Tag: 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