Balarama Music

Originals Week: Don’t Let Me Be Covered

Jun 04

Doug1960s nina simone, originals week, the animals 1 Comment

This next one is one of those covers you’ll really get a kick out of because not only will you be surprised it’s a cover, but you’ll also be surprised by just how much the song was changed. The year again is 1964 (I need to get out of the 60s, I know) and the blues-rock band known as The Animals was just about to wrap up a pretty successful year. After moving to London and piggybacking the success of the British Invasion, they had found themselves with newfound success after taking some old standards, folk songs, & soul hits and turning them into R&B infused sing-a-longs like the massive hit “House Of The Rising Sun.” Looking ahead to 1965, the band knew they had more ground to cover to solidify themselves in Britain’s ever-competitive music scene. Their habit of paying homage to those who inspired them and re-inventing the songs in different ways wasn’t over by a long shot so they had some ground to cover for their next single to be released at the top of the New Year. Going back to those who had already inspired them, the name Nina Simone must have come up again to those looking for new songs at EMI. After all, she had done one of the first recordings of “House Of The Rising Sun” in the 60s, even predating Bob Dylan’s version, and there was a catfight over who ultimately inspired Alan Price’s version of the song. The Animals were in luck here as were their bosses because earlier that year, Nina Simone had released her album Broadway-Blues-Ballads full of new material.

Teaming with songwriter Bennie Benjamin for the majority of the album, Simone delivered her one-of-a-kind and definitely hard-to-classify style & inflection to each track with genres ranging from jazz to folk. Sadly, what transpired was a bunch of songs that became a staple of her live shows for years to come, but an album overall that critics derided when compared to Simone’s earlier civil-rights clad albums & a bevy of singles that never charted. Of course, that didn’t stop the fellows over at EMI from quickly locking on to first song on the album and literally handing it to The Animals on a silver platter. It was that first song with an already stripped down essence that would have been perfect for the Animals to re-work and oh, did they re-work it. Throwing an unforgettable R&B riff that was doubled by an organ & electric guitar as well as Burdon’s overly-soulful voice, The Animals scored again with a hit in January 1965 as “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” hit number three in England, fifteen in America, and four in Canada. The song went on to become one of their most recognizable hits and became consistently ranked as one of the greatest rock songs, but still – Simone did it first. Does it matter that hers didn’t chart at all and The Animals’ became one of the staples of 60s rock? Well, maybe, but not for Originals Week!

Editor’s Notes:
There’s more story to this song, but I think we’ll cover it in another post at another time. For now, enjoy Nina Simone’s version:

Song: Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Artist: Nina Simone
Album: Broadway-Blues-Ballads
Year: 1964

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