From wolves to butterflies to rock lobsters, animals have been pulling double duty in song titles for decades. Some of these are exactly what they sound like, while others use the animal to say something the literal words couldn’t.
Be sure to check out the Songs with Animals in the Title Playlist at the bottom of this page.
Best Songs with Animals in the Title
1. “Hungry Like the Wolf” – Duran Duran
Lyric Sample: “I’m on the hunt, I’m after you.”
This iconic 1980s new wave track uses the wolf as a metaphor for the relentless pursuit of a woman the singer can’t stop chasing.
Related: Best Songs for Halloween
2. “Shark in the Water” – V.V. Brown
Lyric Sample: “Baby, there’s a shark in the water, there’s something underneath my bed.”
V.V. Brown’s 2009 R&B track is about the unsettling feeling that something in a relationship is off, even when you can’t prove it.
3. “Butterfly” – Crazy Town
Lyric Sample: “Come my lady, come, come my lady, you’re my butterfly.”
This 1999 rap rock hit is about being completely infatuated with someone, describing them as rare and beautiful and impossible to stop thinking about.
Related: Best One-Hit Wonders
4. “Peacock” – Katy Perry
Lyric Sample: “Word on the street, you got somethin’ to show me.”
This 2010 pop song is built entirely on the metaphor of a peacock showing its feathers, which Perry uses to describe wanting someone to be upfront about who they are and what they want.
Related: Songs About Birds
5. “Monkey Man” – The Rolling Stones
Lyric Sample: “I’m a fleabit peanut monkey.”
“Monkey Man” is about the chaos and excess of rock and roll life. It uses the monkey as a self-deprecating image for someone living on the wrong side of respectability.
6. “Crocodile Rock” – Elton John
Lyric Sample: “I remember when rock was young, me and Suzie had so much fun.”
Elton John’s 1972 hit is about nostalgia for a simpler time in his youth, when he and a girl went out dancing and nothing was complicated yet.
Related: Best Songs About Reminiscing
7. “Blackbird” – The Beatles
Lyric Sample: “Blackbird fly, into the light of a dark black night.”
Paul McCartney wrote “Blackbird” in 1968 in response to the civil rights movement in the United States, with the blackbird representing black women and men fighting for freedom.
Related: “Blackbird” Song Meaning
8. “Ant’s Marching” – Dave Matthews Band
Lyric Sample: “He wakes up in the morning, does his teeth, bite to eat and he’s rolling.”
DMB’s 1994 hit is about the repetitive sameness of daily routine and the way people sleepwalk through their lives.
9. “Dolphin’s Cry” – Live
Lyric Sample: “Can you hear the dolphin’s cry?”
“Dolphin’s Cry” is a ballad about the feeling that one person is your entire reason for being, and that love at its best is the closest thing to meaning that life offers.
10. “Wildcat” – Ratatat
Instrumental
“Wildcat” is a 2006 instrumental dance song that samples an actual mountain lion growl. Other than that, it’s just a cool, funky tune.
11. “Stray Cat Strut” – Stray Cats
Lyric Sample: “Black and orange stray cat sittin’ on a fence.”
This rockabilly song by Stray Cats is about living outside society’s expectations, doing exactly what you want, and not apologizing for it.
12. “The Fox” – Ylvis
Lyric Sample: “What does the fox say?”
Ylvis’ 2013 novelty song is about the fact that nobody actually knows what sound a fox makes, running through every other animal sound before landing on a series of absurd invented fox noises.
13. “Butterfly” – Mariah Carey
Lyric Sample: “Spread your wings and prepare to fly, for you have become a butterfly.”
Carey’s 1997 ballad is about loving someone enough to let them go, using the butterfly as a metaphor for a person who needs freedom more than they need to be held.
14. “Mockingbird” – Eminem
Lyric Sample: “Hush little baby, don’t you cry, everything’s gonna be alright.”
In “Mockingbird,” Eminem uses the familiar lullaby to explain to his young daughter why her early years were so unstable.
Related: Best Songs About Daughters
15. “Octopus’s Garden” – The Beatles
Lyric Sample: “I’d like to be under the sea, in an octopus’s garden in the shade.”
Ringo Starr wrote “Octopus’s Garden” about wanting to escape to a peaceful place at the bottom of the sea, away from all the problems on land.
16. “Black Cat” – Janet Jackson
Lyric Sample: “Black cat, nine lives, short days, long nights, livin’ on the edge, not afraid to die.”
Jackson’s 1990 hit is about a man she knew who was heading toward destruction and wouldn’t listen to anyone trying to help him.
17. “Panda” – Desiigner
Lyric Sample: “Panda, Panda, Panda. I got broads in Atlanta.”
“Panda” is a 2016 trap hit about street life and the spoils of success, with “panda” referring to his black-and-white BMW.
18. “Wolf Like Me” – TV on the Radio
Lyric Sample: “My mind’s aflame, my body’s strained, but, God, I like it.”
“Wolf Like Me” is a 2006 indie track about a love so intense and animalistic that it feels like something beyond your control.
19. “White Tiger” – Izzy Bizu
Lyric Sample: “White, white tiger, I ride rollercoaster.”
This 2015 soul-pop song is about the intoxicating effect of being around someone whose energy for life pulls you somewhere you’d never have gone alone.
20. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” – The Tokens
Lyric Sample: “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.”
This 1961 classic is all about tranquility and safety, using the sleeping lion to signal that the night is calm and nothing threatens the village.
21. “When Doves Cry” – Prince
Lyric Sample: “This is what it sounds like when doves cry.”
Prince’s iconic hit is about a relationship that’s falling apart because both people are repeating the same destructive patterns they learned from their parents.
22. “Sheep” – Pink Floyd
Lyric Sample: “Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away.”
“Sheep” is about the masses of people who follow authority without question, grazing along in comfortable ignorance until it’s too late to do anything about it.
23. “Black Dog” – Led Zeppelin
Lyric Sample: “Hey-hey, mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove.”
Robert Plant named “Black Dog” after a black labrador that wandered through the recording studio during sessions. The song itself is about a sexually aggressive woman who had Plant completely off balance.
Related: Songs with Colors in the Title
24. “Three Little Birds” – Bob Marley
Lyric Sample: “Don’t worry about a thing, ’cause every little thing is gonna be alright.”
This reggae classic is about finding peace in the simple, recurring signs that life offers if you pay attention. Marley said the three birds were actual birds that used to perch outside his home.
Related: “Three Little Birds” Song Meaning
25. “Animals” – Maroon 5
Lyric Sample: “Baby, I’m preying on you tonight.”
Maroon 5’s 2004 pop hit is about the kind of attraction that doesn’t turn off even after a relationship has ended.
26. “Hound Dog” – Elvis Presley
Lyric Sample: “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog, cryin’ all the time.”
One of Elvis’ most famous songs, “Hound Dog” is about calling out someone who’s been all talk and no action, a hound dog who never caught a thing.
Related: Best Cover Songs
27. “Eye of the Tiger” – Survivor
Lyric Sample: “It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight.”
This 1982 classic is about the mental state needed to compete at the highest level, specifically the willingness to fight through adversity with everything you have.
Related: Songs About Winning
28. “Fox on the Run” – Sweet
Lyric Sample: “Fox on the run, you scream and everybody comes a-running.”
This glam rock classic is about a groupie who doesn’t look or act the way she used to, and the band calling her out on it.
29. “Cat’s in the Cradle” – Harry Chapin
Lyric Sample: “And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon.”
Chapin’s 1974 folk song is about the cycle of absence between a father and son, each too busy to give the other what they need.
Related: “Cat’s in the Cradle” Song Meaning
30. “Bear” – The Antlers
Lyric Sample: “There’s a bear inside your stomach, the cub’s been kicking from within.”
“Bear” is part of the Antlers’ concept album about illness, love, and loss, and is generally read as being about an unwanted pregnancy and the aftermath of ending it.
31. “White Rabbit” – Jefferson Airplane
Lyric Sample: “Remember what the dormouse said: Feed your head.”
This 1960s psychedelic rock classic uses Alice in Wonderland as a barely-veiled metaphor for a drug trip.
Related: “White Rabbit” Song Meaning
32. “Dog Days Are Over” – Florence + The Machine
Lyric Sample: “The dog days are over, the dog days are done.”
“Dog Days Are Over” is about the disorientation of joy arriving after suffering, and the way happiness can feel almost threatening when you’ve spent long enough without it.
Related: “Dog Days Are Over” Song Meaning
33. “Wolves” – Selena Gomez ft. Marshmello
Lyric Sample: “I’ve been running through the jungle, I’ve been running with the wolves.”
“Wolves” is about a love that feels dangerous and consuming but worth pursuing anyway. The wolves represent both the risks involved and the primal attraction.
34. “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” – KT Tunstall
Lyric Sample: “I came across a place in the middle of nowhere with a big black horse and a cherry tree.”
KT Tunstall’s upbeat folk-rock track is about resisting temptation, specifically the temptation of a relationship or situation that looks appealing but feels wrong.
Related: Songs with Colors in the Title
35. “She Wolf” – Shakira
Lyric Sample: “There’s a she wolf in the closet, open up and set it free.”
Shakira’s 2009 song is about a woman with a wild, untameable side that she keeps hidden in her everyday life. The she-wolf is the version of herself that comes out when the lights go down.
36. “Silverfish” – Corey Taylor
Lyric Sample: “No one’s gonna save me when I die.”
“Silverfish” is about wrestling with regret and feeling like no one is coming to save you from yourself. Taylor uses the silverfish, a pest that is difficult to get rid of, as a metaphor for guilt and self-doubt.
37. “Rooster” – Alice in Chains
Lyric Sample: “Ain’t found a way to kill me yet.”
Jerry Cantrell wrote “Rooster” about his father, who served in the Vietnam War and was nicknamed Rooster. The song is about surviving combat and the psychological damage that comes home with a soldier.
Related: “Rooster” Song Meaning
38. “Rock Lobster” – The B-52’s
Lyric Sample: “He was in a jam, he’s in a giant clam.”
The B-52’s classic is about a beach party that descends into a surreal underwater world, with the rock lobster as the centerpiece of an increasingly chaotic marine celebration.
39. “Pony Time” – Chubby Checker
Lyric Sample: “So get with it, don’t quit it, get up, do the pony with your partner.”
“Pony Time” is a 1961 dance song built around a move called the pony, where dancers mimicked the motion of riding a horse.
Conclusion
Animals make for good song titles because they come loaded with meaning before a single word is sung. From literal animals to pure metaphor, this list covers the full range of what putting a creature in your title can do.
If you enjoyed this list, you might also like our picks for Songs with Colors in the Title, Songs About Dogs, and Songs About Cats.
