"Barking" was probably the most difficult song to play and record. Dave's sixteenth-note part, a workout in its own right, was painful to play if the song started on the fast side. Gabe and Jonn each made comic blunders while laying down solos — clips of which found their way onto a bloopers tape.

Charlie performed his drums for the song last, in that first recording session, at the end of a sultry August day. "Exhausted, maybe even dehydrated, he began fumbling, then he forgot what to play altogether," remembers Michael. "I was, in a word, unsympathetic. Gabe was luckily nearby, and mercy prevailed. We helped Charlie through the rest of his part and the hell out of that stifling tracking room."