Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood by 2heartsAMDG

2heartsAMDG - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

2heartsAMDG

Apr 08, 2025 09:47pm

SAW THIS ON FEATURE AND HAD TO TRY, BEEN AGES SINCE IVE HEARD IT, SO NOT SURE I GOT IT RIGHT! THANKS FOR LISTENS, SWEET FRIENDS! 💗 "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is a song written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennie_Benjamin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bennie Benjamin</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Ott" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Horace Ott</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Marcus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sol Marcus</a> for American singer-songwriter and pianist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nina Simone</a>, who recorded the first version in 1964 for her album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway-Blues-Ballads" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Broadway-Blues-Ballads</a>. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" has been covered by many artists. Two of the covers were transatlantic hits, the first in 1965 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animals" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the Animals</a> on their album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Tracks_(American_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Animal Tracks</a>, which was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_rock" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blues rock</a> version; and in 1977 by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">disco</a> group <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Esmeralda" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Santa Esmeralda</a> on their album Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, which was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_on_the_floor_(music)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">four-on-the-floor</a> rearrangement. A 1986 cover by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_wave_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">new wave</a> musician <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Costello" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elvis Costello</a> found success in Britain and Ireland. <h2>Nina Simone original</h2><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nina Simone</a> (portrait, 1965) recorded the first version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"Composer and arranger <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Ott" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Horace Ott</a> came up with the melody and chorus lyrics after a temporary falling out with his girlfriend (and wife-to-be), Gloria Caldwell. Ott then brought it to writing partners <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennie_Benjamin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bennie Benjamin</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Marcus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sol Marcus</a> to complete. Since rules of the time prevented <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_Music_Incorporated" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BMI</a> writers (Ott) from officially collaborating with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCAP" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ASCAP</a> members (Benjamin and Marcus), Ott listed Caldwell's name instead of his own in the songwriting credits."Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was one of five songs written by Benjamin and Marcus and presented for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nina Simone</a>'s 1964 album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway-Blues-Ballads" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Broadway-Blues-Ballads</a>. There, the song was taken at a very slow tempo and arranged around the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harp" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">harp</a> and other orchestral elements including a backing choir that appears at several points. Simone sings it in her typically difficult-to-categorize style.To some writers, this version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" carried the subtext of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Movement" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Civil Rights Movement</a> that concerned much of Simone's work of the time; while to others this was more personal, and was the song, and phrase, that best exemplified Simone's career and life. <h2>The Animals version</h2>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Don%27t_Let_Me_Be_Misunderstood_cover.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Tracks_(American_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>(1964) "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animals" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Animals</a>' lead singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Burdon" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Eric Burdon</a> would later say of the song, "It was never considered <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pop</a> material, but it somehow got passed on to us and we fell in love with it immediately.The song was recorded in November 1964. The band became a trans-Atlantic hit in early 1965 for their rendition of the song, rising to No. 3 on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Singles_Chart" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">UK Singles Chart</a>, No. 15 on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">U.S. pop singles chart</a>, and No. 4 in Canada.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_Box" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cash Box</a> described it as "a striking combination of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_R%26B" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">R&B</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_rock_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English-rock</a> touches."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Let_Me_Be_Misunderstood#cite_note-cb-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[</a>This single was ranked by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rolling Stone</a> at No. 322 on their list of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_Greatest_Songs_of_All_Time" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">500 Greatest Songs of All Time</a>. During Animals concerts at the time, the group maintained the recorded arrangement, but Burdon sometimes slowed the vocal line down to an almost spoken part, recapturing a bit of the Simone flavor.At the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_by_Southwest" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">South by Southwest</a> festival in 2012, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Springsteen" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bruce Springsteen</a> credited the song as the inspiration and the riff for his 1978 song "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badlands_(song)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Badlands</a>"