THE ANIMALS - WE GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE

 WE GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE

THE ANIMALS

SIONGWRITERS: BARRY MANN & CYNTHIA WEIL

COUNTRY: ENGLAND

ALBUM: THE ANIMALS

LABEL: COLUMBIA GRAPHOPHONE

GENRE: BLUES ROCK

YEAR: 1965

 

          The Animals(also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rhythm-and-blues and rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and deep-voiced frontman Eric Burdon, as exemplified by their signature song and transatlantic number-one hit single "The House of the Rising Sun" as well as by hits such as "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", "It's My Life", "Don't Bring Me Down", "I'm Crying", "See See Rider" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." The band balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles against rhythm-and-blues-oriented album material and were part of the British Invasion of the US.

     The Animals underwent numerous personnel changes in the mid-1960s, and suffered from poor business management, leading the original incarnation to split up in 1966. Burdon assembled a mostly new lineup of musicians under the name Eric Burdon and the Animals; the much-changed act moved to California and achieved commercial success as a psychedelic and hard rock band with hits such as "San Franciscan Nights", "When I Was Young" and "Sky Pilot" before disbanding at the end of the decade. Altogether, the group had 10 top-20 hits in both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100.

        The original lineup of Burdon, Alan Price, Chas Chandler, Hilton Valentine and John Steel reunited for a one-off benefit concert in Newcastle in 1968. They later launched brief comebacks in 1975 and 1983. Several partial regroupings of the original-era members have occurred since then under various names. The Animals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

         "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", occasionally written "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place", is a rock song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and recorded as a 1965 hit single by the Animals. It has become an iconic song of its type and was immensely popular with United States Armed Forces G.I.s during the Vietnam War.

       In 2004 it was ranked number 233 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list; it is also in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.

In this dirty old part of the city

Where the sun refused to shine

People tell me there ain't no use in tryin'

 

Now my girl, you're so young and pretty

And one thing I know is true

You'll be dead before your time is due, I know

 

Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin'

Watched his hair been turnin' grey

He's been workin' and slavin' his life away, oh yes I know it

 

And I've been workin' too, baby (yeah!)

Every night and day (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!)

 

We gotta get out of this place

If it's the last thing we ever do

We gotta get out of this place

'Cause girl, there's a better life for me and you

 

Now my girl you're so young and pretty

And one thing I know is true, yeah

You'll be dead before your time is due, I know it

 

Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin'

Watched his hair been turnin' grey, yeah

He's been workin' and slavin' his life away

I know he's been workin' so hard

 

Every day baby (yeah!)

Whoa!

(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!)

 

We gotta get out of this place

If it's the last thing we ever do

We gotta get out of this place

Girl, there's a better life for me and you

Somewhere baby

Somehow I know it, baby

 

We gotta get out of this place

If it's the last thing we ever do

We gotta get out of this place

Girl, there's a better life for me and you

Believe me baby

I know it baby

You know it too.