Tag: Eric Burdon and the Animals

Animals – Monterey

The Animals are one of those bands that I usually associate with a harder sound. Eric Burdon had one of the strongest voices to come out of the British Invasion. Listen to “House of the Rising Sun, We Gotta Get Out of This Place, or Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. He could push a song right through the speakers.

Monterey is a different animal. Burdon still has that voice, but he doesn’t try to overpower the song with it. He sings for the song. That may be what I like most about this one. There is almost a relaxed quality to his singing while everything around him keeps changing.

By 1967, this wasn’t really the same Animals that had recorded those earlier hits. The original group had broken apart and Burdon assembled a new version with Vic Briggs, John Weider, Danny McCulloch, and Barry Jenkins. The blues and R&B roots were still there, but psychedelia had entered the picture in a big way. Their album Winds of Change made that change pretty obvious.

Then they played the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967.That festival became one of the defining events of the sixties. The Who played there. So did Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, Ravi Shankar, Hugh Masekela, and, of course, Jimi Hendrix. Burdon apparently came away from the festival completely taken by what he had seen and heard. This became his musical postcard (for lack of a better word) from the event.

The song was written by Burdon along with Briggs, Weider, McCulloch, and Jenkins and produced by Tom Wilson. It was released in late 1967 and later appeared on The Twain Shall Meet. The song peaked at #15 on the Billboard 100 and #3 in Canada.

I think it captures something that couldn’t last. The Monterey Pop Festival happened just before the sixties became darker and more complicated. There is an optimism running through this song. He bought into it completely. For those few minutes, music really does sound like it could change everything.

Monterey doesn’t sound much like the Animals who recorded We Gotta Get Out of This Place. But then again, 1967 didn’t sound much like 1965 either.

Monterey

The people came and listened
Some of them came and played
Others gave flowers away, yes they did
Down in Monterey
Down in Monterey
Young Gods smiled upon the crowd
Their music being born of love
Children danced night and day
Religion was being born
Down in Monterey

The birds and the airplane did fly
Oh, Ravi Shankars music made me cry
The Who exploded into fire and light
Hugh Masakela’s music was black as night
The Grateful Dead blew everybodies mind
Jimi Hendrix baby, believe me, set the world on fire, yeah

His Majesty, Prince Jones, smiled as he moved among the crowd
Ten thousand electric guitars were grooving real loud, yeah
You want to find the truth in life
Don’t pass music by
and you know I would not lie, no I would not lie,
No, I would not lie
Down in Monterey

Three days of understanding of moving with one another
Even the cops grooved with us
Do you believe me, yeah?
Down in Monterey
I think that maybe I’m dreaming
Monterey
Down in monterey
Did you hear what I said?

Animals – San Franciscan Nights

I bought this song on a single along with Sky Pilot when I was getting into the Animals as a pre-teen.  This was not the same Animals of House of the Rising Sun and others…everyone but Eric Burdon and drummer Barry Jenkins had been replaced.

In this song Eric welcomes you to the Summer of Love in 1967 San Francisco. This new version of the Animals they were losing traction in Europe and at the spoken word beginning of this song Burdon welcomes the Europeans over to San Francisco. The song was popular and also an anti Vietnam song.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #9 in the Billboard 100, and #7 in the UK in 1967.

Many people complained that San Francisco is not that warm at night or any other time. Burdon and his group had recently played in San Francisco during a rare 10-day stretch of exceptionally warm spring weather, which left a strong impression.

At a concert Burdon has said the song was written about an evening with Janis Joplin in San Francisco.

 Eric Burdon: “Britain is not as aware of what we are trying to communicate as the Americans. The whole world still needs a kick up the pants – the Americans are one move ahead. The record company was afraid I would offend England if I released ‘San Franciscan Nights’. They thought I had offered enough insults to England.”

From Songfacts

1967 was the year of the “Summer of Love,” and San Francisco was a hot spot for Hippies. Along with “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair),” “San Franciscan Nights” was a popular ode to the city in those turbulent times.

The Animals were from England, but were welcomed in America along with other British Invasion groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. They wrote this song themselves, which takes a stand against the Vietnam War. Looking back on the song in our 2010 interview, Animals lead singer Eric Burdon said: “The ‘Love Generation’ helped the anti-war stance in the states. It certainly turned a lot of soldiers’ heads around, making them wonder why they had to be out fighting a war when back home their girlfriends were frolicking around and it caused a lot of anguish on that level. Maybe it helped politically with the so-called enemy. I’m not sure.”

San Franciscan Nights

This following program is dedicated to the city and people of
San Francisco, who may not know it but they are beautiful and so
Is their city this is a very personal song, so if the viewer
Cannot understand it particularly those of you who are European
Residents save up all your bread and fly trans love airways to
San Francisco U.S.A., then maybe you’ll understand the song, it
Will be worth it, if not for the sake of this song but for the
Sake of your own peace of mind.

Strobe lights beam create dreams
Walls move minds do too
On a warm San Franciscan night
Old child young child feel alright
On a warm San Franciscan night
Angels sing leather wings
Jeans of blue Harley Davidsons too
On a warm San Franciscan night
Old angels young angels feel alright
On a warm San Franciscan night.

I wasn’t born there perhaps I’ll die there
There’s no place left to go, San Franciscan.

Cop’s face is filled with hate
Heavens above he’s on a street called love
When will they even learn
Old cop young cop feel alright
On a warm San Franciscan night
The children are cool
They don’t raise fools
It’s an American dream
Includes indians too.

Animals – When I Was Young

The Animals were nasty sounding…more than the Stones on some of their records at this time.

This is one of the songs that have been said as having pioneered grunge music. The song was written by Eric Burdon, Vic Briggs, John Weider, Barry Jenkins, and Danny McCulloch.

This was in the middle of the psychedelic period…In 1966 the original Animals disbanded because of business mismanagement and were in debt. Eric carried on with  the newly named Eric Burdon & The Animals.  He left behind his Newcastle, hard-drinking ways behind, and became a spokesman for the counterculture in this period.

This song was released in 1967 and it peaked at #15 in the Billboard 100, #10 in Canada, and #45 in the UK.

Eric Burdon: “When I first wrote it I played it to George Harrison and his comment was ‘Great! You got to do more of this. You’ll know you’ll be able to sing this song when you are in your forties.’ Now I am in my 70s and I am still singing it.”

From Songfacts

“When I Was Young” was written by Eric Burdon and included on various Animals albums as well as being a single release.

Burdon’s composition marks an important turning point for the Animals: many of The Animals’ hits had been Brill Building productions, most notably the husband-and-wife team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, which was an effort by their producer Mickie Most to make this British Invasion band sound more American. Burdon found this too restricting, and the group moved to Decca Records by 1966. This was amongst their first hits after this move.

Cover versions of this song include versions by Golden Earring, Eddie Fisher, Tina Turner, and The Ramones. It’s also been featured in film soundtracks such as Doris Dorrie’s Manner….

When I Was Young

‘The rooms were so much colder then
My father was a soldier then
And times were very hard
When I was young

I smoked my first cigarette at ten
And for girls, I had a bad yen
And I had quite a ball
When I was young

When I was young, it was more important
Pain more painful
Laughter much louder
Yeah, when I was young
When I was young

I met my first love at thirteen
She was brown and I was pretty green
And I learned quite a lot when I was young
When I was young
When I was young

Pain more painful
Laughter much louder
Yeah, when I was young
When I was young

My faith was so much stronger then
I believed in fellow man
And I was so much older then
When I was young
When I was young
When I was young