The lyrics of "Animal Farm" visit an escapism theme, with the singer wanting to flee to "where real animals are playing." He yearns "to be back there, among the cats and dogs and the pigs and the goats on Animal Farm, animal home." The singer dreams of his girlfriend, "though she's far from home," but in his fantasy on animal farm, "she's by side." The singer then offers to "take where real animals are playing," "on Animal Farm." When talking about "Animal Farm", Ray Davies said, "This was just me thinking everybody else's mad and we are all animals anyway - which is really the idea of the whole album." "Animal Farm" has a folk feel, similarly to many other tracks on The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Andy Miller wrote in his book, 33 and 1/3 book Kinks' The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society that "'Animal Farm' has a noticeably bigger sound than much of the rest of the album, with plenty of reverb applied to the drums, percussion and the tack piano that picks out the song's opening riff." When talking about the vocal line of "Animal Farm", Ray Davies said, "'The sky is wide' is a line I knew I could just about reach that note and, to me, the whole record is the way I sing that line. I knew that before it was recorded. I must have been so confident, so sure of myself."
Recording
A mellotron was used to impersonate strings in the track rather than using actual string instruments. Drummer Mick Avory claims that "Animal Farm" was recorded in Pye Studios 1. The recording of Animal Farm was somewhat controversial. Bassist Pete Quaife stated, "There was a big fight about 'Animal Farm'. I thought the bass should be playing the piano introduction as well. Both Ray and Dave threw a hissy fit and said no. So it's not there. I was a bit angry and sour about that one."
Release
"Animal Farm" was first released on The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society as the eighth track on said album. However, the track was eventually used as the B-side to the Japanese only single, "Village Green". The track was also released on The Kinks' compilation albumPicture Book, and an alternate stereo mix of the track made its debut on the 2004 Sanctuary Records special deluxe edition of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.
Reception
"Animal Farm" has received positive feedback from reviewers. J.H. Tompkins of Pitchfork Media said of "Animal Farm", "There's a clue to who was in the song 'Animal Farm', which opens with a cascade of chords played on a warm, acoustic 12-string, the folk music staple once used on songs like the Rooftop Singers' 1963 hit 'Walk Right In'. Davies' opening lines, forced to share space with the tongue filling his cheek, are a mouthful. 'This world is big and wild and half insane/ Take me where the animals are playing,' he sings, raising the Union Jack, while looking back through the chaos of the day to find a simpler, safer world." AllMusic's Stewart Mason said, "Indulging his whimsical streak... Ray Davies invests "Animal Farm" with an endearing blend of silliness and genuine yearning. The imagery in parts is twee enough to have come from the pen of A.A. Milne, but Davies sings of his yearning to escape to the country in terms that sound much more real and personal than any of the other similarly themed 'getting our heads together in the country' songs that started appearing around 1968. The arrangement makes a nice hook out of a rolling start to each verse, the first line sung exaggeratedly slowly to a halting acoustic guitar before the full band comes in." The track is also a favorite of multiple members of The Kinks. Pete Quaife stated his favorite Kinks songs to be "Animal Farm", "Waterloo Sunset" and "Dead End Street". Ray Davies also seems to be fond of the track. The Judybats, an alternative rock band from Tennessee covered this song on their 1992 album Down in the Shacks Where the Satellite Dishes Grow.
