The Animals made some music which, for me, defined the edginess of the late 60’s. I never was aware that they were British at the time. They didn’t wear their nationality on their sleeves as did the Beatles and Stones and their music fit into what Americans ( at least younger Americans were thinking). The defining song for me was Sky Pilot which either made fun of military chaplains (and religion) or did not. It also derided the Vietnam War – or maybe it didn’t. It was an ambivalent song for an ambivalent time and a whole band of ambivalent people. There is always some place or activity that I associate with a song and for Sky Pilot it is the mess hall of the USARPAC Barracks at Fort Shafter when I was doing KP. If Dante had served in the US Army, I am sure that he would have found a place for KP in hell. During one of my endless days of KP, this song came on the radio and became etched in my brain. Somehow KP, the war and religion all came together. Sky Pilot is not The Animals best song but somehow it tries to have a meaning – unusual for the 60’s and The Animals. Their other songs are less cerebral and more stirring up emotions.
The next song is more typical. You are more likely to have heard bigger hits like The House of the Rising Sun with catchier lyrics and instrumental solos.
The questions were asked but the answers never came.
