Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
{{Short description|1964 song by Nina Simone}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
| type = single
| artist = Nina Simone
| album = Broadway-Blues-Ballads
| B-side = A Monster
| released = 1964
| recorded = New York City
| genre = *Blues
| length = 2:48
| writer = *Bennie Benjamin
| label = Philips
}}
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is a song written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott and Sol Marcus for American singer-songwriter and pianist Nina Simone, who recorded the first version in 1964 for her album Broadway-Blues-Ballads. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" has been covered by many artists. Two of the covers were transatlantic hits, the first in 1965 by the Animals on their album Animal Tracks, which was a blues rock version; and in 1977 by the disco group Santa Esmeralda on their album Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, which was a four-on-the-floor rearrangement. A 1986 cover by new wave musician Elvis Costello found success in Britain and Ireland.
Nina Simone original
File:Nina Simone 1965 - restoration1.jpg (portrait, 1965) recorded the first version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"]]
Composer and arranger Horace Ott came up with the melody and chorus lyrics after a temporary falling out with his girlfriend (and wife-to-be), Gloria Caldwell.Hilton Valentine, [http://www.hiltonvalentine.com/stories.html "Stories"], Hiltonvalentine.com, April 28, 2001. Retrieved 6 September 2007. Ott then brought it to writing partners Bennie Benjamin and Sol Marcus to complete. Since rules of the time prevented BMI writers (Ott) from officially collaborating with ASCAP members (Benjamin and Marcus), Ott listed Caldwell's name instead of his own in the songwriting credits.[http://www.fyicomminc.com/jazzmen/horace-ott.htm "Songwriter, Arranger Horace Ott"], www.fyicomminc.com Jazzmen. Retrieved September 6, 2007.
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was one of five songs written by Benjamin and Marcus and presented for Nina Simone's 1964 album Broadway-Blues-Ballads. There, the song was taken at a very slow tempo and arranged around the harp and other orchestral elements including a backing choir that appears at several points. Simone sings it in her typically difficult-to-categorize style.{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=20030704&id=H1ZWAAAAIBAJ&pg=4087,716581 | title=Reviews: Two-disc retrospective celebrates late, great Nina Simone | author=Collins, Jim | newspaper=The Register-Guard | location=Eugene, Oregon | date=July 4, 2003 | page=17}}
To some writers, this version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" carried the subtext of the Civil Rights Movement 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.Margaret Busby, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/nina-simone-break-down-let-it-all-hang-out-by-sylvia-hampton-with-david-nathan-56157.html "Books: Don't let her be misunderstood"], The Independent, April 16, 2004.
The Animals version
{{Infobox song
| name = Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
| cover = Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood cover.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = the Animals
| album = Animal Tracks
| B-side = Club a Go-Go
| released = * 29 January 1965 (U.K.)
- February 1965 (U.S.)
| recorded = 16 November 1964{{Cite web|url=http://www.chromeoxide.com/animals.htm#1964|title=Chrome Oxide - Music Collectors pages - Animals - 05/12/2018|website=Chromeoxide.com|access-date=2019-10-24}}
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Blues rock
| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=28}}
| label = * Columbia Graphophone (UK)
- MGM (US)
| writer = * Bennie Benjamin
| producer = Mickie Most
| prev_title = Boom Boom
| prev_year = 1964
| next_title = Bring It On Home to Me
| next_year = 1965
}}
The Animals' lead singer Eric Burdon would later say of the song, "It was never considered pop material, but it somehow got passed on to us and we fell in love with it immediately."Rolling Stone, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070705092517/http://www.rollingstone.com/rssxml/artists.xml/6300 "The Animals"], Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 6, 2007.
The song was recorded in November 1964.{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Animals-The-Complete-Animals/release/1180638|title=The Animals – The Complete Animals (Line notes scanned)|publisher=discogs|access-date=January 31, 2017}} The band became a trans-Atlantic hit in early 1965 for their rendition of the song, rising to No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 15 on the U.S. pop singles chart, and No. 4 in Canada.
Cash Box described it as "a striking combination of R&B and English-rock touches."{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=February 6, 1965 |page=20 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1965/CB-1965-02-06.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}} This single was ranked by Rolling Stone at No. 322 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.{{cite magazine |title=Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/the-animals-dont-let-me-be-misunderstood-20110526 |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=April 7, 2011 |access-date=October 1, 2015}}
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.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR7h-4yvd-o | title=The Animals ~ Live ~ Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood ~ 1965 | via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}
At the South by Southwest festival in 2012, Bruce Springsteen credited the song as the inspiration and the riff for his 1978 song "Badlands".{{cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/2012/03/16/148778665/bruce-springsteens-sxsw-2012-keynote-speech | title=Bruce Springsteen's SXSW 2012 Keynote Speech | publisher=NPR | date=March 18, 2012}}
Chart Performance
= Year-end charts =
| class="wikitable" |
| Chart (1965)
! style="text-align:center;"|Rank |
|---|
| UK{{Cite web|url=https://www.sixtiescity.net/charts/65chart.htm|title=Sixties City - Pop Music Charts - Every Week Of The Sixties|website=Sixtiescity.net|access-date=June 7, 2025}}
| style="text-align:center;"|67 |
| US (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual){{cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |date=1999 |title=Pop Annual |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |publisher=Record Research Inc. |isbn=0-89820-142-X}}
| style="text-align:center;"|157 |
Santa Esmeralda version
{{Infobox song
| name = Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
| cover = Santa Esmeralda - Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Santa Esmeralda
| album = Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
| A-side = You're My Everything
| released = December 1977
| recorded = 1977
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = * Disco
| length = {{Duration|m=16|s=12}} (original album version)
| label = Casablanca
| writer = * Bennie Benjamin
| producer = * Nicolas Skorsky
- Jean Manuel de Scarano
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| next_title =
| next_year =
}}
A disco version of the song by the group Santa Esmeralda, which took the Animals' arrangement and transformed it with disco, flamenco, and other Latin rhythm and ornamentation elements, also became a hit in the late 1970s. Their version of the song was first released in summer 1977 as a 16-minute epic that took up an entire side of their Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood album, which was picked up for greater worldwide distribution by their label at the time, Casablanca Records.{{cite web|title = Santa Esmeralda – Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood| date=September 17, 1977 |url = http://www.discogs.com/Santa-Esmeralda-Dont-Let-Me-Be-Misunderstood/release/1831810|publisher = discogs|access-date = November 23, 2015}} The 12-inch club remix was extremely popular, reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Club Play Singles chart and in some European countries as well. Though, the single peaked at No. 4 on the Hot Dance/Disco-Club Play chart.{{cite book |title= Hot Dance/Disco: 1974–2003|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=227}} Their 7-inch single version peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., which is coincidentally the same number at which The Animals version peaked.{{cite book |title= Top Pop Singles Billboard: 1955–2006|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2007 |publisher=Record Research |page=739}}
Instrumental sections of this version were used in the pilot for the US game show Bullseye and in the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill: Volume I, in the background during the final duel between The Bride (Uma Thurman) and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu).{{Cite web|title=Santa Esmeralda|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3091150/|access-date=2021-05-14|website=IMDb}}
= Charts =
==Weekly charts==
Santa Esmeralda
==Year-end charts==
| class="wikitable"
|+Year-end chart performance for "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" ! Chart (1978) ! Position |
| Australia (Kent Music Report){{cite web|url=https://i.imgur.com/0gmvDHH.jpg|title=Kent Music Report No 236 – 1 January 1979 > National Top 100 Singles for 1978|publisher=Kent Music Report|via=Imgur|access-date=8 January 2022}}
| style="text-align:center;"|67 |
= Certifications =
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=France|artist=Santa Esmeralda|title=Don’t let me be misunderstood|type=single|source=infodisc|award=Gold|relyear=1978|certyear=1978}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|noshipments=true}}
Elvis Costello version
{{Infobox song
| name = Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
| cover = Don't_Let_Me_Be_Misunderstood.jpg
| caption =
| alt =
| type = Single
| artist = Elvis Costello
| album = King of America
| released = {{Start date|df=yes|1986|01}}
| recorded = Ocean Way, Sunset Sound, & Sound Factory Studio, Los Angeles, 1985–86
| studio =
| genre = * Roots rock
| length = {{Duration|m=|s=}}
| label = F-Beat (UK)
Columbia (US)
| writer = * Bennie Benjamin
| producer = T Bone Burnett
| prev_title = Green Shirt
| prev_year = 1985
| next_title = Lovable
| next_year = 1986
}}
British new wave musician Elvis Costello, under the label "The Costello Show", covered "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" for his 1986 album, King of America. The song was a late addition to the album; Costello had originally intended to record "I Hope You're Happy Now", but throat problems during the final sessions prevented him from doing so.{{Cite AV media notes| title = King of America| title-link = King of America| others = Elvis Costello| year = 1986| type = Liner notes}} Costello recalled,
{{quote|Rather than scrap the session we cut a slow, violent version of the Animals/Nina Simone song: "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". The next day we borrowed Michael Blair from Tom Waits' band to add a marimba part, and the record was complete. This may seem ironic as I attacked the song with a vocal capacity that Tom might have rejected as being too hoarse.}}
Against Costello's wishes, his American record company, Columbia, insisted on releasing the song as the first single from King of America. The single reached No. 33 in the UK and No. 22 on the Irish Singles Chart, but did not chart in the US. He explained, "My US record company, Columbia, showed their customary imagination in releasing the safe 'cover' song as a single ahead of any of the more unusual and heartfelt balladry I had composed. 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' made little impression, and my mounting debt to the company seemed to make them unwilling to risk any further effort on my behalf".
Martin Chilton of The Telegraph ranked the song as Costello's 26th best song out of 40, stating that Costello "sings it really well".{{cite news |last1=Chilton |first1=Martin |title=Elvis Costello's 40 best songs |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/elvis-costello-40-best-songs/dont-let-me-be-misunderstood/ |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=August 26, 2015 |access-date=27 February 2019}}
Elvis Costello (The Costello Show)
| class="wikitable" |
| Chart (1986)
!Peak |
|---|
| {{singlechart|Ireland2|22|song=Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood|access-date=August 1, 2019}} |
| UK{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/don't-let-me-be-misunderstood/ |title=Official Charts Company |website=Officialcharts.com |date=February 1, 1986 |access-date=August 1, 2019}}
| style="text-align:center;"|33 |
{{col-2}}
Other versions
Stereogum reviewed cover versions of the song in 2015, including renditions by Joe Cocker, Yusuf Islam, and Lana Del Rey. A version by Cocker for his 1969 With a Little Help from My Friends album is "a thoroughly '60s rock reading, [...] even if it dispenses with the organ intro the Animals introduced into the equation, it does have a big organ solo section and that crying blues guitar intro". Cat Stevens converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam; when he returned to popular music, he recorded an allusion to controversies in his life by way of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", as featured on his 2006 album An Other Cup.{{cite web|url=http://www.stereogum.com/1832453/21-covers-of-dont-let-me-be-misunderstood/franchises/best-covers/|title=21 Covers Of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," Rated|last=Leas|first=Ryan|date=September 23, 2015|website=Stereogum|access-date=April 6, 2016}} Del Rey created a "burnt-out Pop Art take on Americana" version of the song for her 2015 album Honeymoon.
=Chart performance=
Joe Cocker
| class="wikitable" |
| Chart (1996)
!Peak |
|---|
| UK{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/don't-let-me-be-misunderstood/ |title=Official Charts Company |website=Officialcharts.com |date=October 12, 1996 |access-date=August 1, 2019}}
| style="text-align:center;"|53 |
Ginette Reno
| class="wikitable" |
| Chart (1969)
!Peak |
|---|
| Canada RPM Adult Contemporary{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.6041&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.6041.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.6041|title=RPM – Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=December 20, 1969 |access-date=August 1, 2019}}
| style="text-align:center;"|11 |
| Canada RPM Top Singles
| style="text-align:center;"|53 |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{YouTube|9bAl93PPj54|"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"}}
{{Nina Simone}}
{{The Animals}}
{{Elvis Costello}}
{{No Mercy (pop band)}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Santa Esmeralda songs
Category:Casablanca Records singles
Category:Columbia Graphophone Company singles
Category:Columbia Records singles
Category:Number-one singles in Germany
Category:Philips Records singles
Category:Song recordings produced by Mickie Most