Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Life Has It's Problems, I Get More Than My Share

It is not likely that this amazing lyric was something I am triggered by from the original or even second radio runs. I expect the first version I heard of was the 1977 disco sound by Santa Esmerelda, a French group trying to get people out on the dance floor. Santa Esmerelda had a penchant, it would seem, to cover songs by the band recording the second radio version of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” the incredible Eric Burdon, and his first British band, The Animals. Santa Esmerelda also covered the stunning “The House of the Rising Sun,” the super-huge classic by The Animals from 1964 (with an intense and long history dating back to the 1950s and possibly even earlier than that.)

“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” was written for and recorded by Nina Simone in 1964. The version by The Animals in 1965 took it to number one in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Santa Esmerelda added flamenco-styled elements to the tune, and we danced in the clubs in the late 1970s. Elvis Costello added his new wave style in a 1986 recording and attacked it with his familiar hoarseness and pace, taking it back towards the originally written intentions.

I spent most of the 1970s learning about the bands and music of the 1960s as I constantly kept up with all that was new. I can’t say I remember whether or not I got to know more about Eric Burdon from examining the original versions of the Santa Esmerelda tune or if I had explored it much earlier in the decade as a part of listening to “oldies” radio or exploring through the record stores for the bands and music I was desperate to get to know. In the 1970s, music was evolving enough that radio began reminiscing about what had already been charted. Today, there are decades of hits to sift through. Still, it was the beginning of the idea of an “oldie” as a whole different style, and a decade passed as a focus for radio. On top of that, we had already discovered the British in the 1960s, and they continued to infiltrate American airwaves in all new and different ways as the 1970s proceeded.

Although it is tough to pinpoint where I first got introduced to Eric Burdon, it might be that it was his second big band called Eric Burdon and War. I first heard the single “Spill the Wine” in 1970 and became intrigued by the sound and the lead singer. Burdon only stayed with War through 1971, with the band moving on to success with songs like “Slipping into Darkness,” “The World is a Ghetto,” “Cisco Kid,” “Me and Baby Brother,” and “Low Rider” in the 1970s. The release of “Spill the Wine” in 1970 was my connection to Eric Burdon and his connection to the British hit makers of the 1960s, The Animals.

When I hear certain sounds, I picture the 1960s television appearances of bands in suits and ties singing songs that were bordering on rock and roll and taking our sensibilities out of the pop, commercial, or twangs of the country or the 1950s square dance hop-styled singing groups of the United States. I was around for the British Invasion in the mid to late 1960s. Still, I can’t say I fully appreciated what happened until my healthy research work in the 1970s. I became an anglophile by getting to know the bands and singers who became superstars across the pond.

What I learned brings back some transitional 1960s British sounds that may not ring a bell for most people outside of the general era regarding who sang them but will often, if not always, ring a bell when the songs themselves are playing. Sometimes, a trigger can take you somewhere, and you’re unsure where you are. You’ve heard it; it represents something. You might even be able to sing along with the words, but you don’t necessarily know why, when you heard it, or what was happening.

Burdon’s group The Animals graced the world with songs such as “The House of the Rising Sun,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” and “San Franciscan Nights” (back in the summer of love). The Animals were a shining British example of the age of psychedelia and a glimpse at the evolvement of rock and roll from the simplicity of the 1950s and early 1960s into the ‘age of Aquarius, LSD, The Vietnam War, and Woodstock.

The lyric “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” was powerful and meaningful in much of my earlier life. The trick and difficulty of maintaining relationships as a man with reaction, passion, and intensity. The idea of navigating life without knowing much about how that is done or why I stood out to be different than what most would describe as ‘the norm.’ When I hear this music and many artists like it, I am thrown into my black-and-white beginnings before the world finally opens to color. Eric Burdon was representative of the transitions of music, the world, and my own young, blossoming existence. His deep voice was noticeable and beautiful, and I could not forget it then, as I do not forget it now.

Yeah, baby, sometimes I’m so carefree

With a joy that’s hard to hide

Yeah, and other times it seems that

All I ever has is worry

And then you’re bound to see my other side

Oh, I’m just a soul who’s intentions are good

Oh, Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.