Abby's Aminals

My daughter loves songs about animals, and I love making mix tapes, so to combine these two interests, I recently wrote my daughter instruction on how to make mix tapes based on my experience making her a mix tape about animals. I also wrote her a set of liner notes. I wanted to use the instructions and liner notes for a non-fiction workshop I am in, but it came out to nearly 25 pages and I decided to cut them and, instead, publish them here.

1. The Beatles – Octopus’s Garden (from Abbey Road, 1969)

I’ve always felt this Ringo Starr composition sounded wonderfully similar to the Muppet Babies theme song. It has a peaceful vibe that is carefully punctuated by George Harrison’s guitar at key points. Starr may be the best songwriter in the Beatles, song for song. He only contributed two songs, this and “Don’t Pass Me By” (a number one hit in Sweden!), but they were both stellar. The other Beatles all had at least one song that wasn’t as good as either of these cuts.

2. Prince – Starfish & Coffee (from Sign O’ the Times, 1987)

It wouldn’t be surprising to find a starfish in an octopus’s garden, but it probably would be a bit of a surprise to find one in an elementary school lunchroom. This song celebrates the individuality of Cynthia Rose, a unique girl with a big imagination. The sound is clearly influenced by Sgt. Pepper’s-era Beatles songs and comes from Prince’s most musically diverse album, the double-disc Sign O’ the Times.

3. Don & Dewey – Koko Joe (single, 1958)

“Monkey suit” is a term sometimes used to refer to man’s formal attire, but I don’t think they had this sharply-dressed monkey in mind when they coined the term. Koko Joe is crazy, but in the best way possible. This song was written by U. S. Representative and sometimes-Cher-spouse Sonny Bono.

4. The B-52’s – Quiche Lorraine (from Wild Planet, 1980)

Quiche Lorraine is the name of a dog who is endearingly strange. This song reminds your daddy of his friend Sam, who is strangely reminiscent of B-52’s singer Fred Schneider in more than one way.

5. Heart – Barracuda (from Little Queen, 1977)

Ann and Nancy Wilson were hard-rockin’ sisters when they formed the band Heart in the mid-70s. Though they later went to soft ballads, they started out with searing metal guitars as heard on this song, their signature hit, which explains their attitude towards pseudo-journalists going for a gossip scoop.

6. The Cake Sale – Black Winged Bird (from The Cake Sale, 2006)

I don’t know too much about The Cake Sale. I discovered this on an indie record label sampler I picked up for free at the Sisters of Sound music store in Manhattan, KS. The mellow country sadness of the backing just brims with pathos though and the singer’s voice is beautiful. The song seems to be about the desire to escape – indeed, to fly away – due to shame, but the speaker reveals her courage to stay in the line “but I’m still singin’ to you.” Sometimes, its better to confront a situation even if it is tough because then you’ll be able to soar over it rather than dragging it behind you as it lingers in the back of your mind.

7. They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse In Your Soul (from Flood, 1990)

This song is from the point of view of a blue-canary-shaped night light that needs a friend. The birdie is starved for attention and has no agency through which to gain it, being just a little piece of plastic plugged into a light switch. The song is interesting because of the way the little bird imagines itself, imaging itself as a distant relative of lighthouses and referencing Jason and the Argonauts in the process. Ultimately, though, the bird’s downfall may be that it wants all of the attention rather than being willing to share it.

8. Johnny Cash – Mean-Eyed Cat (from Unchained, 1996)

Johnny Cash could make the phone-book sound compelling, but rather than go with one of his serious cuts I went with a fun one. I chose this song because it reminds me of your mom and I. Her cat isnt’ just mean-eyed – its plain out mean. We fight over the cat a lot, but each time I complain too much and tick your mom off, I refuse to give up on us. I love her so much that I’m willing to tolerate the cat.

9. Nellie McKay – Pounce (from Pretty Little Head, 2006)

Not quite Nellie’s deepest song, but definitely a fun one. After the reconciliation of the couple and the cat, I thought this would make a nice celebration and you love to bounce up and down to it too.

10. The Byrds – Chestnut Mare (from The Byrds, 1970)

This is from the Byrds second album titled The Byrds, names so because of a new line-up featuring only one original member – Roger McGuinn. Originally, the song was going to be the centerpiece of a country-rock version of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt that McGuinn was writing with playwright Jacques Levy. McGuinn had just finished recording “Ballad of Easy Rider,” which was ghost-written by Bob Dylan and I have often wondered if he didn’t introduce Dylan and Levy, who co-wrote seven-ninths of Dylan’s Desire album. Rather than remind me of Peer Gynt, though, this song has always made me think of William Faulkner. In Uncollected Stories there is a story titled “The Spotted Horses,” later incorporated into his novel The Hamlet, about a man who has a love affair with a horse. While there certainly are undertones of romance here (I don’t want to know what “give her my brand” means), the song can also be read as just a song about loving animals.

11. Danny Dell – Froggie Went A-Courtin’ (single, 1959)

I don’t know anything about Danny Dell except that he recorded this excellent single which was collected into Rhino records Rockin’ Bones, their fabulous collection of obscure 50s rock. Perhaps what is most interesting about this break-neck-speed thrasher is how it changes the narrative. Among other things, the song educates the listener about matrimony. In the most traditional version of “Froggie Went A-Courtin’” that I know, after Froggie proposes to Miss Mousie, she defers to Uncle Rat, a symbol of patriarchy. Uncle Rat presumably accepts the dowry and then the song has about 80 verses in which the animals plan every single aspect of the wedding reception. This version of the song only has three verses. In the first verse, Froggie calls on Miss Mousie; in the second, he proposes; in the third, they plan the wedding supper. The song anticipates changing social mores. Rather than asking the father’s permission to date the girl, this rock’n’roll Froggie goes straight to the marriage proposal and the girl accepts. These days it is rarer and rarer for a child to need approval before dating, and this has led to a whole sea change in the cultural milieu. When this song was recorded, it wouldn’t have been unheard of for your mother to have been publically castigated for giving birth to you out of wedlock. Today, your opportunities shouldn’t be limited at all by this, and it is part of what Michael Denning calls the Cultural Front, popular culture production that drives social change by engaging the populace. The other way this song has anticipated changes in mores is a sly comment on drug culture during the wedding supper. The Froggie is going to have a “can of tea,” popular slang for marijuana at the time; fifty years later, the movement for its decriminalization continues to grow.

12. Big Al Downing – Down On the Farm (single, 1958)

Big Al Downing would later become a country artist whose biggest hit was on the disco charts, but back in his youth he was a real rock’n’roller. When I first heard this song, I expected something else to rhyme with “cluck,” but I guess “huck-a-buck” does the job just as well. When you get old enough to figure out what else it rhymes with, the song will cut both ways. Downing sings “rock’n’roll’s taking over my farm.” Before it became a musical term, rock’n’roll was slang for cluck’s other rhyming term and so the song actually sounds like it could be being sung by an old, rural farmer who is angry about the intransigent youth and ready to burn some Elvis Presley records. The opening guitar lick comes from “Old McDonald Had A Farm,” one of your granddad’s greatest hits.

13. Brian Wilson – Barnyard (from Smile, 2004)

Brian Wilson spent his young adult life composing what he called “teenage symphonies” for his band, The Beach Boys, to record. Smile was to be his masterpiece. Due to a troubled childhood fraught with emotional trauma, however, his self esteem was shockingly low and when admirer Paul McCartney sent him an advance copy of his band’s new album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Wilson couldn’t bear the pressure and destroyed Smile. Though parts of what were salvaged were released on Beach Boys albums down the years, it would taken until 2004 for a manic-depressive Brian Wilson to finally be stable enough again to finish the album. The abrupt ending is due to the songs all flowing into each other, as though they were one long song. The use of animals as backing music is reminiscent of two other songs on the album – “Workshop,” which uses tools, and “Vege-Tables,” which uses people munching on carrots and celery.

14. James Brown – I Got Ants In My Pants (single, 1972)

James Brown is the funkiest man who ever lived. He conducts energy to himself and it flows out of him in passionate dance moves and yelps. Bassist Bootsy Collins jams out on bass on this track, all about James’ dance moves. If your daddy’s knees aren’t too creaky by the time you are old enough to karaoke, ask to see my James Brown sometime. I would sing this song if I could, but unfortunately it is too rare for them to play it.

15. The Who – Boris the Spider (from A Quick One, 1966)

Pete Townsend is primarily seen as The Who’s only writer, but, while he was certainly their foremost visionary, bassist John Entwistle was a talented songwriter in his own right. For the groups second album – and certainly their worst with the original line-up – their then-manager told them that they all had to contribute an equal number of songs to the album. Singer Roger Daltrey and drummer Keith Moon never had it in them to be writers, but Entwistle thrived, and “Boris the Spider” was his first taste of success and became a fan favorite. Its genesis rests in Entwistle getting “Itsy-Bitsy Spider” stuck in his head and wanting to take it for a bit of a darker turn.

16. Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint – Freedom for the Stallion (from The River In Reverse, 2006)

In late 2005, hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the city you were born in. British singer Elvis Costello wanted to help out, and so he teamed up with legendary New Orleans arranger, songwriter and pianist Allen Toussaint and recorded The River In Reverse, Costello’s first album-length flirtation with soul since 1980’s Get Happy. It was the first album recorded in New Orleans post-Katrina and was made up of half new versions of songs from Toussaint’s vast catalog and half new songs co-written with Costello about the plight of New Orleans. “Freedom for the Stallion” is one of Toussaint’s old songs. In truth, the song has little to do with horses and more to do with campaign-finance and why it needs restructuring.

17. George Harrison – Pisces Fish (from Brainwashed, 2002)

George Harrison is my favorite Beatles. John was too self-righteous, Paul was too controlling and Ringo was to Ringoey. He organized the first benefit rock concert and was described as a friend by all those who knew him. John and Ringo got second wives by cheating on their first wives, but Harrison got his after his best friend, Eric Clapton, convinced Harrison’s wife to cheat on him. That would end most friendships, but a couple years later when Clap ton was in the throes of a heroin addiction, Harrison staged an intervention and organized his comeback. George was also the most spiritual Beatle. He was constantly questing for some sense of God that worked for him, mostly dabbling in a series of Eastern religions. This song describes a world fraught with contradiction, but through it all Harrison embodies the contradiction and by doing so finds a sense of peace, as embodied in the chorus: “I’m a pisces fish and the river runs through my soul.”

18. Arrested Development – Fishin’ 4 Religion (from 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days In the Life of…, 1992)

In this song, Speech, Arrested Development’s most talented emcee, provides an analysis of how churches may actually hurt their congregation’s station in life by preventing them from bettering their station. Rather than give up and become an atheist though, Speech suggests taking the Harrison route and continually searching for a higher power.

19. Bascom Lamar Lunsford – I Wish I Was A Hole In the Ground (from American Folk Music, 1952)

Recorded in 1928, this is the oldest song here. It presages the Great Depression, but captures the mood perfectly as man wishes himself a mole so he can burrow inside the mountain he mines and destroy the owners’ gold (or coal they’ll sell for gold) mine from inside. This song is also notable for being where Dylan filched the line “the railroad men drink up your blood like wine” from when he recorded “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again.”

20. Jill Sobule – Talkin’ Platy (from Prozak and the Platypus, 2008)

This song is the most technical in how it describes the animal. The platypus speaker is obviously very well educated. It is part of a rock opera called Prozak and the Platypus about scientists trying to look at the effects of drugs on sleep patterns by running tests on Platypodes.

21. Gayla Peevey – I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas (single, 1953)

This holiday favorite is a good lesson in rhetoric. You should pay close attention to see what you can learn for when you are trying to get something out of me. For instance, look at the way Peevey is willing to meet Santa half way. She is willing to sacrifice the magic of Santa surviving a fall down the chimney by allowing him to bring the hippopotamus through the front door. She is also willing to do her part and help clean and feed the hippo once it arrives. The best part, of course, is that she is able to answer her audience’s rebuttal; if mom says the hippo will eat her, she has done enough of her homework to know that a hippo is a vegetarian. That being said, your daddy ended up with his head in a hippo’s mouth while at the circus in Russia and nearly had his neck snapped clean off, so maybe Peevey is a little naïve.

22. Bob Dylan – Man Gave Names To All the Animals (from Slow Train Coming, 1979)

Dylan recorded this reggae nursery rhyme for his first born-again album, Slow Train Coming, in 1979. It seems like the least evangelical song on the album, and it probably is, but it has deeper religious connotations than it seems to at first. Genesis 2:19 reads “and out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.” In this way, Adam was in control of his environment – and he controlled it through language. In many ways, this Biblical story prefigures the Tower of Babel. Naming something gives one power over it. When Adam comes upon the snake, he loses the power over naming it. He loses control over language. The song ends with the snake, who remains unnamed, but through choosing this narrative to focus on the song exemplifies the power and importance of language.

23. Simon & Garfunkel – At the Zoo (from Bookends, 1968)

It may be possible that your first concert experience will be JazzFest in April, and if so I hope that Simon & Garfunkel perform this song for you. I’m not sure what they mean by all of their animal descriptions, but I think I have a few down. The elephants symbolize Republicans. The zebras are reactionaries because they see all issues as black or white, right or wrong, with no exceptions and nothing in between. The pigeons are the Illuminati.

24. Kimya Dawson – Tree Hugger (from the soundtrack to Juno, 2008)

This song explains the relationships between different life forms quite nicely, in both English and French, while explaining the animals hopes and dreams. It is mostly just a lot of fun with a nice, hoppy sound to it. One of the song’s greatest lessons comes from the cactus – don’t try to help others at a detriment to yourself or it will become a detriment to both.

25. Carl Perkins – Quarter Horse (from Go, Cat, Go!, 1996)

Carl Perkins was supposed to be bigger than Elvis, but when a car accident sidelined him and that didn’t happen, his career never took off enough to give him the recognition he deserved. When his all-star duets album, Go, Cat, Go!, was released in 1996 it was completely ignored. Despite participation by Tom Petty, George Harrison, Johnny Cash, John Fogerty, Paul Simon and more, it failed to sell and went out of print almost immediately. A few of the songs on it were so special to Perkins that he didn’t want to duet with anyone on them, and those songs include “Quarter Horse,” a nostalgic tribute to the mechanical horses you can ride for a quarter at the front of any supermarket. Really, though, the song is a paean to the wondrous qualities of the imagination.

26. Woody Guthrie – Oregon Trail (from Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs, 1962)

Woody Guthrie recorded this song for folklorist Moe Asch sometime during the 1940s. It seems like it should come out of the 19th century, when people were flocking to the West Coast and its new settlements like mad. Whether he was thinking of then or of family’s too poor to afford cars during the depression, the song is hopeful that there is “a future” in the Pacific Northwest. Guthrie, as in “Do Re Mi,” states right out, though, that that future is only there “if we work hard.” I have great hopes for your future, but we won’t have any future without working for it. Guthrie was a wise man and I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to establish a strong work ethic while you are still young. And if they try to make you play that silly Oregon Trail video game in school, threaten to bring this song into class and show your fellow students how it really was.