With a big bow-wow and a little meow
Although they were different they fooled everyone
Commodore Gray proved a lot can be done
With a big bow-wow and a little meow
Meow, bow-wow,
Meow, bow-wow, meow.
Old Commodore Gray often said to his crew
With a big bow-wow and a little meow
Though each man among you is different, it’s true
My cat and dog get along, why can’t you
With a big bow-wow and a little meow
Meow, bow-wow,
Meow, bow-wow, meow.
How about this one?
George Washington liked good roast beef,
Haym Solomon like fish,
But when Uncle Sam served liberty
They both enjoyed the dish
Oh, I may not know a lot of things
But one thing I can state
It’s native-born and foreign-born
That made this country great.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:13 am
Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVTpGwP-87k
August 24th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
YOU ARE NOT NUTS ,I REMEMBER THAT TUNE ALSO AND GOOGLE IT TO SEE IF ANY ONE ELSE KNEW IT. I SING IT ALL THE TIME.
May 11th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Nicholas wrote:
From the deep recesses of my antiquated brain I seem to remember something like This;
Commodore Gray had a dog and a cat with a big bow wow and a little meow and they all lived together as peaceful as that with a big bow wow and a little meow, bow wow, meow, meow.
Nicholas F. Faraone
May 17th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League put out a 78rpm and the UN put out a book with these songs in them. The one about Geo. Wash. was entitled “What Makes a Good American” … they were very happy tunes, quite advanced for the red-bashing times, etc.
May 20th, 2010 at 11:34 am
Howard wrote:
i remember loving this song
it must have been 1950-1954
i would play it on my victrola
it had a gray label
i think it had to do with a record on tolerance
i don’t remember the other side
with big bow wow…and a little meow meow…bow wow … meow…bow wow meow
Howard R. Moskowitz
I remember the labels of records from some songs too! -Mama Lisa (Remember watching the records go round and round?)
May 20th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Ken wrote:
I was just speaking to my wife about this!
I remember in the late 40’s-early 50’s (during the McCarthy era), that we had these little cartoon PSAs on TV.
They were, of course, propaganda against the Communists.
I lived in NYC at the time.
I hope that helps
Ken Walker
May 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Jacalyn Birnbaum wrote:
This is really something. I’m 58 years old and just reconnected with an old classmate from 5th grade – with whom I was discussing our 5th grade teacher’s reverence for an album “Little Songs on Big Subjects” … Here are the lyrics to Ole’ Commodore Gray:
Ole’ Commodore Gray had a dog and a cat –
With a big bow-wow and a little meow
They lived all together with never a spat
How in the world did they ever do that?
With a big bow wow and a little meow
Meow, bow-wow, meow, bow-wow, meow!
The cat and a dog had a barrel of fun
With a big bow-wow and a little meow
Although they were different, they fooled everyone-
Commodore Gray proved a lot could be done
With a big bow-wow and a little meow
Meow, bow-wow, meow, bow-wow, meow!
Ole’ Commodore Gray often said to the crew
With a big bow-wow and a little meow
Though each man among us is diff’rent it’s true
My dog and my cat get along, so can you!
With a big bow wow and a little meow
Meow, bow-wow, meow, bow-wow, meow
A big bow-wow and a little meow!
June 27th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Steve wrote:
You’ve probably already gotten a reply to this query, but here’s the answer:
http://stevecotler.com/tales/2009/11/18/ol-commodore-gray/
—
Steve Cotler
September 1st, 2010 at 9:59 am
Hello,
I have the set of 2 10″ 78s of Little Songs on Big Subject. One of the songs is Ol’ Commodore Gray. I’ve created a CD and altered the gray label to show all 12 titles. If you’d like to see the label and all the artwork on the album, I’d be glad to email it to you. Just tell me where. It was a “Public Service Record”. You can listen to them all at http://tbmod.bandcamp.com/album/little-songs-on-big-subjects. This is not my website.
BR
December 19th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Ok I was trying to think of two songs we did in a play in the third grade in 1968. thank you for providing one the Commodore gray song We were doing this as part of a play about the UN and I cant find anything about the other song. the lyrics I remember are as I remember “when sixty nations signed away there fears” Any one its driving my subconcious mind crazy
February 26th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
I’ve been looking for something I used to see on TV as a child in the fifties…animated and probably a PSA of some sort. It featured a train scene: a white commuter-type guy and a black porter or conductor smiling happily as the white guy got off the train. I believe the intent was to promote racial harmony…but of course we would read it as racist today.
May 27th, 2014 at 11:37 pm
The memory (or what there was of it) of that little song has been driving me nuts for lo these many decades. I was in the low single digits when I saw the cartoon. I vaguely recalled that it involved a sea-captain and his two pets, and that it seemed to have something to do with Getting-Along-In-Spite-Of-Our-Differences. The melody stuck with me, but of the words only the chorus. YouTube yielded only rap songs and cat videos. One last ditch search on Google, and here I find not only people who actually remember it, but the complete lyrics and a link (possibly… I have yet to try it) to the original cartoon. I’m happy. I’m not crazy. It DOES exist!
May 27th, 2014 at 11:41 pm
Followed the link provided. The video, alas, is “No Longer Available”.
February 28th, 2017 at 3:27 pm
Hello Wonderful People,
This tune and many of the words were driving me literally nuts! I decided to go on line and by chance I found the words to the “Ole’ Commodore ” right here. I can now go on with the rest of my day!
I know most of you hear something or catch a few words and I for one, had to find it! I did and thank you all for the great information.
Sincerely,
Marsha
January 16th, 2021 at 8:21 pm
Does anyone know the following lullaby?
My Father, who would be 95 if still alive, sang it to me when I was small, and I would sing it to my children.
Little doggie bow wow,
Little kitty mew,
Little froggie hip hop
And little mousie, too
All went sailing, sailing, sailing,
All went sailing, down the avenue.