Animals
Music by Pink Floyd
Lyrics by Roger Waters
An essay by Thane Zander, 17th September 2008
Introduction
Animals – an album by Pink Floyd
released in 1977. The album reached No.
2 in the UK Album Chart and No.3 in the US
The album was recorded at Pink Floyds Britannia Row Recording
Studios in 1976. It was a departure from
previous works in that it became a lyrical masterpiece, and less structure from
the musical innovation Pink Floyd had been known for.
My own personal history with Animals
is quite revealing. I first bought the
album in 1978, and was at that stage a firm Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You
Were Here fan, and Animals didn’t provide me with the flare Pink Floyd had
until that stage. I gave Animals to my
brother after a few listens not overly happy with its content. I was 20 years old then and
impressionable. I next crossed horns
with Animals in 1998 when I decided to fully stock my CD collection of Pink
Floyd music and albums. And on first
playing I suddenly got what the album was about. A more mature me had become a huge Roger
Waters fan, and Animals was where he first took control of the creativity for
the band.
My own position with Animals is
this. The album is tight. The songs rock, the lyrics are superb, and
the package is alluring. There are many areas where the album just glows, and
these are where the band really gels as a group of musicians striving to keep
it together (as the fall out from The Wall will testify) It’s physically the
last album Pink Floyd make sounding like they all have their heart in the
project at hand, and having to deal with Roger must have been a hard task.
The whole album is a miasma of
thought and thinking, and makes the listener want to be involved in the music,
albeit lyric based. After several
listens, and the aid of a Lyric sheet from the internet, I managed to fully
understand what Roger was going on about.
On the Roger Waters BBS I would argue night and day the merits of the
album, usually on deaf ears. But allies
were around and we continue to this day to enjoy Rogers
Now for the individual tracks and
the breakdown of each from my own viewpoint. Each song will be approached on its
merits, the lyrics, the music, the solos, and the direction the songs take with
each other.
Pigs on the
Wing Part One
An unusual song to start the album off with, but when coupled with
its’ closing partner, it all makes sense.
In the reference material (Schaffer and Mason) there is an explanation
that these two pieces were in fact Roger’s lost love and were treated as love
songs. The problem is for me is
accepting that the starting Part One is a love song. It has elements in it that hint to it, but
personally I think this is a great segue in to the material that follows, a
sort of airy piece that just floats an introduction. I’ve never read Animal Farm, but I know of
it. The choice of Roger to use Pigs as
an opening gambit is somewhat obscure, except to say his depiction is probably
akin to the fat cats of business that stuffed up his and the Floyd’s royalties
(well documented) and he has an aversion to them. I doubt that makes for a good love song. The use of just an acoustic guitar to open
with is sublime, adds tenderness to the album that wasn’t often to be seen in
early Floyd.
Dogs
Roger’s words, Dave’s dulcet voice and classic Floyd guitar, Nick’s
competent drums, and the barest of Rick’s contribution. Ok this song reeks of paranoia and anxiety.
“Fly Down South and hide your head in the sand” but it also speaks about fear
“You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder”, the classes “You gotta be
able to pick out the easy meat”. It’s more than that too; it’s an angst ridden
song, yet without the anger pouring out in the music and vocals. I like Dogs immensely, at one time the song
really echoed how I felt and I was able to understand what it was all about. The length has been mentioned by some
commentators, did it need to be that long?
Yes it did (and does). The
insanity of the situation calls for a long dirge, with the echoing dogs and keyboards
in the middle of the song adding lustre to the piece. Lyrically it’s a very tight well driven
song. There is enough in the lyrics to
catch all kinds of listeners. I think Roger enjoyed doing the writing for this
album, as he obviously had a lot of ideas running around in his mind at the
time.
The last section of the song is more upbeat and bouncier, even if
the lyrics are still a little comprehensive and depressive. The lines that start with “Who” at the very
end set up a nice segue into Pigs (Three Different Ones). In conclusion of Dogs, it’s purely an angst
ridden rock song, but very well handled as an acoustic interlude in places.
Pigs (Three
Different Ones)
“Big man, Pig Man” Yes what a way to start another very good
song. This one’s Rogers
Like most of the album, Pigs (TDO)
is a relaxing walk through the mind of Roger Waters, coupled with the expert
musicianship of his fellow band mates.
Sheep
OK!
The 23rd Psalm. On the
Roger Waters Bulletin Board (alluded to earlier) there was one poster who
utterly loved Animals BUT couldn’t stand to listen to Sheep. Yes he was a devout Christian, and wouldn’t
have anything to do with the song. I
know of two others since that have the same aversion. From my own viewpoint I see it
differently. I think Roger was exorcising
some demons, from whatever walk of life he was partaking of. The song is a deep look into the psyche of a
troubled man (not mentioned anywhere in any resource material) but with what
came next with Roger (The Wall) maybe he was a troubled man indeed. It’s fair to say when Roger gets his teeth
into something he gives it his all, despite criticisms, and Sheep certainly
does that. I was interested to note that
the reading of the reworked Psalm was done by Nick Mason (Mason – Inside
Out). There is not a lot not to like
about this song. Once again Roger gets
the best out of his band mates and a very tight piece ensues.
Pigs on the
Wing Part Two
Out take. We came in…….
Conclusion
Animals
is a very eclectic album musically speaking.
The lyrics are a continuum from one song to the next, as you’d expect
from a concept album. Since being reawakened to Animals I have grown to love
the music and songs and to this date still assert that it is their most
musically tight album of all time. The
lyrics help to enhance that thought, and it is as I see it, the first true
Roger Waters album, meaning he wrote all of the lyrics and had most of the song
ideas done already. He stretches all his
skills to deliver a really tight package.
Bibliography
Mason N. Inside Out
Schaffer N. Saucerful of Secrets – The Pink Floyd
Odyssey
Ccrfan747 (2007) Analysis of Animals retrieved September
7th 2008 from http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=32491
Wikipedia – Animals retrieved 7th
September 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_(album)
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