20 Best Songs With Animal Sounds (Real Noises)

1. It‘s My Life - Talk Talk

„It's My Life“ by the English band Talk Talk is one of the few mainstream songs to incorporate exotic animal sounds. 

Right at the beginning of the song we hear flamingo sounds. 

Can we really be sure it's flamingos we hear in the intro?

After listening closely to some flamingo sounds available online and matching them with the intro of the song, it is almost certainly sounds of flamingos. 

Whether Talk Talk produced them with a synthesizer or whether they are real animal sounds, I can hopefully write you here with certainty in the future.

2. Lovin‘ you - Minnie Riperton

Besides „Lovin‘ You“ by Minnie Riperton, there is probably no other song in popular music history that has an animal sound built-in, in this case birdsong, throughout from beginning to end that has ever been more commercially successful as a single.

„Lovin’ you“ gave Minnie Riperton a huge chart success in the USA and United Kingdom in 1974.

The song peaked at #1 on the official US singles chart, Billboard Top 100, and managed to reach #2 on the official UK singles chart.

3. Suburbia - Pet Shop Boys

The dog barking that is on the single "Suburbia" by the Pet Shop Boys and especially in the long intro of the official music video, you won't find on the album version of the song at all.

The barking of dogs in the single version is not to be seen only an arbitrary musical stylistic device, in order to insert still as certain extra an animal noise.
Not only acoustically, but also in the lyrics dogs appear. 

This is shown by the prominent appearance of the word "dogs" in the chorus of the track:
„Let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight
You can't hide, run with the dogs tonight in suburbia."

Dogs also play an important role in the music video of Suburbia.

4. Such A Shame - Talk Talk

And here you can find with „Such A Shame“ another track by Talk Talk in our list of songs that contain animal sounds in the recording. 

That the song doesn't really fit into a pigeonhole shows immediately at the beginning the intro with an animal sound, namely the trilling of an elephant.

At the beginning of the 80s the music of Talk Talk still fit relatively well into the category New Wave and Synthiepop.

But from 1983 on there were - fortunately - more and more sound experiments by Talk Talk, like integrating animal noises into the song recordings, which were not aimed at playing it safe in the direction of chart success.

5. Love - Air

Right at the beginning in the intro of the song "Love" by the French Electrinica duo we hear the sound of a rattlesnake.

"Love" is located as an instrumental as the second track of the album "Love 2", which was released in 2009.

More animal sounds start from 1 min 25 s.
It sounds like a concert of animals in the jungle, birds and perhaps some other animal species can be heard.

In the chorus, a female voice can be heard gently breathing the word "Love" into this downtempo piece of music.

6. Meat is Murder - The Smiths

Using the lyrics of the song "Meat Is Murder" by the English rock band The Smiths confronts the listener with the fact that animals are killed for the consumption of meat by humans:

"This beautiful creature must die
A death for no reason"

At the beginning and at the end of the song you hear the mooing of cows.

This mooing, the accompanying sounds and the threatening background music make the hopeless situation of the cows clear once again in addition to the lyrics. Because we guess through it, what will expect these cows terrible.

In addition, The Smiths ask the listener the following two questions:

"Do you know how animals die?"
"Oh...and who hears when animals cry?"

It is no coincidence that this song was released on the album of the same name. Because Morrissey is prominently known as advocate vegetarianism and animal rights.

7. Sunshine - Steve Lacy

At the end of the single "Sunshine" by the US singer-songwriter Steve Lacy you hear birds chirping.

The song is still quite young and was released in 2022.

There is a music video version of "Sunshine" in which featured artist Fousheé sings on a rope attached to the crane some considerable number of meters above the ground and at the end of the song singer Steve Lacy hanging on another rope is also pulled up and he virtually joins Fousheé.

In the music video there is no birds singing.

8. Camino Del Sol - Antena

Tropical songbirds can be heard on the track "Camino del Sol" by the French-Belgian band Antena.

The Spanish song title translates into English as: way of the sun.

The song apparently describes the course of a stay in a hotel in Palm Beach Florida: starting with a jet lag, the tropical climate, the benefits of the resort and so on.

9. Little Fluffy Clouds - The Orb

Right at the beginning of Little Fluffy Clouds by The Orb you hear a rooster crowing.

The track contains other samples besides the animal noise at the beginning.

For example, samples from an interview with US singer Rickie Lee Jones can be heard.

Rickie Lee Jones is widely known for her single "Chuck E.'s in Love", which reached number 4 of the Billboard Top 100 in 1979.

The single Little Fluffy Clouds made it to number 10 on the UK Singles Chart in 1993 as a re-release.

In addition, the song can be found in several best lists of well-known music magazines.

10. Earlybird - The Eagles

In the intro of "Earlybird", a song by the US band The Eagles, you hear real animal sounds, namely the chirping of birds.

From around the second minute (01:58), the birdsong reappears and eventually stays until the end of the song (03:00).

The band didn't record the bird chirping themselves, but got it from a library of sound effects.

Don Henley, among others, revealed this to interviewer David Browne in a RollingStone music magazine interview published in 2016.

"Earlybird" is the eighth track from The Eagles’ debut album, which the band had released in 1972 through their music label Asylum Records.

11. O Superman - Laurie Anderson

In the 80s art pop classic O Superman by Laurie Anderson, the chirping of birds begins at about 01:24.

12. Good Morning Good Morning - The Beatles

This Beatles' track is one of the songs in popular music with the most different animals sounds. Do you know oneAt the beginning the song starts with a crowing of a rooster, so it fits the song title. 

At the end of the 1967 track Good Morning Good Morning there is a colorful bouquet of animal sounds, which would be in this order:

• rooster crowing 
• bird chirping 
• cat meowing
• dog barking 
• cow mooing 
• horse whinnying 
• sheep bleating 
• lion roaring 
• elephant trumpeting 
• fox sounds

At the very end of the track, the animal sounds are heard simultaneously in a jumble. It sounds like a chaotic animal orchestra.

As the most famous and successful band in the world, The Beatles could afford to experiment with sounds and were not reliant on musical conformity. Fortunately, they took advantage of this freedom.

13. Been Caught Stealing - Jane's Addiction

In the song Been Caught Stealing by the American alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, dog barking can be heard right at the beginning.

The barking of the dogs lasts about 13 seconds (from 00:12 to 00:25) with a small interruption.

It is the most famous and successful single of the band and was released in November 1990.

14. Farewell To Tarwathie - Judy Collins

Farewell to Tarwathie is a 1970 folk song by American singer-songwriter Judy Collins.

It is originally a Scottish whaling song. Her singing is accompanied by humpback whale sounds.^[1]

15. Games People Play - The Alan Parsons Project

In the track Games People Play by the British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons, sounds of birds, perhaps flamingos, start at minute 01:51.

The single was released in 1980 and is one of the most famous songs of The Alan Parsons Project.

16. Work It - Missy Elliott

In the song Work It by American rapper Missy Elliott, you can hear the trumpeting of an elephant four times. 
Similar to a beep, this animal sound was used to make an obscene word in the lyrics inaudible.

And here are the four exact timestamps in the official music video where the elephant sounds can be heard:

1. 00:40
2. 01:37
3. 02:38
4. 03:44

Single release date: September 16, 2002

17. Hunting High and Low - a-ha

In some sections of the music video, the hunting and killing of animals is visually picked up.
At the end of the video, a woman makes a hunter put down his gun pointed at a lion.

With pretty much the beginning of the second minute (in the music video starting at minute 02:03), the sounds of seagulls are heard for a few seconds.

Single release date: June 2, 1986

18. The Perfect Kiss - New Order

In the New Order song The Perfect Kiss you can hear an animal sound, namely the croaking of frogs.

In the official music video, which shows the band recording the song live and lasts almost eleven minutes, you can hear the sound for a few seconds right here: 05:47.

The frog croaking starts on the Extended Single version (12-inch version from New Order compilation album Substance) from about here: 05:14.

On the album version, the frog croaking starts about here: 03:18.

Single release date: May 13, 1985

19. Caroline, No - The Beach Boys

After the vocal part of the Beach Boys song Caroline, No, a train noise is heard from 02:17 until the end of the song. Then, from 02:21 to 02:28 dog barking can be heard, which resumes after a short break at 02:40 until the end of the track.

Single release date: March 7, 1966

20. Did You See Butterflies? - Jane Weaver

At the very beginning of the track Did You See Butterflies? by Jane Weaver, there's the sound of birds chirping. It sounds quite real, so I don't suspect that the animal noise was generated with a synthesizer.

Single release date: May 19, 2017