Animal Instinct

The Cranberries

Suddenly something has happened to me
As I was having my cup of tea
Suddenly I was feeling depressed
I was utterly and totally stressed
Do you know you made me cry? Whoa oh oh
Do you know you made me die?

And the thing that gets to me
Is you'll never really see
And the thing that freaks me out
Is I'll always be in doubt

It is a lovely thing that we have
It is a lovely thing that we
It is a lovely thing, the animal
The animal instinct

Woo hoo hoo
Woo hoo hoo
Woo hoo hoo ooh

So take my hands and come with me
We will change reality
So take my hands and we will pray
They won't take you away
They will never make me cry, no oh whoa
They will never make me die

And the thing that gets to me
Is you'll never really see
And the thing that freaks me out
Is I'll always be in doubt

The animal, the animal, the animal instinct in me
It's the animal, the animal, the animal instinct in me
It's the animal, it's the animal
It's the animal instinct in me

It's the animal, it's the animal, it's the animal instinct in me
The animal, the animal
The animal instinct in me

It's the animal, it's the animal, it's the animal instinct in me


Lyrics submitted by spitfirek7

Animal Instinct Lyrics as written by Dolores Mary O'riordan Noel Anthony Hogan

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Animal Instinct song meanings
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26 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment
    This song is about a two lovers, he must have said or done something to her, and she realized what it meant "As I was having my cup of tea" and she "Suddenly I was felling depressed". Then she goes on saying that he'll never realize what he did "And the thing that gets to me Is you'll never really see" But she's not totally sure about the meaning of what he did "And the thing that freaks me out Is I'll always be in doubt" The animal instinct is the instinct we have with people, to understand what they do, who they are, what they feel, just as instinct with no rational thinking behind, just as an intuition. But we can never be 100% sure about it "I'll always be in doubt".
    riccardodeeon May 08, 2003   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    This song doesn't necessarily need to be about a mother protecting her baby or a relationship between a male and a female. This song can imply quite a lot. It's basically about the animal instinct that we all that. That we all live by. To me, this song is about going by my animal instincts even though I might doubt them. And currently, all I need is to abide by them.
    mydogluckyon June 27, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    No, you are wrong. This song is about animal instict which girls/woman have (female lions), when they have a baby they want to protect him from everything, this song Dolores O'Riordan (Cranberries main singer) wrote when she had (i think) first baby...So she wanted best for her son, to keep him away from bad people....
    dmode9on July 14, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    I think that annimal instinct can be atributed to all the emotions that you aren't conciously in control of, including love, that spontanious part of you that just does whatever it wants, without inhibitions. The part of you that is very unconcious, and free, and doesn't care about right or wrong. You just do whatever you want, go with what you feel like, without setting restrictions, or limmits on yourself. I don't know if that is what she's refering too, but it's my interpretion.
    starfaeryon October 28, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I love this song!!!!! I love the acoustic work and ofcourse the lyrics and her voice
    99Luftballonson June 11, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    It's just perfect... love it and can't get tired of it...
    alreadytornon November 27, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    This is such a pretty song! I love it and I agree 110% alreadytorn, it's impossible to get tired of it!
    Thackyon February 19, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Nice post riccardodee I guees animal instinct means that the girls always feel insecur about their boyfriend.
    pmartin8on July 14, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I just an an other idea... Maybe the boy cheated to girl... and she wounder if it is only an animal instinct (the human is made to reproduce themselves) or just because he doesnt love her anymore. This would explain what the boy did to make the girl feel so sad. What do yoiu think?
    pmartin8on July 14, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    ohh ok.. gook thinking!
    pmartin8on July 29, 2005   Link

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