WCSX Classic Cuts
The Animals: “We Gotta Get out of This Place”
The Hook: The place they wanted out of kept changing.
Album: Animal Tracks
Year: 1965
Writers: Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil
Stats: Peaked at number-13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Background: The Animals British Invasion classic “We Gotta Get out of this Place” became an anthem with servicemen everywhere, but particularly during the Vietnam War. Animals singer Eric Burdon tells us that for the group, the song’s meaning changed regularly.
Animals singer Eric Burdon on the ever changing meanings of “We Gotta Get out of This Place.” OC:…to L.A. :21
“’We Gotta Get out of This Place” just comes and goes and comes and goes. When we first recorded it in London, it was like, ‘Yeah, this represents us getting out of our hometown and getting to London. And then it was, ‘Wow, you know, we’re dying to get to New York.’ And once we got to New York it was, like, “Man, you know, dying yo get out to the West Coast, to L.A.”
