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At more than 10 minutes, "Sheep" isn't just one of Pink Floyd's longest songs, it's also one of the band's most ambitious.
Released in 1977 as the closing track on Animals, the progressive rock epic was never released as a single, yet it has become one of the group's most acclaimed deep cuts. Nearly 50 years later, its sweeping composition, biting social commentary and unforgettable musicianship continue to captivate listeners.
The song completed one of rock's most celebrated concept albums.
Written primarily by Roger Waters, "Sheep" serves as the dramatic finale to Animals, an album inspired in part by George Orwell's Animal Farm. Throughout the record, Waters divides society into three symbolic groups, dogs, pigs and sheep, to explore themes of power, conformity and rebellion. By the album's conclusion, the once-submissive sheep rise up against their oppressors, giving the story a powerful and unexpected ending.
"I don't think the humour of the work has ever really escaped in the way it might have," Waters said in a 1987 interview. "The political subject matter on top of it has been generally dour. I suppose I have always appeared as a rather melancholy person. But I'm not. My situation is like the opposite of the cliché of the comedian who when he's not performing is a miserable sod."
Musically, the track showcased Pink Floyd at the height of its creative powers.
"Sheep" opens with Richard Wright's tranquil electric piano before gradually building into a tense, driving arrangement anchored by Nick Mason’s drums, David Gilmour's soaring guitar work and Waters' unmistakable bass lines. One of its most memorable moments arrives midway through the song, when a distorted spoken-word passage reimagines Psalm 23, reinforcing the album's themes of control, obedience and resistance.
Although its length kept it off commercial radio, "Sheep" became a fan favorite through the success of Animals. The album reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, further cementing Pink Floyd's reputation as one of rock's most adventurous and influential bands.
The song also became a highlight of the band's 1977 In the Flesh tour. Its dramatic shifts in tempo, elaborate live presentation and emotionally charged finale made it one of the standout moments of the concerts, while its reputation continued to grow through successive generations of Pink Floyd fans.
Over the years, "Sheep" has earned recognition as one of the strongest compositions in the band's catalog, demonstrating how Pink Floyd could combine philosophical ideas, literary inspiration and progressive rock into a single, cohesive work.
"When I designed [the Animals] album cover and went and photographed Battersea Station, I thought it was quite good symbolically of a band like Pink Floyd, because it's a thing that has some power and there are four of us and four chimneys," Waters told Rolling Stone in 2019. "It's all very phallic and whatever. It sort of represented to some extent the power, maybe, that we had as a band if we cared to use it for something. And maybe music has no power. I don’t believe that. I believe music is a very powerful art form and that it can be used as a political tool, as well as a source of entertainment to keep the masses quiet."
Nearly 50 years after its release, "Sheep" remains a testament to the band's willingness to push musical boundaries. Lasting more than 10 minutes, the ambitious epic continues to reward listeners who take the journey, proving that some of rock's greatest classics were never intended to fit inside the confines of a hit single.
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