Kate's Mixtape

What's part dog, part cat, and part number eight?  Kate!

During the past year that I've known my silly puppy Kate, I must have spoiled her in almost every way possible to spoil a dog, especially when it comes to food.  She somehow got the idea that dry dog food isn't good enough for her.  (She's slowly re-accepting dry food, but only as a secondary snack, behind dog treats.)  At one point -- okay, about a week or two ago -- her breakfast could only be described as a bacon cheeseburger banana muffin top.  (Thankfully, she no longer eats the aforementioned breakfast configuration.)  Kate's dinner contains meat and side dishes, nearly fit enough for human consumption, that is, if you replace the canned dog food with "human-quality" ground beef.  It's much less silly puppy as it is silly human!

Either earlier this month or last month, Kate had a quirk in which she wouldn't eat dinner until her mixtape was played.  Yes, it is a literal mixtape.  On cassette.  This particular tape is a compilation of non-hit album tracks from the band Queen -- no "Bo-Rhap," no "Champions."  Apparently Kate likes the sometimes quirky, sometimes epic, sometimes filler, multi-genre, should-have-been-hit-singles by a band consisting of four very different songwriters (one of whom was Freddie Mercury, of course).  The cassette samples fourteen of their albums, from Queen II to the posthumous Made in Heaven (apparently Kate isn't a big fan of their eponymous debut album*).  It also includes the non-album fast version of "We Will Rock You."  Here's the tracklist:

There's actually a Super Nintendo game named after "Ogre Battle" (and "The March of the Black Queen").

SIDE A:  OGRE BATTLE (THE NON-MUSTACHE YEARS)

Ogre Battle    4:15

The March Of The Black Queen    6:40
Brighton Rock    5:11
Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To...)    3:44 
Seaside Rendezvous    2:20
Love Of My Life    3:39 
The Millionaire Waltz    4:57 
You And I    3:30
Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)    4:47
We Will Rock You (Fast Version)   2:47    Shouldn't have it been rewritten as "We Are Rocking You," in the present tense?

It's Late    6:28
Jealousy    3:14 
Dead On Time    3:23 
Dreamers Ball    3:31

You gotta love these Dungeons & Dragons-type song titles.

SIDE B:  DRAGON ATTACK (THE MUSTACHE YEARS)

Dragon Attack    4:19

Rock It (Prime Jive)    4:33
Don't Try Suicide    3:53   
Sail Away Sweet Sister    3:33
Football Fight    1:29 
The Hero    2:57

Staying Power    4:13
Action This Day    3:38   
Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)    4:32   
Is This The World We Created...?    2:14   
Gimme The Prize (Kurgan's Theme)    4:35   
Khashoggi's Ship    2:55   
Ride The Wild Wind    4:43   
Made In Heaven    5:25   
A Winter's Tale    3:50   
It's A Beautiful Day (Reprise)    3:01   
Yeah    0:04   

Kate eventually got to the point where she could eat dinner with or without the tone of Brian May's Red Special guitar.  Maybe she got tired of this particular playlist.  Maybe she wants another tape.  Or a burnt CD?  Or an iPod?  Or an iPad?!  Maybe she would appreciate a playlist of another band or various bands.  Maybe I should revamp my abandoned FoodBoozeTunes blog for dogs (minus the booze, of course).

In any case, may my -- our! -- second year with Kate be just as quirky, perhaps quirkier.

*Queen's self-titled debut album is the only time in history that Rog edges out Fred in the vocal department, and Deaky's bass lead in "Liar" is better than any of Bri's guitar parts for that album.  Ironically, Queen doesn't even qualify as a Queen album.  At least that's what my dog says.  (Heh.)