Short Songs

Some offcuts. Not the final list...

Track	Artist
A Wolf At The Door (It Girl. Rag Doll)	Radiohead
Beast For Thee	Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Matt Sweeney
Bird Dream Of The Olympus Mons	Pixies
Boris The Spider	The Who
Buckingham Rabbit	The Silver Jews
Buggin'	The Flaming Lips
Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie	Joanna Newsom
Fire Coming Out Of A Monkey's Head	Gorillaz
Flyrod	Tortoise
Foreman's Dog	Fugazi
Funny Little Frog	Belle & Sebastian
Goat And Ram	Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Matt Sweeney
Hungry Like The Wolf	Duran Duran
I'm Like a Bird	Nelly Furtado
Mice Feel Nice (In My Room)	Guided by Voices
Mockingbird (With James Taylor)	Carly Simon
My Pal The Tortoise 282	Thinking Fellers Union Local
New Monkey	Elliott Smith
Panther Dash	The Go! Team
Rabbit Fur Coat	Jenny Lewis
Rhoda	Slint
Someone's In The Wolf	Queens of the Stone Age
Spiderwebbed	Tortoise
The Mule	The Magic Numbers
The Spiderbite Song	The Flaming Lips
The Winter Cows	Guided by Voices
Tiger Rag	The Mills Brothers
Track 10	The White Stripes
Wire Greyhounds	Guided by Voices
Wolf Among Wolves	Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

Slow day in the office. 1 and a half hours to go until I get home and sleep. Thinking about animal songs until then.

'Rock Lobster' by The B52s:

'The Rat' by The Walkmen...

Mwncioed Drwg

Euros Childs again: 'Y Mwnci Drwg' (The Naughty Monkey). Live version link.

and Low 'Monkey'.

'Starlings of the Splistream' by Pavement (offof 'Brighten the Corners')

I'm not very good at this.

Beth writes:

> Dogs - Pink Floyd
> Ben - Michael Jackson (Ben was a rat)
> I am the Walrus - The Beatles
> Pin the Tail on the Donkey - Naughty by Nature
>
> and the best one...
>
> The Eye of the Tiger!!! - Survivor

Two great tracks from solo artists:

"I'm a Strong Lion" by Robert Pollard (off 'From a Compound Eye')
"Donkey Island" by Euros Childs (off 'Chops')

The acapella spluttered and coughed LP version of Euros's "Billy the Seagull" is a load of cak, but this live version is great- tacky seaside town style.

To my way of thinking, it shouldn't just be an animal in the title.

How else can yo demonstrate a meaningful knowledge of the song?

This should be about *depth*

What's the general consensus on the animal thing? Should the songs be about animals (or pets) rather than just feature a reference in the title?

The Super Furry Animals track 'Fuzzy Birds' and Lambchop's 'My Blue Wave' are both heart-felt tracks about pets. The former is an ode to a lost dog, while the latter is a dialogue between SFA guitarist Bunf and his pet hamster Stavros:

[Bunf:]
Hamster, turnin' round in your wheel
I've got something to tell you:
I can harness your feel
Dynamo for electricity
You empower my feelings
Give me light for me to see

[Stavros:]
So won't you give me some food?
I really need to get some energy in me
Give me some
I really need to get some energy in me
Give me some
The world is turning, kicking, screaming 'round my little head
To spread it on my bread
Don't you know that I spread it on my bread?

[Bunf:]
Rest yourself you've been long on your feet
If I buy you a matchbox
Will you keep it all neat?
Radiate, you're no flash in the pan
You're the battery incarnate
I'm an innocent man

[Stavros:]
So won't you give me some food?
I really need to get some energy in me
Give me some
I really need to get some energy in me
Give me some
The world is turning, kicking, screaming 'round my little head
To spread it on my bread
Don't you know that I spread it on my bread?

Is this the kind of love we should all be spreading through song? Please tell me off for being such a softy.

"The Frog Princess" by The Divine Comedy

And of course the most majestic songs about animals, Caribou, by Pixies.

My contribution to this would be the song Mammal by They Might Be Giants. Does it qualify? It's not a specific animal in the title, but it's an excellent song, and the lyrics are as follows:

Glass of milk
Standing in between extinction in the cold
and explosive radiating growth.

So the warm blood flows
Through the large four-chambered heart,
Maintaining the very high metabolism rate they have.

Mammal, mammal
Their names are called
They raise a paw

The bat, the cat
Dolphin and dog
Koala bear and hog

One of us might lose his hair
But you're reminded that it once was there
From the embryonic whale to the monkey with no tail.

So the warm blood flows
with the red blood cells, lacking nuclei
Through the large four-chambered heart
Maintaining the very high metabolism rate they have

Mammal, mammal
Their names are called
They raise a paw
The bat, the cat
Dolphin and dog
Koala bear and hog

Placental the sister of her brother Marsupial
Their cousin called Monotreme
Dead uncle Allotheria

Mammal, mammal
Their names are called
They raise a paw
The bat, the cat
Dolphin and dog
Koala bear and hog
The fox, the ox
Giraffe and shrew
Echidna, caribou

How could I have forgotten 'Love Cats' by the Cure? I have a bad memory, that's how.

"Hometown Unicorn"
"Fuzzy Birds" (a song about a hamster which generates power with it's wheel)

Super Furry Animals (both from Fuzzy Logic)

"My Blue Wave" by Lambchop (from 'Is a Woman')

...and while we're on the subject of prolific musicians with nothing more to write about, Robert Pollard has also flooded the market:

Buzzards and Dreadful Crows
Bulldog Skin
Dragon's Awake
Ergo Space Pig
Hey Aardvark
Of Mites and Men (insects are okay right?)
Pantherz
Postal Blowfish
Spring Tiger
Wire Greyhounds
Zoo Pie

+ some songs about meat-catching (but not really about hunting) at all:

My Valuable Hunting Knife
Sing for your Meat
Learning to Hunt

I think I'm veering away from songs about animals and am being too literal with titles. Aargh.

So many Will Oldham to choose from (equine-related and not):

Horses
Riding
Lion Lair
Wolf Among Wolves
What's wrong with a zoo
Sheep

Oh well, at least we'll have a compilation of his tracks to fall back on...

Ach...it's not 'Mouse' is it? It's 'Bike' by Pink Floyd - he goes onto sing about his mouse though...but I don't suppose that counts does it?

I think in general songs about animals are better than the average song...

Hola,

I'm limiting myself to songs I own (or once owned):

Mouse - Pink Floyd
Rocky Racoon - The Beatles
When I got you at the pound - Parker Paul
Animals - Talking Heads
The Jackal - Ronny Jordan and Dana Bryant
No More Workhorse Blues (all his songs are about horses) - Will Oldham
The Snake - Al Wilson
Laika - Arcade Fire
Alsatian Cousin - Morrisey
Dog on Wheels - Belle and Sebastian

Portions for Foxes
Rilo Kiley (More Adventurous)

Animal Songs Compilation

Songs about animals or with animals in the title. Not sure how this will work. Are the rules toulouse? Normal compilation rule applies - only one track per artist.

I'll kick off...

The Winter Cows
Guided by Voices (Sunfish Holy Breakfast EP)

Backwards Dog
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (Tatay)

Monkey Gone to Heaven
Pixies (Doolittle)

One Horse Town
The Thrills (So Much for the City)

Animal Shapes
Sometimes a Pony gets Depressed
Pet Politics
Silver Jews (all from Tanglewood Numbers & The Natural Bridge lps)

The final list...

Public Enemy "White Heaven / Black Hell" 1:06 from "Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age"

The Folk Implosion (take one track from "Take a Look Inside")
"Blossom" 1:00
"Winter's Day" 1:00
"Chicken Squawk" 0:53

Deluxx Folk Implosion "daddy never understood" 1:17 from "Kids"

Deep Wound "Dead Babies" 1:12 from "Deep Wound" (EP)

The White Stripes "Little Room" 0:50 from "White Blood Cells"

Dead Kennedys "Short Songs" 0:28 from "Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death"

Hüsker Dü "Punch Drunk" 0:29 from "Eveything Falls Apart"

Minor Threat "Straight Edge" 0:45 from s/t

Frank Black "Whatever Happened to Pong?" 1:34 from "Teenager of the Year"