Complex behaviors are constructed out of simple building blocks. The construction of complex behaviors presents an interesting problem when the behavioral building blocks are driven by independent neural dynamics, as is the case for behaviors that recruit central-pattern generators (CPGs). Breathing is a particularly interesting example since it is vital for sustaining life and yet breathing is integrated into a myriad of other behaviors like speaking, laughing, and coughing. Vocalizations co-opt respiratory machinery for communication. While the generation of vocal motor commands is generally attributed to the midbrain and forebrain, little is known about how these vocal motor commands interact with ongoing respiratory dynamics. Bengalese finch calls provide a unique opportunity to study how vocalizations are integrated with respiratory dynamics since they are produced one at a time, unlike the sequential nature of other well-studied animal vocalizations, like birdsong and rodent ultra-sonic vocalizations. This discrete nature of calls allowed us to study how individual vocal motor commands interact with ongoing respiratory dynamics. First, we found that calls can interrupt and disrupt the respiratory rhythm at any phase, which indicates that call motor commands can override ongoing respiratory dynamics, potentially by directly interacting with the respiratory CPG. Second, we discovered that generation of the call respiratory waveform is dependent on a dynamical system, as unpatterned electrical stimulation of midbrain calling nucleus DM was sufficient to evoke calls. Finally, we found that brief electrical stimulation of the respiratory brainstem itself is sufficient to engage this dynamical system and produce a call-like vocalization. These results show that top-down motor commands generated by the midbrain need not encode moment-by-moment motor commands for vocalizations, but instead can recruit the dynamics of the respiratory CPG to generate calls. Other vocalizations may similarly depend on an interplay between top-down motor commands and local CPG dynamics.