Peak
21
Weeks
20
Score
1,410
Chart Year
2010
The first video, filmed in Sydenham Woods, was uploaded onto YouTube on 6 November 2008. "I just made it on a whim. We went down to the woods and we only had one camera. I got my dad to put a clown costume on and my friend's nephew to dress up as the baby clown while we decorated the woods. Dog walkers gave us the weirdest looks. It was really fun." The video starts with Florence lying in a forest, when a person (Isabella Summers) in a white dress comes over and blindfolds her, and leads her to a clearing, filled with eerie-looking carnival/clown dressed people. Florence stands blindfolded for a few seconds, then takes the blindfold off and runs from the people. She eventually trips, and lays there as the carnival/clown people dress her like them. She then goes and dances with them, and the video ends with her walking away with 2 of the other people. The video featured acclaimed performance artist Theo Adams. A new video was directed by Georgie Greville and Geremy Jasper and edited by Paul Snyder. It was shot by cinematographer Adam Frisch. It shows Florence dancing in a white-washed room wearing many different costumes and gradually being joined by go-go dancers, drummers wearing tribal outfits, harpists, marching band bass drummers and a gospel choir wearing white and purple. At the climax of the song Florence runs by all the people and as she does, they burst into ash in a flash of brightly coloured light. The video ends with Florence once again standing alone in the room. Throughout the video she wears full-body white make-up with intricate clothing and vivid red eye-liner and blusher. The video features actor Greg Draven in one of his first roles. 10 years later in 2020 Greg would work with Florence again on acclaimed The Third Day: Autumn. On 3 August 2010 the video was nominated for four MTV Video Music Awards in the categories Video of the Year, Best Rock Video, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography, and won for Best Art Direction on 12 September 2010.
This was the second single to be released by Florence + the Machine, the recording name of London-based alternative pop artist Florence Welch and her back up band. This paean to the inevitability of happiness was inspired by a giant text installation (of the same name) by the artist Ugo Rondinone, which Welch used to see every day riding her bike over Waterloo Bridge. Florence told Mojo magazine April 2012 about the rainbow-hued text: "It was plastered over the south Bank in London for six months and I rode past it on my bike every day. It's a reference to the dog star, Sirius: when it was closest to the Earth, all the animals would get languid and sleepy; when it moved away, they'd wake up. I've tried to get in touch with him to say thanks." Welch told CultureDeluxe that most of the sounds on this song, "came from a tiny Yamaha keyboard." Also the percussion sound was "hands on the wall while hitting a drum underneath it at the same time and the beat was really accidental." She added to BBC Newsbeat: "It was just a song that I did at my friend's studio in Crystal Palace [south London]. We didn't have any instruments and we were in a studio the size of a loo." The song was used in an episode of the Channel 4 teen drama Skins. The song failed to reach the UK Top 75 after its initial release in December 2008. However, following a performance on the New Years Eve edition of the Jools Holland show and its use in an advertisement for the TV debut of Slumdog Millionaire, this charted for the first time in January 2010. Welch told the NME January 10, 2010 that the song's music video is her favorite one to date. She explained this was not only "because it was our first, but also because of the people involved. I just made it on a whim. We went down to the woods and we only had one camera. I got my dad to put a clown costume on and my friend's nephew to dress up as the baby clown while we decorated the woods. Dog walkers gave us the weirdest looks. It was really fun." Before she'd ever recorded any music Welch met Isabella Summer, an aspiring hip hop DJ from the Suffolk seaside town of Aldeburgh. Summer had access to a studio in Crystal Palace, south London and the duo began working together, challenging each other to write a song in ten minutes, or make music that didn't involve guitar, bass or programmed beats. The first songs they co-wrote were this one and "Between Two Lungs." Welch told MTV News about the song's music video: "I wanted it to be as artistic as possible. It wasn't about being pretty. I wanted something that was striking and made me look a bit scary." The song featured during the trailer for Julia Roberts's Eat Pray Love movie and also in commercials for USA Network's spy drama Covert Affairs. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 dated September 25, 2010 after Florence + the Machine played the tune on the telecast of the VMA awards. Welch recalled to Mojo how this became the breakthrough song she was looking for on her first album: "I was working with a lot of guitarists, and trying to record the beginnings of the first record. And nothing sounded right. It wasn't until I went, just for fun, to Isabella's (Summer's) studio, and we recorded 'Dog Days Are Over…' I did it without any guitar, and it was the first thing that I'd composed myself. There was no motive, or ego. And when I heard it without any guitar, and it was the right sound. It became this big kind of layered opus. And it sounded exciting. The label who were trying to sign me were very confused when they heard it. They said, 'what is this?'" "Dog Days Are Over" takes center stage in the climactic finale of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In this pivotal scene, Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper) takes hold of Quill's (Chris Pratt) Zune, and with a swift scroll, he lands on Florence + the Machine's iconic track. As the music starts playing, the Guardians unite in a joyous dance, savoring what appears to be their well-deserved happily ever after. The song returned to the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart in the week following the release of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Happiness hit her like a train on a track Coming towards her, stuck, still no turning back She hid around corners and she hid under beds She killed it with kisses, and from it she fled With every bubble she sank with a drink And washed it away down the kitchen sink The dog days are over The dog days are done The horses are coming So you better run Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers Leave all your love and your longing behind You can't carry it with you if you want to survive The dog days are over The dog days are done Can you hear the horses? 'Cause here they come And I never wanted anything from you Except everything you had And what was left after that too, oh Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back Struck from a great height By someone who should know better than that The dog days are over The dog days are done Can you hear the horses? 'Cause here they come Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers Leave all your love and your longing behind You can't carry it with you if you want to survive The dog days are over The dog days are done Can you hear the horses? 'Cause here they come The dog days are over The dog days are done The horses are coming So you better run The dog days are over The dog days are done The horses are coming So you better run
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 25, 2010 | 93 | 33 |
| 2 | Oct 2, 2010 | 21 | 105 |
| 3 | Oct 9, 2010 | 73 | 53 |
| 4 | Oct 16, 2010 | 99 | 27 |
| 6 | Oct 30, 2010 | 77 | 49 |
| 7 | Nov 6, 2010 | 84 | 42 |
| 8 | Nov 13, 2010 | 94 | 32 |
| 9 | Nov 20, 2010 | 82 | 44 |
| 10 | Nov 27, 2010 | 89 | 37 |
| 11 | Dec 4, 2010 | 69 | 57 |
| 12 | Dec 11, 2010 | 58 | 68 |
| 13 | Dec 18, 2010 | 21 | 105 |
| 14 | Dec 25, 2010 | 48 | 78 |
| 15 | Jan 1, 2011 | 56 | 70 |
| 16 | Jan 8, 2011 | 55 | 71 |
| 17 | Jan 15, 2011 | 54 | 72 |
| 18 | Jan 22, 2011 | 54 | 72 |
| 19 | Jan 29, 2011 | 61 | 65 |
| 20 | Feb 5, 2011 | 59 | 67 |
| 21 | Feb 12, 2011 | 63 | 63 |