The dog that sat

The dog that sat is a light song by Peter Tranchell, setting words from a newspaper article to music for unaccompanied choir. Originally written in 1967 for TTBrBB, then arranged in 1976 for AATBrBBB (plus whistling).

The words are from a report in a newspaper. First line: The dog picked up at a roadside yesterday could hardly be called a stray.

We have typeset and published two editions of the 1976 score for ATTBB choir:

The Dog That Sat for ATTBB

The Dog That Sat for SATBB

Access the PDF scores by clicking the links above. A typeset version of the original TTBB score is available on request.

Peter Tranchell: the dog that sat - extract from 1967 score
A few bars of 'The dog that sat' by Peter Tranchell

The song was included on the LP "Music from Caius" (the recording presented below, recorded 12th April 1980). It also featured at the 2005 Commemoration Weekend, and was recorded and released on the Commemoration CD.

The dog that sat, from Music from Caius. Use the player below or download the MP3:

The recording features:

Altos
RP Brophy
AP Day
JD Glover
JA Jacob

Tenors
SR Beale
SC Cowling
GJE Jenkins
SJ Salmon

Basses
NG Blanshard
DS Bulley
MCE Law
S Preece
PAF Thomas

A more recent recording was made by the Imperial College Chamber Choir, live in concert 19th June 2026 at St. Luke's Church, Chelsea.