The strange life of ‘Shivers’ and its place in Dogs in Space

Abstract

Rowland S. Howard’s teenage song ‘Shivers’, written quickly as a bombastic yet in many respects heartfelt ballad, has become an icon of Australian music and Howard’s best-known and best-loved song. The song appears three times in Dogs in Space and its second performance, by Marie Hoy, serves to ratify its status as a ‘classic’ of the late 1970s. MacKinney explores the emergence of the song, its meaning(s) and early recognition of its importance, as well as its value to Howard and his legacy and to the action of the film.