Baby of Brad, Angelina sires thoughts of pets

Well, you've all heard the news. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's newborn girl is named Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt.

I like the name. I think it's cool. The only problem is, every time I think of the name Shiloh, I think of a dog.

It's not my fault. I lay the blame on Neil Diamond.

Diamond's song "Shilo" is a catchy little tune about his childhood pup, who was loyal, friendly, courteous, kind and benevolent. If Shilo wasn't a fuzzy, four-legged creature, he could have been a Boy Scout.

I think I was 3 when I first heard the song. I don't know where I heard it, but I remember the sing-song melody and the picturesque words.

The song was originally released in 1968 but hit the charts in 1970. It peaked at No. 24 on Billboard's Top 100.

While it's funny that someone would sing a song about a dog, there have been worse subjects of popular songs — Richard Harris singing "MacArthur Park," anyone?

Anyway, I used to be a dog person. And I could totally relate to Diamond's song. As far back as I can remember, we always had a dog in the house. From Chihuahuas to maltese poodles to mixed mutts to great danes, I've loved dogs forever.

We used to have a dog named Alfie, which, incidentally, was the title of Cher's 1966 Top 40 hit. The song was remade by Cilla Black later that year and then Dionne Warwick's version hit the Top 20, landing at 15 in 1967. The song's popularity waned with Eivets Rednow's 1968 version, which found itself at No. 66.

Other dogs I used to have included Mimi, Muffet, Chape, Lambchops, Sasha, Richie and Cuzzi.

Although there were no songs about them, Lambchops was named after Shari Lewis' lovable sock puppet. And Sasha wasn't named after the Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen, because Cohen hadn't been born at the time.

The last dog I owned wasn't really mine. It belonged to my two daughters. It was a little black Lab named Kuma, which means "bear" in Japanese.

That was a few years ago, and we haven't had a dog since.

The reason? I've become a cat person.

My wife and I own two cats, Athena and Isis. I can't find an "Athena" song, but there is Bob Dylan's "Isis." And other songs seem as if they were written for our cats:

Aerosmith's "Nine Lives," Black Sabbath's instrumental "Fluff," Bon Jovi's "She's a Mystery," Crosby Stills & Nash's "Our House," Rainbow's "Rainbow Eyes," "Memory" from the musical "Cats" and anything by Jim Brickman, George Winston, David Lanz, Tingstad & Rumbel and Suzanne Ciani.

I hope Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are happy with their little family.

And I hope their daughter is still happy with her name when she eventually hears Neil Diamond's "Shilo."

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E-mail: scott@desnews.com