Today, we begin a new series featuring songs about our friends in the animal kingdom. Animals feature in a myriad of songs and seem to be the constant theme of the lyricist. We begin with some ‘Alligator’ songs. The word “alligator” may have a double meaning. In addition to the obvious, animal interpretation, “alligator” is a term sometimes used to describe white musicians that steal the music and art of black musicians. The term is also sometimes used by New Orleans jazz players to describe “white jazzmen and white jazz fans, jive black people, or jitterbugs.”
“See You Later, Alligator” is a 1950s rock and roll song written and first recorded by American singer-songwriter Bobby Charles. The song was a Top Ten hit for Bill Haley & His Comets in 1956 in the United States, reaching no. 6 on Billboard and CashBox. In the UK, the single peaked at no. 7. The song was featured in Rock Around The Clock, a musical film Haley and the Comets began shooting in January 1956. Bill Haley’s recording of “See You Later, Alligator” popularised a catchphrase already in use at the time, and Princess Margaret was quoted as saying it. It would become Haley’s third and final million-selling single, although it did not hit the top of the American charts.
“Alligator” (1967) is a song by the Grateful Dead. It was Robert Hunter’s first credit with the band and he would go on to become the band’s lyricist and a longtime collaborator with Jerry Garcia. The partnership may never have happened the way it did if not for an extended trip (the physical, not psychedelic, kind) the band took in May of 1967. John Warnecke, friend of Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, had invited the crew out to the Russian River in northern California. The band accepted and stayed there for a couple of weeks. This trip was also where Garcia remembered some lyrics that his friend Robert Hunter had sent him. The band decided to incorporate the words into their song “Alligator.”
“Alligator Pie” is a song by the Dave Matthews Band and is taken from their 2009 album ‘Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King’. Dave Matthews explains in ‘Live at Beacon Theatre’ that his daughter asked him to write a song about her since he usually writes songs about his daughter grace (who he also makes reference to in the song) so he put her in a song in the setting of the days right after Katrina. This guy and his daughter are sitting on top of there roof waiting for help and its not coming and the guy realises it but his daughter has a childish view on things and she just keeps asking her dad to write her a song.
“Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter,” is a song from REM.’s album Collapse Into Now (2011). This propulsive rocker features Peaches on vocals (“as the inner voice of teenage testosterone,” Michael Stipe said). The band hooked up with the Canadian Electro-diva after vocalist Stipe bumped into her in a Berlin bar. Stipe’s stream-of-conscious lyrics are summed up by the nonsensical song title. The song features added guitar from veteran musician/producer and long-time Patti Smith collaborator Lenny Kaye. Said Peter Buck to Mojo magazine: “Lenny nailed it. I’m really proud that I get to play with a guy who’s been such a big influence on my life.
“Alligator Sky” is a song by American electronica project Owl City from his third studio album All Things Bright and Beautiful. It was released as the lead single from the album in April 2011. Four versions of the song were released: The first features Californian rapper Shawn Chrystopher, the second version omits Chrystopher’s vocals, a third version featuring Atlanta rapper B.o.B. leaked online, and a fourth version featuring vocals by Big Boi of Atlanta hip-hop duo Outkast also leaked online. The song is about two men (Young and Chrystopher) leaving earth, but unlike many videos with a similar theme, they aren’t leaving a post apocalyptic earth, instead, there is a big celebration about leaving a very polluted earth. In the video the earth is shown as a planet that has terrible living conditions. The celebration is because they are leaving earth to find a better planet in outer space.
Alligator is a song by Paul McCartney which appeared on his 2013 album ‘New’. It was produced by Mark Ronson, who had DJ’d the singer’s 2011 wedding to Nancy Shevell. A few months after the British producer spun the decks for another McCartney event in New York, he received a call inviting him into the studio. In total, Ronson recorded three tracks: “New,” “Secret Life of a Party Girl” (which does not appear on the album), and this song, which the producer referred to an interview with MTV News as “brooding” and “quite tough.”
“Alligator” is a song by Icelandic group Of Monsters and Men. It was released in May 2019 as the lead single for their third studio album Fever Dream. Written by Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir and produced by the band and Rich Costey, “Alligator” is an uplifting yet aggressive indie rock track about trying to break free from disillusion and confusion. Although its high energy, drums and forceful vocal performances recall the group’s early sound, it is absent of their typical folk stylings. “Alligator” was well-received by reviewers of Fever Dream, who expressed disappointment that most of the album did not follow its style and sound. In addition to being a top-ten hit in the band’s home country of Iceland, it was also in the top ten of various North American Billboard rock and alternative charts and reached number-one on the Rock Airplay charts.
