They released their third and final album Klang in 2009 which included the singles 1989 and That's the Reason.
In October 2009, The Rakes announced that the band was to split with immediate effect: "The Rakes have always been very adamant and proud of the fact that we give 100% to every gig we’ve ever played. If we can’t give it everything then we won’t do it. That was the rule we set ourselves from day one".
Their style can be described as "lo-fi" indie and is vaguely reminiscent of early Joy Division with some catchy guitar riffs and intelligent and humorous lyrics.
Singer Alan Donahoe has a project called Champagne Campaign and drummer Lasse Peterson went on to join Wolf Gang.
We Are All Animals
The Rakes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Who have lost our hair.
Retained some of our teeth,
And gained a choice
We'll chase food, money and sex,
Until satisfied.
And when its time to rest,
We are all animals [Repeat: x4]
Well its hard enough to retain control,
When our instincts are egging us on,
With biologists and chemists reducing our souls,
To four letters
And when we think about it,
We're like a masterpiece,
Whose glimpsed, the artist?
We are, the machines,
Carrying our various genes.
Then discarded,
When the job is done.
We are the disciples,
Who have lost our way.
Kicked from our pedestal when Darwin burnt the book
We are all animals [Repeat: x4]
Well its hard enough to retain control,
When our instincts are egging us on,
Biologists and chemists reducing our souls,
To four letters
Will genes replace Genesis?
We're like a masterpiece,
Whose glimpsed the artist?
We like to think we're at a special place, the stars revolve around the human race,
But we're just mammals, just, primates
Like chimps or guerrillas
We see the hair on our face,
And look at another primate,
You and I, we relate
The Rakes' song "We Are All Animals" is a satirical take on how humans are in many ways not that different from other animals. The lyrics discuss how we have lost our hair, but retained some of our teeth, and how we are driven by our basic instincts to chase food, money, and sex. The chorus reiterates that we are all animals, emphasizing that we are not as special as we like to believe.
The second verse delves deeper into the idea of us being machines carrying our various genes. The lyrics suggest that once our job is done, we are discarded, and we have lost our way as disciples thanks to Darwin burning the book. The song questions whether genes will replace Genesis in our understanding of ourselves and concludes that we are like masterpieces whose artist is glimpsed, but not fully understood.
The song's overall message seems to be that humans are not nearly as unique or special as they like to think, and that we are still very much driven by our primal instincts. The lyrics are thought-provoking and challenge our ideas of what it means to be human.
Line by Line Meaning
We are the animals,
Who have lost our hair.
We, humans, belong to the animal kingdom and are one of those animals who lost their body hair during the course of evolution.
Retained some of our teeth,
And gained a choice
Although we have retained some of our primal traits like teeth, we have also acquired intelligence which gives us the power of choice.
We'll chase food, money and sex,
Until satisfied.
As animals, we are motivated by basic needs like food, money, and sex, and we will pursue these needs until we feel satisfied.
And when its time to rest,
Ask 'whats next?
Even after fulfilling our immediate needs, we are always searching for the next thing to pursue or achieve.
We are all animals [Repeat: x4]
This line serves as a chorus and a reminder that humans are just another type of animal.
Well its hard enough to retain control,
When our instincts are egging us on,
Despite our intelligence, it can be difficult to resist our primal instincts.
With biologists and chemists reducing our souls,
To four letters
As science progresses, we are reducing complex human experiences and emotions to simple genetic codes.
And when we think about it,
We're like a masterpiece,
Whose glimpsed, the artist?
Reflecting upon our existence, we realize that we are a work of art, but we cannot comprehend the artist responsible for creating us.
We are, the machines,
Carrying our various genes.
In a sense, we are like machines that carry and transmit genetic information from generation to generation.
Then discarded,
When the job is done.
Once our reproductive purpose is fulfilled, we no longer serve a biological function and are eventually discarded by nature.
We are the disciples,
Who have lost our way.
As humans, we were once disciples of our natural instincts, but somewhere along the line, we lost our way.
Kicked from our pedestal when Darwin burnt the book
The theory of evolution by Darwin removed humans from the pedestal of being 'special' and placed us on the same level as other animals.
Will genes replace Genesis?
This rhetorical question explores the idea of genes taking over the religious concept of Genesis, as science continues to explore the origins of human life.
We're like a masterpiece,
Whose glimpsed the artist?
This line is repeated from earlier in the song, emphasizing our inability to comprehend the creator of our existence.
We like to think we're at a special place, the stars revolve around the human race,
As humans, we like to think that we hold a special place in the universe, with everything revolving around us.
But we're just mammals, just, primates
Like chimps or guerrillas
In reality, we are simply mammals and primates, no different from chimpanzees or gorillas.
We see the hair on our face,
And look at another primate,
You and I, we relate
Looking at the hair on our own faces, we can relate to other primates and recognize our similarities.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ALAN DONOHOE, JAMES HORN-SMITH, LASSE PETERSEN, MATTHEW SWINNERTON, MATTHEW JAMES SWINNERTON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind