"Animals" was a Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers is an English singer-songwriter and was a major influential force in the English psychedelic movement...

 Spanish single release. It was issued on the Columbia

Columbia Graphophone Company

The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Under EMI, as Columbia Records, it became a very successful label in the 1950s and 1960s...

 imprint of EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

, shortly after his 1980 album, That's What You Get Babe

That's What You Get Babe

That's What You Get Babe is the ninth studio album by Kevin Ayers and his final recording for Harvest. Ayers had retired to Deià, Spain directly after 1978's Rainbow Takeaway and That's What You Get Babe was his first public appearance in two years...

. In 1978 Ayers had relocated to Deià

Deià

Deià is a small coastal village on the northern ridge of the Spanish island of Majorca. It is located about ten miles north of Valldemossa, and it is known for its literary and musical residents...

, Spain where he found the more relaxed audiences suited his somewhat delicate sensibilities. ‘Animals’ uses a Noah’s Ark metaphor to take an aggressive swing at the oncoming 1980s consumerism, “Ain't you just like the animals / You do as you're told.”