ANIMAL HOUSE
I don’t truck no garden stones
Ain’t got a lawn full of little old gnomes
Don’t grow roses round my gate
No alarm clock rings cos I sleep real late
Savings and loan sharks aren’t for me
Ain’t got a boat floating on the sea
All I wanna do is just be me

I ain’t got a number two car
Ain’t even bought the first so far
Watching TV I don’t get to do
Ain’t got a tube in my room with a view
Don’t whack balls with a little bitty stick
Only drink brandy when I’m sick
You can call me slow but don’t call me thick

Habitat furniture ain’t got in my home
Telephone table’s no good with no phone
Suits and ties from the charity store
I help the aged more and more
First class travel means you’re keeping dry
My hotel roof is a piece of sky
And it ain’t no good to ask me why
And it ain’t no good to ask me why
And it ain’t no good to ask me why
And it ain’t no good to ask me why

Words by Peter Greatorex. Copyright (c) D & G Music 1989.

Lyrics by Peter Greatorex.
Music by George Davies/Peter Greatorex.
Recorded at Silent Running Studios, Exeter, by George Davies, Autumn 1991.

Performers:

Peter Greatorex – vocals, harmonica
George Davies – guitars, bass, Boss DR55A drum machine

Facts:

• This song is in the key of E.
• In order to produce the ‘banjo’ effect, George tied a soft cloth around the strings of Nicodemus and pushed the cloth right up to the bridge to kill all the sustain.
• Don Wills played a track of slide guitar that was not used in the final mix.
• The slide guitar track that was used was recorded on Marcus’s Arbiter guitar which had a particularly high action. This instrument was tuned to an open D major chord.
• All the guitars were plugged straight into the desk.
• Originally this song was going to be an Alien Heat song but the band never managed to get around to it.
• The main riff in the intro is stolen from a song that George wrote about a girlfriend who caused him disgruntlement.
• In order to squeeze all the drum beats that were needed into this song, the drum machine had to be run at 214BPM, although the true tempo is probably nearer 107BPM.