Songs With Animal Noises

Ten recordings where the most committed performer was technically livestock.

Entries
10
Category
Music
Updated
  1. A giant inflatable pig floating between the chimneys of a brick power station.

    10. Pigs (Three Different Ones)

    Pink Floyd · 1977

    Eleven and a half minutes from Animals, aimed at businessmen, Margaret Thatcher and morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse. David Gilmour made the grunting with a talk box, the band's first use of one. The pig noises are, technically, a guitar solo.

  2. A spiked dog collar on a motorcycle seat in a dark city alley under a single street lamp.

    09. Ruff Ryders' Anthem

    DMX · 1998

    Swizz Beatz built the beat, DMX barked over it, and the bark became his signature on every record after. From It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, which debuted at No. 1. The only man in rap whose ad-lib could also clear a yard of squirrels.

  3. A snowy forest clearing with fox tracks leading to a microphone on a stand.

    08. The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)

    Ylvis · 2013

    Two Norwegian comedy brothers made it as a joke for their talk show, with Stargate producing, and then it went to No. 6 in the US. It catalogs real animal sounds before inventing a dozen for the fox. Zoologists remain unimpressed. YouTube was not.

  4. A dog bed next to an acoustic guitar with a slide and an upright piano in a recording studio.

    07. Seamus

    Pink Floyd · 1971

    A two-minute acoustic blues on Meddle, sung around the howls of Steve Marriott's border collie. Fans consistently rank it among Floyd's worst songs. The dog was not consulted and has never addressed the criticism. Seamus remains their only canine lead vocalist.

  5. Two dog bowls on a railway platform at dusk with a train disappearing down the tracks.

    06. Caroline, No

    The Beach Boys · 1966

    Pet Sounds closes on a heartbreaking ballad, then a passing train and Brian Wilson's own dogs, Banana and Louie, barking into the fade. The album is called Pet Sounds and this is the only place the pets actually show up. They nailed the take.

  6. A doghouse glowing with radioactive light, a funk bass guitar leaning against it and a scattered bone.

    05. Atomic Dog

    George Clinton · 1982

    Clinton's solo funk hit went to No. 1 on the R&B chart on barking, panting and a vocal sung from the dog's point of view. It became one of the most sampled records in hip-hop. Proof that a grown man doing a dog voice can pay for several other people's houses.

  7. A red lobster on a beach towel beside a transistor radio and a beehive wig stand, ocean waves behind.

    04. Rock Lobster

    The B-52's · 1978

    Fred Schneider lists sea creatures while Kate Pierson does the high noises and Cindy Wilson the low ones. John Lennon heard it in 1980, said it sounded like Yoko, and went back into the studio after five years off. A lobster ended the Beatles' longest retirement.

  8. A full moon over foggy London rooftops with a piano on a cobblestone street and a pint glass on top.

    03. Werewolves of London

    Warren Zevon · 1978

    A goofy piano riff, a well-groomed monster loose in Soho, and Zevon howling like he means it. Mick Fleetwood and John McVie played the rhythm section, and it became the only real hit of his career. The howl did more for him than any lyric ever did.

  9. An open backyard gate with an empty leash hanging from it and stadium floodlights glowing in the distance.

    02. Who Let the Dogs Out

    Baha Men · 2000

    Anslem Douglas wrote it in Trinidad as a song about catcalling men, not dogs. The Baha Men didn't want to record it, did anyway, and won a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. Every stadium in America then barked along for two decades. The question was never answered.

  10. A farmyard at sunrise with a rooster weathervane, a cereal bowl on a fence post and a guitar leaning on the barn door.

    01. Good Morning Good Morning

    The Beatles · 1967

    Lennon wrote it off a Corn Flakes ad, then asked Geoff Emerick to line up the closing animal sounds so each could eat or scare the one before. It ends on a cluck that turns into the next track's guitar. A food chain, mixed in stereo, on Sgt. Pepper.

Honorable mentions

  • A bulldog's spiked collar on a piano bench in a recording studio, a film camera on a tripod nearby.

    Hey Bulldog

    The Beatles · 1969

    Cut in a single session in 1968 while a film crew was supposed to be shooting a promo for another song. Near the end Paul starts barking and John joins in, and they leave it in. It landed on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack, the lowest-stakes place to be a dog.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A small moped parked next to a pond with a lily pad and a ringing flip phone on a rock.

    Axel F

    Crazy Frog · 2005

    The frog noise is a 17-year-old Swede imitating a two-stroke moped engine in 1997. Eight years and roughly 73,000 ringtone ads later, it debuted at No. 1 in the UK and kept Coldplay off the top. It is not a frog. It is barely a song.

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