Today, I was reading some other music forum and they were talking about the O'Jays history and music. Someone brought up something about their 1978 hit, "Brandy". Ever since I first listened to that song, I thought the songwriters who wrote this classic were talking about a man missing a woman he love. I've been wrong all along until today. I found out it's really about a dog.

This is what someone wrote about the song:

An odd follow-up to the bouncy, harmonic million-selling "Use to Be My Girl" from the same 1978 album, So Full of Love, that also featured an Eddie Levert/ Bobby Dukes collaboration, "Help (Somebody Please)," that was a better choice, but politics kept it in LP jail. Everybody was surprised to discover the song's subject was a dog and not a woman. Who would write songs like this about a pooch? Joseph Jefferson and Charles Simmons, that's who. A dead-somber Walter Williams leads an even more sedate array of backing voices and musicians; it was so morbid it didn't make the pop Top 40 but fared better for the O'Jays live, giving Williams the rare complete lead and Eddie a chance to rest his overworked pipes.

And here's some evidence to prove it (it's a promo ad):



That's really a strange connotation!
[Edited 7/2/07 20:19pm]

I had a dog named Brandy & used to sing the song to him But I was too young to imagine they weren't talking about a dog

Ha, "Brandy" is a dog, always thought it was a chick.

Well since we're on the O'Jays, check them out back in '66 when they had 5ive members in the group.


O'Jays - Lip Stcik Traces...Cigerette)

I remember when "Brandy" first came out,everyone was trippin' off the fact that it's about a dog actually,in the 70s,songs about pets/animals were very common...

"Shannon" was a big pop hit in 1976..."Wildfire" (about a horse) was popular in 1975...and so on

I found out about the story in 1991 and the o'jays confirmed it.

yeah, the O'Jays and Dramatics were dueling groups (at least for my mom and aunt; i give the nod to the Dramatics personally) that provided background music for my childhood. i always knew Brandy was about a dog way back then.