Showing posts with label Animals. Show all posts

Sunday, May 9, 2021

British Invasion: Top 100 Songs

British Invasion, 1962-1967:

Top 100 Songs

The British Invasion was marked by the infiltration of the United States pop charts by a slew of British artists in the mid-‘60s. The most prominent acts were the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Kinks.

This list was compiled by aggregating multiple lists. Those songs which made 3 or more lists were then ranked based on their overall status in Dave’s Music Database.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. The Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (1965)
2. The Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (1963)
3. The Beatles “Yesterday” (1965)
4. The Animals “The House of the Rising Sun” (1964)
5. Procol Harum “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (1967)
6. The Who “My Generation” (1965)
7. The Kinks “You Really Got Me” (1964)
8. The Beatles “She Loves You” (1963)
9. The Moody Blues “Nights in White Satin” (1967)
10. The Rolling Stones “Paint It Black” (1966)

11. The Beatles “Help!” (1965)
12. The Beatles “Twist and Shout” (1963)
13. The Beatles “Can’t Buy Me Love” (1964)
14. The Beatles “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964)
15. The Beatles “Penny Lane” (1967)
16. The Beatles “All You Need Is Love” (1967)
17. The Troggs “Wild Thing” (1966)
18. Petula Clark “Downtown” (1964)
19. The Beatles “I Feel Fine” (1964)
20. The Beatles “We Can Work It Out” (1965)

21. Spencer Davis Group “Gimme Some Lovin’” (1966)
22. The Beatles “Ticket to Ride” (1965)
23. The Rolling Stones “Get Off of My Cloud” (1965)
24. The Beatles “Day Tripper” (1965)
25. Manfred Mann “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” (1964)
26. The Beatles Paperback Writer” (1966)
27. The Beatles “I Saw Her Standing There” (1963)
28. The Rolling Stones “Ruby Tuesday” (167)
29. Them “Gloria” (1965)
30. The Who “I Can See for Miles” (1967)

31. The Tornadoes “Telstar” (1962)
32. The Beatles “Hello Goodbye” (1967)
33. The Beatles “Love Me Do” (1962)
34. Lulu “To Sir with Love” (1967)
35. The Zombies “She’s Not There” (1964)
36. Donovan “Sunshine Superman” (1966)
37. The Yardbirds “For Your Love” (1965)
38. The Who “I Can’t Explain” (1965)
39. The Kinks “All Day and All of the Night” (1964)
40. Engelbert Humperdinck “Release Me” (1967)

41. The Small Faces “Itchycoo Park” (1967)
42. The Easybeats “Friday on My Mind” (1966)
43. The Beatles “Please Please Me” (1963)
44. The Beatles “Yellow Submarine” (1966)
45. The Searchers “Needles and Pins” (1964)
46. The Animals “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” (1965)
47. Dave Clark Five “Glad All Over” (1963)
48. The Beatles “Eight Days a Week” (1964)
49. Donovan “Mellow Yellow” (1966)
50. The Beatles “Nowhere Man” (1965)

51. Donovan “Catch the Wind” (1965)
52. The Animals “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” (1965)
53. Peter & Gordon “World Without Love” (1964)
54. The Yardbirds “Heart Full of Soul” (1965)
55. The Rolling Stones “19th Nervous Breakdown” (1966)
56. The Yardbirds “Shapes of Things” (1966)
57. Herman’s Hermits “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” (1965)
58. The Hollies “Bus Stop” (1966)
59. Tom Jones “It’s Not Unsual” (1965)
60. The Rolling Stones “Mother’s Little Helper” (1966)

61. The Rolling Stones “The Last Time” (1965)
62. The Beatles “Do You Want to Know a Secret” (1963)
63. The Rolling Stones “Time Is on My Side” (1964)
64. The Moody Blues “Go Now” (1964)
65. The Rolling Stones “As Tears Go By” (1965)
66. The Hollies “Carrie Anne” (1967)
67. Dusty Springfield “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” (1966)
68. The Mindbenders “A Groovy Kind of Love” (1966)
69. The Kinks “Tired of Waiting for You” (1965)
70. The Kinks “Sunny Afternoon” (1966)

71. The Zombies “Tell Her No” (1965)
72. Gerry & the Pacemakers “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (1963)
73. Herman’s Hermits “I’m into Something Good” (1964)
74. The Mindbenders “Game of Love” (1964)
75. Freddie & the Dreamers “I’m Telling You Now” (1963)
76. Gerry & the Pacemakers “Ferry Cross the Mersey” (1964)
77. Spencer Davis Group “I’m a Man” (1967)
78. The Kinks “A Well Respected Man” (1965)
79. Herman’s Hermits “I’m Henry VIII, I Am” (1965)
80. Dave Clark Five “Bits and Pieces” (1964)

81. Petula Clark “My Love” (1965)
82. Spencer Davis Group “Keep on Runnin’” (1965)
83. Them “Here Comes the Night” (1965)
84. Shirley Bassey “Goldfinger” (1964)
85. Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas “Bad to Me” (1963)
86. Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas “Little Children” (1964)
87. The Swinging Blue Jeans “Hippy Hippy Shake” (1963)
88. Dave Clark Five “Catch Us if You Can” (1965)
89. Dave Clark Five “Over and Over” (1965)
90. Dave Clark Five “Because” (1964)

91. The Beatles “She’s a Woman” (1964)
92. Dusty Springfield “I Only Want to Be with You” (1963)
93. Gerry & the Pacemakers “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” (1964)
94. The Hollies “Stop Stop Stop” (1966)
95. The Searchers “Love Potion No. 9” (1964)
96. Chad & Jeremy “A Summer Song” (1964)
97. The Honeycombs “Have I the Right?” (1964)
98. Dusty Springfield “Wishin’ and Hopin’” (1964)
99. The Bachelors “Diane” (1964)
100. Dave Clark Five “Can’t You See That She’s Mine” (1964)

Resources and Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: “Other Genre/Category Song Lists”

First posted 4/17/2020; last updated 5/9/2021.

Friday, January 21, 1977

Pink Floyd Animals released

Animals

Pink Floyd

Released: January 21, 1977

Peak: 3 US, 2 UK, 12 CN, 3 AU, 1² Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 0.1 UK, 12.4 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: classic rock/progressive rock

Tracks:

Click on a song titled for more details.

Total Running Time: 41:40

The Players:

Roger Waters (vocals, bass)
David Gilmour (vocals, guitar)
Nick Mason (drums, percussion)
Richard Wright (keyboards)

Rating:

4.140 out of 5.00 (average of 26 ratings)

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Album

“Of all of the classic-era Pink Floyd albums, Animals is the strangest and darkest, a record that’s hard to initially embrace yet winds up yielding as many rewards as its equally nihilistic successor, The Wall. It isn’t that Roger Waters dismisses the human race as either pigs, dogs, or sheep, it’s that he’s constructed an album whose music is as bleak and bitter as that world view.” ^AM

“Arriving after the warm-spirited (albeit melancholy) Wish You Were Here, the shift in tone comes as a bit of a surprise, and there are even less proper songs here than on either Wish or Dark Side. Animals is all extended pieces, yet it never drifts – it slowly, ominously works its way toward its destination.” ^AM

“For an album that so clearly is Waters’, David Gilmour’s guitar dominates thoroughly, with Richard Wright’s keyboards rarely rising above a mood-setting background (such as on the intro to Sheep). This gives the music, on occasion, immediacy and actually heightens the dark mood by giving it muscle. It also makes Animals as accessible as it possibly could be, since it surges with bold blues-rock guitar lines and hypnotic space rock textures.” ^AM

“Through it all, though, the utter blackness of Waters’ spirit holds true, and since there are no vocal hooks or melodies, everything rests on the mood, the near-nihilistic lyrics, and Gilmour’s guitar. These are the kinds of things that satisfy cultists, and it will reward their attention – there’s just no way in for casual listeners.” ^AM

In a review of the album, Jason Thorpe enlisted his wife to offer analysis of the lyrics and themes of the album. She says, “Animals portrays a young man’s rage using obvious references to George Orwell’s Animal Farm. At the beginning, Waters separates himself from the barnyard animals. If we didn’t care about each other, we would be barnyard animals.” ^SU

The Songs

Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Pigs on the Wing

Pink Floyd

Writer(s): Roger Waters

Released: B-side of “Sheep” promo single (1/21/1977), Animals (1/21/1977), In the Flesh (Roger Waters live, 12/5/2000)

Peak: 13 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 70.469 (Part 1), 25.02 (Part 2) streaming

About the Song:

“’Pigs on the wing’ was World War I code for an enemy pilot in your blind spot. In [George Orwell’s] Animal Farm, the pigs are the covert enemy on a cooperative farm where the animals have revolted and kicked out Mr. and Mrs. Jones. However, the animals don’t recognize the new enemies. Pigs are the new despots of the farm.” ^SU

“In ‘Pigs on the Wing (Part Two),’ Waters is a dog who’s grateful he has a companion.” ^SU

Dogs

Pink Floyd

Writer(s): David Gilmour, Roger Waters

Released: Animals (1/21/1977), In the Flesh (Roger Waters live, 12/5/2000), Us + Them (Roger Waters live, 10/2/2020)

Peak: 9 CL, 17 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 70.04 streaming

About the Song:

In the 17-minute epic “Dogs,” Roger Waters see himself as “a dog interrupting corruption and avarice around him.” ^SU “Dogs are really only tools, used by more powerful shadows, and will most certainly be disposed of when they’ve outlived their usefulness.” ^SU

“The dogs are like the nine dogs in Animal Farm, puppies kidnapped from their parents and raised to be loyal only to Napoleon, the pig. Initially they chase off his competitor, the idealist Snowball. Soon, following Napoleon’s orders, they’re ripping out the throats of animals who have been forced to make false confessions.” ^SU

The song features “unsettling images…underscored by David Gilmour’s driving acoustic guitar, Richard Wright’s minor-key sound washes, and those slashing guitar solos, and the music is as disturbing as the lyrics.” ^SU

Pigs (Three Different Ones)

Pink Floyd

Writer(s): Roger Waters

Released: Animals (1/21/1977), Us + Them (Roger Waters live, 10/2/2020)

Peak: 10 CL, 17 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 71.00 streaming

About the Song:

In “Pigs (Three Different Ones),” Roger Waters rages against “three classes of pigs.” ^{SU In the first verse, “the animals rage against the greed of the fat capitalist willing to consign people to lives of misery, forcing them to work under unsafe conditions in mines while greedily slopping up the profits.” ^SU

In verse two, he rages against Margaret Thatcher and her “austerity measures and privatization schemes that will create financial hardship for the people of Great Britain.” ^SU “He’s speaking of Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher and accusing her of not possessing femininity. Femininity should be about kindness, love, and nurturing – or so says an angry young man.” ^SU

In verse three, the rage is directed at “the prude Mary Whitehouse who…dares to try to censor albums, books, and films to shield British children by stemming ‘the evil tide.’” ^SU}

Sheep

Pink Floyd

Writer(s): Roger Waters

Released: 1/21/1977 (promo single), Animals (1/21/1977), A Collection of Great Dance Songs (compilation, 11/23/1981), Echoes (compilation, 11/6/2001), This Is Not a Drill (Roger Waters live, 8/1/2025)

B-side: “Pigs on the Wing”

Peak: 12 CL, 18 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 49.21 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

“The first part of the song is very powerful, creating an image of the sheep being led down the metal corridors but still trusting their leader, until finally, the horror of their situation dawns on them.” ^SU “Suddenly the sheep go from being cutlets to choosing to do karate.” ^SU This is Waters expressing that he “has no faith in elected leaders, or in democracy.” ^SU