Ever since the dawn of music - by which I mean popular music, I mean rock
and roll and it's descendents, not some dreadful folk music of a kind only
played now by white people with dreadlocks - songs have been written about
animals.
Elvis famously and uncharitably compared his significant other to
a "Hound Dog", the Beatles sang of our feathered friends in "And Your Bird
Can Sing", even everyone's favourite hymenopteran-named gun-toting fruitcake
got in on the act, when Adam and the Ants released "Ant Music".
So, what animals are the most popular in popular music? Cats get a number
of references: "Stray Cat Blues", "Stray Cat Strut" - there must be something
about stray cats - dogs have "Old Shep", but precious little that comes to
mind. "Martha My Dear" by the Beatles - another animal related track by the
coleopteran foursome!
Primates are not to be missed- "My old man's drunker
than a barrel full of monkeys", sang Elton John in "Saturday night's alright
for fighting". What does this mean? Are monkeys routinely kept in barrels?
Are monkeys in barrels more likely to drink than those free to roam? What
kind of barrel? A barrel of beer? No wonder the monkeys are famously roaring
drunk. The Beach Boys sang about a "Little Honda" which was "more fun than
a barrel full of monkeys". Again, the monkey / barrel theme.
The Kinks drew the whole thread together, saying "Compared to bugs and the spiders and flies,
I am an apeman", although Ray Davies does not comment as to his location
vis a vis any barrels in the vicinity, or his state of inebriation.
GG Allin, the greatest American poet of the 20th centuary, referred to animals several
times in his collective works, most memorably perhaps in "Fucking The Dog".
This is a tender reflection on the fact that all those around him have human
partners but due to his habits (including al fresco defecation, sticking
bananas up his bottom and dying of a drug overdose) and the fact that he
had perhaps the smallest documented penis in the history of the world, GG
had no such human partnerships and so must take solace in the beasts in the
field.
and roll and it's descendents, not some dreadful folk music of a kind only
played now by white people with dreadlocks - songs have been written about
animals.
Elvis famously and uncharitably compared his significant other to
a "Hound Dog", the Beatles sang of our feathered friends in "And Your Bird
Can Sing", even everyone's favourite hymenopteran-named gun-toting fruitcake
got in on the act, when Adam and the Ants released "Ant Music".
So, what animals are the most popular in popular music? Cats get a number
of references: "Stray Cat Blues", "Stray Cat Strut" - there must be something
about stray cats - dogs have "Old Shep", but precious little that comes to
mind. "Martha My Dear" by the Beatles - another animal related track by the
coleopteran foursome!
Primates are not to be missed- "My old man's drunker
than a barrel full of monkeys", sang Elton John in "Saturday night's alright
for fighting". What does this mean? Are monkeys routinely kept in barrels?
Are monkeys in barrels more likely to drink than those free to roam? What
kind of barrel? A barrel of beer? No wonder the monkeys are famously roaring
drunk. The Beach Boys sang about a "Little Honda" which was "more fun than
a barrel full of monkeys". Again, the monkey / barrel theme.
The Kinks drew the whole thread together, saying "Compared to bugs and the spiders and flies,
I am an apeman", although Ray Davies does not comment as to his location
vis a vis any barrels in the vicinity, or his state of inebriation.
GG Allin, the greatest American poet of the 20th centuary, referred to animals several
times in his collective works, most memorably perhaps in "Fucking The Dog".
This is a tender reflection on the fact that all those around him have human
partners but due to his habits (including al fresco defecation, sticking
bananas up his bottom and dying of a drug overdose) and the fact that he
had perhaps the smallest documented penis in the history of the world, GG
had no such human partnerships and so must take solace in the beasts in the
field.
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