Free Download of Nina Hagen and Lene Lovich’s ‘Don’t Kill the Animals’ Marks PETA Anthem’s 30th Anniversary
’80s Indie Icons Were First Artists to Put PETA on Pop Culture Radar
For Immediate Release:
April 18, 2017
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Before P!nk, Paul McCartney, and Moby helped take the group’s message to the masses, trendy ’80s songbirds Nina Hagen and Lene Lovich put PETA on the radio and the pop culture radar with their edgy dance hit “Don’t Kill the Animals.” Now, to celebrate the animal anthem’s 30th anniversary, PETA is offering a free download of the out-of-print Wax Trax Records collectible for the first time.
The quirky song—which begins with a laboratory raid heard over walkie-talkies—opens PETA’s Animal Liberation album, which also features The Smiths, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Howard Jones. It was named “Rock Album of the Week” by The New York Times upon its release in April 1987. Hagen and Lovich were the first artists to donate a song to PETA—since then, Prince, The Black Keys, Morrissey, Chrissie Hynde, Dolly Parton, and Loretta Lynn have followed in their footsteps.
“Life is for living—the animals agree. If they were meant to be eaten, they’d be growing on trees!” chirp Hagen and Lovich on the epic track. (Full lyrics are below.)
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
Don’t Kill the Animals
Nina Hagen and Lene Lovich
We all want to see through life’s mystery
The quest for knowledge is a natural activity
But science be careful—science be kind
We can’t go on pretending to be blind
Those animal experiments don’t make sense
You’re getting nowhere with cruelty and death
I say ignorance was some excuse
But uh-uh, not now—you see we got the proof
Animal testing is a dangerous game
All systems are different—we’re not the same
It’s a terrible risk—so no surprise
We get wrong results—hey, what about thalidomide
Abuse yourself of your own free will
Get hurt—get high—get in distress
But don’t drag the animals into this mess
No more torture! The animals are free
The same with messing around with atomic energy
Hey, hey, doctor—reincarnation
Would you like to come back as a laboratory rat?
Here we are coiled like a sleeping snake
We got to expand our potential
For God’s sake
If we want to avoid this endless human riot
Why don’t we start by changing our diet
Life is for living—the animals agree
If they were meant to be eaten
They’d be growing on trees
So no more torture of our furry friends
In the name of food or scientific ends
The pressure is on—be antivivisection!
All our scientists are messing up—they don’t succeed
Let the psychics tell what the spirits think we need
Our super friends from other planets want to give advice
But the money-orientated business doesn’t think that’s nice
Come on, let’s educate the mutated human race
By the superpower of amazing grace
The missing link of human evolution
Is sexuality—it needs a spiritual revolution
My individual God identity
Is what you’ve gotta meet
It’s the rhythm of the beat
Don’t kill the animals
Don’t kill the animals
The animals are free
