Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were husband and wife (and future
Songwriters Hall of Fame)
songwriters associated with the 1960s
Brill Building scene in
New York City. Mann and Weil wrote and recorded "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" as a
demo, with Mann singing and playing
piano. It was intended for
the Righteous Brothers, for whom they had written the number one hit "
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" but then Mann gained a recording contract for himself, and his label
Red Bird Records wanted him to release it instead. Meanwhile, record executive
Allen Klein had heard it and gave the demo to
Mickie Most, the Animals'
producer. Most already had a call out to Brill Building songwriters for material for the group's next recording session (the Animals hits "
It's My Life" and "
Don't Bring Me Down" came from the same call), and the Animals recorded it before Mann could. Next came a verse about the singer's father in his deathbed after a lifetime of working his life away, followed by a call-and-response buildup, leading to the start of the chorus: The arrangement featured a distinctive bass lead by group member
Chas Chandler. This was the first single not to be recorded by the original line-up, following as it did the departure of keyboard player
Alan Price and his replacement by
Dave Rowberry. It featured one of singer
Eric Burdon's typically raw, fierce vocals. The song reached number 2 on the
UK Singles Chart on 14 August 1965 (held out of the top slot by
the Beatles' "
Help!"). The following month, it reached number 13 on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100, its highest placement there.
Record World said that "the Animals wail for 3:17 worth ... about the pressures of the city on young lovers" and considered it as a counterexample to the proposition that "rock and roll lyrics don't mean anything." Once Animals' reissues began occurring during the
compact disc era, Allen Klein, by then owner of
ABKCO and the rights to this material, dictated that the correct British version be used on all reissues and compilations everywhere. Thus, as US radio stations converted from vinyl records to CDs, gradually only the British version became heard. Some collectors and fans in the US wrote letters of complaint to
Goldmine magazine, saying they believed the US version featured an angrier and more powerful vocal from Burdon, and in any case wanted to hear the song in the form they had grown up with. The 2004 remastered
SACD Retrospective compilation from ABKCO included the US version, as did the budget-priced compilation
The Very Best of The Animals. ==Impact==