Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

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Jess Williamson and her bandmates (Jesse Kees, Shane Renfro, and Andrew Stevens) interpret Nina Simone, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan.

Tracklist
Seems So Long Ago, Nancy (Leonard Cohen)
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (Nina Simone)
The Times They Are A Changin’ (Bob Dylan)

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"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is a song written by Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell and Sol Marcus for the singer/pianist Nina Simone, who first recorded it in 1964.
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" has been recorded or performed by many artists, and is widely known by the 1965 blues rock hit recording from The Animals.
A 1977 disco/Latin rendition by Santa Esmeralda was also a hit.

The Animals version - 1965

The Animals gave it one of their trademark R&B-unto-rock workups, speeding up the tempo and starting off with a memorable electric guitar-and-organ doubled riff from Hilton Valentine and Alan Price, that was picked out and expanded from an element that originally appeared in the Simone recording's outro.

This single was ranked by Rolling Stone at No.315 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Santa Esmeralda version

A disco version of the song by Santa Esmeralda featuring Leroy Gomez, which took The Animals' arrangement and added some disco, flamenco, salsa, and other Latin rhythm and ornamentation elements to it, also became a hit in the 1970s.
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, it was picked up for more worldwide distribution by the label of the time, Casablanca Records.
A 12-inch club remix was extremely popular, hitting number one on the U.S. Billboard Club Play Singles chart and in some European countries as well.
The single peaked at number four on the Hot Dance/Disco-Club Play chart.

It was used as the opening theme of the 1980 pilot for the U.S. game show Bullseye, after which a sound-alike was used in regular episodes.
Is featured in the 1992 film American Me.
It became widely popular with a later generation after its inclusion in the 2003 film Kill Bill Vol. 1, where its instrumental passage plays over the Bride-O-Ren Ishii duel, and the accompanying Kill Bill Vol. 1 Original Soundtrack, where it is incorporated in a full vocal form that runs over 10 minutes.
A rendition appears in the trailer for the 2005 film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as the 2008 Korean "western" film The Good, the Bad, the Weird, played in the chasing sequence in Manchurian desert.

Other versions

The Animals' Eric Burdon has re-recorded the song throughout the years, notably an eight-minute version on his 1974 album Sun Secrets and a heavy metal performance in 1976 later released on his Live at the Roxy album. Burdon has performed it since the early 1980s in a reggae style. In a different version, it was performed during The Animals' 1983 reunion, as documented on the following year's Greatest Hits Live (Rip It to Shreds) release.

A version by Joe Cocker (from his 1969 debut album) played over the ending credits of the 2004 film Layer Cake.
Other artists who have recorded the song include The Moody Blues, Elvis Costello, Cyndi Lauper, Place of Skulls, Uthanda, Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger, Mike Batt, Trevor Rabin, Dwight Adams, No Mercy, Alabina (retitled "Lolole"), John Legend, Lou Rawls, Julian Thome, Gary Moore, Robben Ford, OffBeat, New Buffalo, Farhad Mehrad, The Killers, the Doug Anthony All Stars, Lyambiko, The Lucky Devils, Di'Anno, and Savage Circus.

In their 1980s concerts, Dire Straits played the central theme of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" during an instrumental introduction to their "Tunnel of Love", as Mark Knopfler talked about The Animals' hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne, in whose Spanish City that song is set. The song has been played in the style of The Animals by Cutting Crew on their 2008 tour as a tribute to lead singer Nick Van Eede's first manager, Chas Chandler of The Animals.

Rapper Common's "Misunderstood" sampled Nina Simone's original version for his 2007 album Finding Forever. The song was also sampled for the 2008 Lil Wayne album Tha Carter III, in the song "DontGetIt" and it was performed by Leona Lewis on the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards during a Lil Wayne performance. It has also been remixed by Granite & Sugarman for Nicola Fasano.

Cat Stevens was pleased as a young musician to be compared to the song's first performer, Nina Simone, by an interviewer from Melody Maker. After converting to Islam and changing his name to Yusuf Islam, several incidents where he has felt misunderstood sparked his recording of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" with some lyrical alterations, featured on his 2006 album An Other Cup.

Song

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Performed by

(unknown)

Originally by

Nina Simone

Video title

Jess Williamson - Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (Nina Simone Cover))

Views

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Likes

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