The fascinating story behind 'Who Let The Dogs Out?'

Baha Men. Photo / YouTube

By RNZ

One of the films screening at this year's Doc Edge Festival is Who Let the Dogs Out - the story behind the 2000 hit by The Baha Men, which turns out to have a long, fascinating history behind it.

Tony Stamp talked to the film's director Brent Hodge about the discoveries he made while researching the origin of the song.

He said the song was a great example of something that happens a lot in the music industry.

"It's a global example, I think that's what's exciting about Who Let The Dogs Out is kids know it, your grandma knows it, Canada knows it, New Zealand knows it, America knows it, like it's all over the world and nobody really knows the story behind it," he said.

And a fascinating story it is - one that began more than 15 years before the Baha Men released their hit single.

Hodge discovered the complexities surrounding the song when he attended a talk by Brooklyn artist Ben Sisto, who had devoted 10 years of research to the origins of who, exactly, let the dogs out.

"I approached him after and said I think we need to turn your presentation into a movie, it's all there, we've got to visualise it and add a few hooks and turns," he said. "I didn't know that as we were doing the film, though, there would be more and more story uncovered."

Sisto's research only went back to 1994, which was when two kids in Jacksonville, Florida, claimed to have created the song before the Baha Men released it six years later.

However, as they were filming, they made the discovery that it wasn't just a song, but a college football chant - which Sisto himself was unaware of.

"He got a call halfway through filming from a guy who said I've got the answer for you. Even since the film came out, more and more people are telling us 'no, we let the dogs out, we did'. We've left it at, if you have video evidence, if you have the song, then we believe you. If you just have a photo with you in a dog costume, that doesn't count."

Hodge managed to find evidence of the chant dating back to 1985, but also had a few claims that go back to 1980, but with no direct evidence.

"The ultimate question of who let the dogs out is the question we ask in this movie," he said.

"It's really up for interpretation, because you could say it's the college team that started the chant, but I think it's the managers, the Steve Greenbergs of the world, the guys that represented the Baha Men and Hanson and these big pop bands of the 90s. Without those guys, a song like this wouldn't have a story."

Steve Greenberg was the manager for the Baha Men and was also responsible for Hanson's 1997 hit MMMBop.

"Steve Greenberg really believed that these guys were the ones that could make this song work and they knew it was a cover, that's what I think is so amazing," Hodge said.

He started the film off by interviewing the Baha Men and was expecting their response to be "a little sour", because of the questions around the song - but he discovered it was the opposite.

"They know it's a cover, they know they didn't make it up. They were happy to show me around the Bahamas.

There had been some legal battles over Who Let The Dogs Out in the past and Hodge reckoned the conversation wasn't over yet.

"I do think when they got the Grammy, there's a lot of names on that song, but some of them aren't on there. I think that's ultimately the conversation that's still open. But this conversation is for a lot of songs, if you think about it.

"There's tonnes of songs that go to court and steal a hook from here or a sample from there. It's really up for debate whether you think that's right or wrong."

Check out the full Doc Edge Festival line up over here.

- RNZ