Pigs on the Wing (Part 2)

this is the anti-thesis to Pigs on the Wing Pt. 1

The singer is NOT the apathetic, broken, problematic, wandering person he described in the first part or any of the other songs, instead he's a balanced individual. He doesn't suffer any of the problems they had, "bury my bone" is just a way to say home sweet home, or joke that he was almost a dog. But he knows what's out there and watches for it.

Pigs on the Wing are enemy fighters in a persons blindspot. So think about it. If you care about someone, what do you do, you hug them. If you do this, you see in one direction and the other person sees in the other direction. You have no blind spot, and so are therefore not vulnerable to pigs on the wing. However, if you don't care about anyone, you have to cover all directions at once, which can't be done efficiently, so you always have to look out for pigs on the wing.

Not to start an argument, but there are multiple similarities between Animal Farm (my favorite book) and Animals (one of my top 4 albums, each of which I like the same for different reasons).

The dogs in Animal Farm are not stupid, mindless killers. Orwell makes a note of the smarter animals on the farm, in which he directly mentions dogs and pigs.

The sheep also draw a similarity between the two mediums. In both, they are the lower classes, underneath the thumb of the pigs.

That said, Animals is not based on Animal Farm, it is inspired by it. They do not tell the same story, but they use the same metaphors for the same types of people.

Pigs are corrupt leaders. In Animal Farm, they represented Stalin and his pawns, and were also generic totalitarians. In Animals, they are the capitalists, Margaret Thatcher (a far right winger), and Mary Whitehouse (of the Clean Up TV act).

Dogs are those who look out only for themselves. In the book, the dogs are the secret police of Stalin (Napoleon). In animals, I've always seen them as the Big Oil CEO types under the thumb of the President and Vice president.

Sheep are the masses, generally uneducated, though in Animals they have the sense to rise up, and in Animal Farm they truly are devout followers of Napoleon.

Just as a side note, Mary Whitehouse was so unpopular that TV shows that got her seal of approval were worried that their ratings would take a hit, and deliberately tried to offend her. So Roger Waters was not alone in hating her.

These songs obviously shows change. with the first and the second being complete opposites of each other it obviously shows growth. It is positive change and positive growth. I'm sure it goes deeper than what I am thinking but I kind of relate it back to the album in that, Pink Floyd wanted it to be seen as, In the beginning (of the album) you as a person are weak,scared, and alone. Then by the end after listening to all the songs and what they are saying(lyrics), they play it as you have grown. You are stronger, braver, and not alone.

Or maybe you can even relate it back to life in that, at the beginning your a follower and naive, you believe in everything the(dogs, pigs, sheep)or the government tells you and never think to look below the surface. You never look for the truth, your ignorant. Then, after listening to what they are saying and realizing some truth in it, you have grown. You finally stand up and realize that everything isn't so black and white.

I don't think that trying to figure out a meaning for only THIS song will work. I think that with this album you have to look at it as a whole. You have to think of all the songs as one and try to interpret it from there. At the very least you have to hook it up with Pigs on the wing part 1. but those are just my thoughts.

I agree with Lason on his interpretation.

At the end of the album, the Sheep rise up in glourious revolt, but the cycle begins again. After all of it, the narrator, who may in fact have been the Dog from the beginning, who was so apathetic about other people in his life, finally realizes the importance of mantaining his personal relationships with the people he cares about.

Without each other, in Part 1 they would be doomed to be seperated and wander through the pain of human existence without someone else to lean on, forever blaming others for their misery and always under threat from those 'pigs on the wing', whatever predators are out there willing to take advantage. Divided we fall.

But by Part 2, the narrator has learned a great deal from Dogs, Pigs, and Sheep. That when they comfort each other, he/she no longer feels as vulnerable from the prospect of dying alone in an uncaring world. The old dog has found a home, and nearly fell victim to the machinations of human cruelty.

Now they can watch out for each other, and while not completely safe, they know to look out for Pigs on the Wing.

I think that a "shelter from pigs on wings" is an intimate relationship. My logic in thinking that is that "pigs on the wings" in any sort of sense are enemies, but if you have a deep meaningful relationship, they can't harm you emotionally.

snark I believe he verrified that fact himself. And Animals IS NOT based on Animal Farm! People, if you've read Animal Farm and listened to Animals, you know that it isn't. The only true line up between the two is "Pigs (Three Different Ones)". The Dogs in Orwell's masterpiece are stupid, mindless killers, more like Sheep then the smart, cunning, back-stabbing people depicted in "Dogs". Also, the Sheep were hardly main characters, and were much more minor then they are in this album. So, one might say Animals is inspired by Animal Farm, but it is CERTAINLY not based upon it.

It's clearly about flying pigs!

The second part of Pigs on the Wing disproves the hypothetical of part one. These two look out for eachother and work in cohesion. IMO

I'm surprised that none of the comments I've read so far have caught the meaning of "pigs on the wing." It's from the expression "when pigs fly." In the first "Pigs on the Wing," the narrator and the person he's talking to are young and are friends. They'd stop caring for each other when pigs fly. Then, we go through the whole album. Some people are dogs, some pigs and some sheep. In the end, our narrator is still ironic and humorous in his expression, but now he's turned bitter. He and his friend say they care for each other, and they will, when pigs fly. In the beginning they cared but pretended not to. In the end, they pretended to care but didn't. That's what life does to people. It's how values are spent, souls are sold and life becomes hollow. It seems cruel, but who would accept death if life remained good into old age?

Both of the Pigs On The Wing songs were love songs for Roger Waters' wife. The line about the dog needing a home refers to the fact he thinks of himself as a bit of a dog.