We Gotta Get out of This Place
Encyclopedia
"We Gotta Get out of This Place", occasionally written "We've Gotta Get out of This Place", is a rock song written by Barry Mann
and Cynthia Weil
and recorded as a 1965 hit single by The Animals
. It has become an iconic song of its type and was immensely popular among United States Armed Forces
during the Vietnam War
.
In 2004 it was ranked number 233 on Rolling Stone
' s The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list; it is also in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.
) songwriter
s associated with the 1960s Brill Building
scene in New York City
.
"We Gotta Get out of This Place" was written and recorded as a demo by Mann and Weil, with Mann singing and playing piano
. It was intended for The Righteous Brothers
(for whom they had written the epic hit "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
"), and indeed the demo almost sounds like a Righteous Brothers recording, with the piano supplying the easily-recognized bass line and both a pop
and blue-eyed soul
feeling accompanying the foreboding lyrics. But then Mann gained a recording contract for himself, and his label Redbird Records
wanted him to release it instead. Meanwhile, record executive Allen Klein
had heard it and given the demo to Mickie Most
, the producer
for The Animals. 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.
In The Animals' rendition, the lyrics were slightly reordered and reworded from the demo, and opened with what seemed to be a reference to their industrial
, working class
Northern England
origins:
Next comes a verse about the singer's father at the end of his life with little to show for it, followed by one of The Animals' call-and-response buildups, finally leading through delayed tension to the well-known chorus:
The arrangement featured a unique bass lead, played by Chas Chandler
. It also included unusual organ work from Dave Rowberry
. Eric Burdon
's vocals range from a calm whisper to a primal roar. Rolling Stone described the overall effect as a "harsh white-blues treatment from the Animals. As singer Eric Burdon put it, 'Whatever suited our attitude, we just bent to our own shape.'"
The song reached number 2 on the UK pop singles chart
on August 14, 1965 (held out of the top slot by The Beatles
' "Help!
").
The following month, it reached number 13 on the U.S. pop singles chart
, its highest placement there.
In Canada the song also reached number 2, September 20, 1965.
, The Animals' parent record company, sent to MGM Records
, the group's American label, was mistakenly one that had not been selected for release elsewhere. The lyric most used to spot the difference is at the beginning of the second verse: the U.S. version went "See my daddy in bed a-dyin'," while the UK version went "Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin'." It is not surprising there were differences among takes; even during later Animals performances, Burdon would ad lib or alter lyrics of the song.
In the U.S. the song (in its "mistaken" take) was included on the album Animal Tracks
, released fall 1965, and again on the popular compilation The Best of The Animals
released in 1966. The song was not on any British Animals album during the group's lifetime.
Once Animals reissues began occurring during the compact disc
era, Allen Klein, by now owner of ABKCO and the rights to this material, dictated that the "correct" British version be used on all reissues and compilations everywhere. Although The Animals' catalogue has always been chaotic, this decision was for the most part adhered to. Thus, as U.S. radio stations converted from vinyl records to CDs, gradually only the British version became heard. This dismayed collectors and fans in the U.S. (as evidenced by letters to Goldmine
magazine), who believed that the U.S. version featured an angrier and more powerful vocal from Burdon, and who in any case wanted to hear the song in the form that they had grown up with. Finally with the 2004 remastered SACD
Retrospective compilation from ABKCO, the U.S. version was included.
s and graduation parties.
More notably, the song was very popular with United States Armed Forces members stationed in South Vietnam
during the Vietnam War. It was frequently requested of, and played by, American Forces Vietnam Network disc jockey
s. During 2006 two University of Wisconsin–Madison
employees, one a Vietnam veteran, began an in-depth survey of hundreds of Vietnam veterans, and found that "We Gotta Get out of This Place" had resonated the strongest among all the music popular then: "We had absolute unanimity is this song being the touchstone. This was the Vietnam anthem. Every bad band that ever played in an armed forces club had to play this song." Indeed, just such a band played the song in an episode ("USO Down", by Vietnam veteran Jim Beaver
) of the American television series about the war, Tour of Duty
, and the song is reprised in the episode's final scene.
The iconic "We Gotta Get out of This Place" was also used in Dennis Potter
's late 1965 television play Stand Up, Nigel Barton and in the BBC
's 1996 Newcastle-set Our Friends in the North
, which partially took place in the 1960s. In America it was used as the title credits song in some episodes of the Vietnam War-set television series China Beach
. It was then applied to the Bin Laden family, having to leave the United States in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, in Michael Moore
's 2004 Fahrenheit 9/11
. It also was featured memorably in the soundtrack in the 1987 movie Hamburger Hill
. It was used in a third-season episode of the 2000s television series Heroes, in a brief montage that showed some of the characters on the run from the law, and a serial killer with super powers expressing his desire to be the only one of his kind left.
It formed the basis for the title of academician Lawrence Grossberg
's We Gotta Get out of This Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture (1992)
, detailing the conflict between American conservatism
and rock culture. Similarly, it formed the title basis for Gerri Hirshey's 2002 account, We Gotta Get out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock.
It has also been used as the title of editorials by American Journalism Review
and other publications. The title was even used to name an art exhibit, curated by Stefan Kalmar at the Cubitt Gallery in London
in 1997.
(1972), Bruce Springsteen
(performed only a handful of times in his career, but acknowledged by him as one of his primary influences in the 1970s), Udo Lindenberg
(in a German language adaption in the 1970s for which commercial success was small), Blue Öyster Cult
(1978), Steve Bender (1978), Gilla
(1979), Angelic Upstarts
(1980), Grand Funk Railroad
(1981), David Johansen
(1982, and a hit on album oriented rock radio and MTV
as part of an Animals medley), Fear
(1982), Richard Thompson (1988), Jello Biafra
and D.O.A.
(1989), Randy Stonehill
(1990), Bon Jovi
(1992, again as part of an Animals medley for an MTV special), Midnight Oil
(1993, for their MTV Unplugged), Space (1998), Grand Funk Railroad
(a 1982 live performance first released in 1999), Southside Johnny
(concerts in the 2000s), Widespread Panic
(2005), Ann Wilson
with Wynonna Judd
(2007), and Alice Cooper
(2011) and many others.
In 1990 Eric Burdon returned to the song, joining Katrina and the Waves
for a recording of it for use by the aforementioned China Beach. In 2000 Barry Mann revisited the song, performing it with Bryan Adams
on Mann's retrospective solo album Soul & Inspiration.
When Suzi Quatro
was on a Germany
tour in 2008 she came on stage and played bass on "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" during an Eric Burdon
concert at the Porsche Arena
in Stuttgart
.
Burdon also performed it in 2010 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, when songwriters Mann and Weil were inducted.
Barry Mann
Barry Mann is an American songwriter, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.-Career:...
and Cynthia Weil
Cynthia Weil
Cynthia Weil is a prominent American songwriter. She is famous for having written many songs together with her husband Barry Mann....
and recorded as a 1965 hit single by The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
. It has become an iconic song of its type and was immensely popular among United States Armed Forces
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
In 2004 it was ranked number 233 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
History
Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were husband and wife (and future Hall of FameSongwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
) songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
s associated with the 1960s Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
scene in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
"We Gotta Get out of This Place" was written and recorded as a demo by Mann and Weil, with Mann singing and playing piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. It was intended for The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003...
(for whom they had written the epic hit "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" is a 1964 song by The Righteous Brothers which became a number-one hit single in the United States and the United Kingdom the following year. In 1999, the performing-rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. ranked the song as having had more radio and television...
"), and indeed the demo almost sounds like a Righteous Brothers recording, with the piano supplying the easily-recognized bass line and both a pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and blue-eyed soul
Blue-eyed soul
Blue-eyed soul is a media term that was used to describe rhythm and blues and soul music performed by white artists, with a strong pop music influence. The term was first used in the mid-1960s to describe white artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the music of the Motown and...
feeling accompanying the foreboding lyrics. But then Mann gained a recording contract for himself, and his label Redbird Records
Redbird Records
Redbird Records is an independent record label founded by the pop punk band Ludo. In October 2006, Ludo signed a five-album deal with Island Records that turned Redbird Records into an Island Records imprint...
wanted him to release it instead. Meanwhile, record executive Allen Klein
Allen Klein
Allen Klein was an American businessman, talent agent and record label executive. His clients included The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.- The accountant :...
had heard it and given the demo to Mickie Most
Mickie Most
Mickie Most was an English record producer, with a string of hit singles with acts such as The Animals, Arrows, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group often issued on his own RAK Records label....
, the producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
for The Animals. 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.
In The Animals' rendition, the lyrics were slightly reordered and reworded from the demo, and opened with what seemed to be a reference to their industrial
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
Northern England
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
origins:
- In this dirty old part of the city
- Where the sun refused to shine
- People tell me, there ain't no use in tryin'
Next comes a verse about the singer's father at the end of his life with little to show for it, followed by one of The Animals' call-and-response buildups, finally leading through delayed tension to the well-known chorus:
- We gotta get out of this place!
- If it's the last thing we ever do ...
- We gotta get out of this place,
' cause girl, there's a better life ... for me and you
The arrangement featured a unique bass lead, played by Chas Chandler
Chas Chandler
Bryan James "Chas" Chandler was an English musician, record producer and manager of several successful music acts....
. It also included unusual organ work from Dave Rowberry
Dave Rowberry
Dave Rowberry was an English piano and organ player, most known for being a member of the rock and R&B group The Animals in the 1960s....
. Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
's vocals range from a calm whisper to a primal roar. Rolling Stone described the overall effect as a "harsh white-blues treatment from the Animals. As singer Eric Burdon put it, 'Whatever suited our attitude, we just bent to our own shape.'"
The song reached number 2 on the UK pop singles chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
on August 14, 1965 (held out of the top slot by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Help!
Help! (song)
"Help!" is a song by The Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom....
").
The following month, it reached number 13 on the U.S. pop singles chart
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, its highest placement there.
In Canada the song also reached number 2, September 20, 1965.
The two versions
In fact, the UK and U.S. single releases were different versions from the same recording sessions. The take that EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, The Animals' parent record company, sent to MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
, the group's American label, was mistakenly one that had not been selected for release elsewhere. The lyric most used to spot the difference is at the beginning of the second verse: the U.S. version went "See my daddy in bed a-dyin'," while the UK version went "Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin'." It is not surprising there were differences among takes; even during later Animals performances, Burdon would ad lib or alter lyrics of the song.
In the U.S. the song (in its "mistaken" take) was included on the album Animal Tracks
Animal Tracks (U.S. album)
Animal Tracks was The Animals' third album in the United States. Musically, it was a hodge-podge of the group's recent hit singles mixed in with tracks of assorted vintage that had not been included on either of The Animals' first two U.S. albums...
, released fall 1965, and again on the popular compilation The Best of The Animals
The Best of The Animals (1966 album)
The Best of The Animals was The Animals' first greatest hits collection. It was released in February 1966 in the United States, but never put out in the United Kingdom...
released in 1966. The song was not on any British Animals album during the group's lifetime.
Once Animals reissues began occurring during the compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
era, Allen Klein, by now owner of ABKCO and the rights to this material, dictated that the "correct" British version be used on all reissues and compilations everywhere. Although The Animals' catalogue has always been chaotic, this decision was for the most part adhered to. Thus, as U.S. radio stations converted from vinyl records to CDs, gradually only the British version became heard. This dismayed collectors and fans in the U.S. (as evidenced by letters to Goldmine
Goldmine (magazine)
Goldmine, established in 1974, is an American magazine that focuses on the collectors' market for records, tapes, CDs, and music-related memorabilia. Each issue features news articles, interviews, discographies, histories, current reviews on recording stars of the past and present. Discographies...
magazine), who believed that the U.S. version featured an angrier and more powerful vocal from Burdon, and who in any case wanted to hear the song in the form that they had grown up with. Finally with the 2004 remastered SACD
Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...
Retrospective compilation from ABKCO, the U.S. version was included.
Impact
At the time, the title and simple emotional appeal of "We Gotta Get out of This Place" lent itself to some obvious self-identifications — for instance, it was a very popular number to be played at high school senior promSenior Prom
Senior Prom is a still-classified United States Air Force program to develop a stealth unmanned aerial vehicle for reconnaissance purposes , designed to be launched from a Lockheed DC-130, B-52 Stratofortress, or B-1 Lancer.-Origin and development:The program began in the late 1970s after the...
s and graduation parties.
More notably, the song was very popular with United States Armed Forces members stationed in South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
during the Vietnam War. It was frequently requested of, and played by, American Forces Vietnam Network disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s. During 2006 two University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
employees, one a Vietnam veteran, began an in-depth survey of hundreds of Vietnam veterans, and found that "We Gotta Get out of This Place" had resonated the strongest among all the music popular then: "We had absolute unanimity is this song being the touchstone. This was the Vietnam anthem. Every bad band that ever played in an armed forces club had to play this song." Indeed, just such a band played the song in an episode ("USO Down", by Vietnam veteran Jim Beaver
Jim Beaver
James Norman "Jim" Beaver, Jr. is an American stage, film, and television actor, playwright, screenwriter, and film historian...
) of the American television series about the war, Tour of Duty
Tour of Duty (TV series)
Tour of Duty is an American drama television series on CBS. It ran for three seasons from September 1987 to April 1990 as 58 one–hour episodes. The show was created by Steve Duncan and L. Travis Clark, and produced by Zev Braun....
, and the song is reprised in the episode's final scene.
The iconic "We Gotta Get out of This Place" was also used in Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
's late 1965 television play Stand Up, Nigel Barton and in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's 1996 Newcastle-set Our Friends in the North
Our Friends in the North
Our Friends in the North is a British television drama serial, produced by the BBC and originally broadcast in nine episodes on BBC Two in early 1996...
, which partially took place in the 1960s. In America it was used as the title credits song in some episodes of the Vietnam War-set television series China Beach
China Beach
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
. It was then applied to the Bin Laden family, having to leave the United States in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, in Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
's 2004 Fahrenheit 9/11
Fahrenheit 9/11
Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 documentary film by American filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore. The film takes a critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the War on Terror, and its coverage in the news media...
. It also was featured memorably in the soundtrack in the 1987 movie Hamburger Hill
Hamburger Hill
Hamburger Hill is a 1987 American war film about the actual assault of the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division 'Screaming Eagles', on a well-fortified position, including trenchworks and bunkers, of the North Vietnamese Army on Ap Bia...
. It was used in a third-season episode of the 2000s television series Heroes, in a brief montage that showed some of the characters on the run from the law, and a serial killer with super powers expressing his desire to be the only one of his kind left.
Cultural references
The song's title and theme have become a common cultural phrase over the years.It formed the basis for the title of academician Lawrence Grossberg
Lawrence Grossberg
Lawrence Grossberg is an internationally renowned scholar of cultural studies and popular culture whose work focuses primarily on popular music and the politics of youth in the United States. He is also widely known for his research in the philosophy of communication and culture...
's We Gotta Get out of This Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture (1992)
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture (1992)
We Gotta Get out of This Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture by Lawrence Grossberg was published in 1992 and deals with several aspects of contemporary American culture: Lawrence Grossberg states that it is a book about “the political, economic and cultural forces which are...
, detailing the conflict between American conservatism
American conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
and rock culture. Similarly, it formed the title basis for Gerri Hirshey's 2002 account, We Gotta Get out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock.
It has also been used as the title of editorials by American Journalism Review
American Journalism Review
The American Journalism Review is a U.S. magazine covering topics in journalism. It is published six times a year by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. The AJR has been owned since the late 1980s by a foundation of the university...
and other publications. The title was even used to name an art exhibit, curated by Stefan Kalmar at the Cubitt Gallery in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1997.
Other versions
As a ready-made anthem, "We Gotta Get out of This Place" has been recorded or performed in concert by numerous artists, including The Partridge FamilyThe Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
(1972), Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
(performed only a handful of times in his career, but acknowledged by him as one of his primary influences in the 1970s), Udo Lindenberg
Udo Lindenberg
Udo Lindenberg is a German rock musician and composer.-Career:Lindenberg started his musical career as a drummer. In 1969 Lindenberg founded his first band Free Orbit and also appeared as a studio and guest musician . In 1970 he collaborated as a drummer with jazz-saxophonist Klaus Doldinger in...
(in a German language adaption in the 1970s for which commercial success was small), Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult, often abbreviated BÖC, is an American rock band, most of whose members first came together in Long Island, NY in 1967 as the band Soft White Underbelly...
(1978), Steve Bender (1978), Gilla
Gilla
Gilla is an Austrian singer from the late 1970s disco era.-History:Gilla was discovered by German producer Frank Farian who got her signed to Hansa Records in 1974...
(1979), Angelic Upstarts
Angelic Upstarts
Angelic Upstarts are an English punk rock/Oi! band formed in South Shields in 1977. The band espoused an anti-fascist and socialist working class philosophy, and have been associated with the skinhead subculture...
(1980), Grand Funk Railroad
Grand Funk Railroad
Grand Funk Railroad is an American rock band that was highly popular during the 1970s. Grand Funk Railroad toured constantly to packed arenas worldwide. A popular take on the band during its heyday was that, although the critics hated them, audiences loved them...
(1981), David Johansen
David Johansen
David Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues, and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in...
(1982, and a hit on album oriented rock radio and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
as part of an Animals medley), Fear
Fear (band)
Fear is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1977. The band is credited for helping to shape the sound and style of American hardcore punk, the group started out as part of the early California punk rock scene, and gained national prominence after an infamous 1981...
(1982), Richard Thompson (1988), Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
and D.O.A.
D.O.A. (band)
D.O.A. is a hardcore punk band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Teen Idles, and Minor Threat. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to...
(1989), Randy Stonehill
Randy Stonehill
Randall Evan "Randy" Stonehill is an American singer-songwriter from Stockton, California, best known as one of the so-called "fathers of contemporary Christian music". His music is primarily folk rock in the style of James Taylor, but he has assayed other styles, with various albums focused on...
(1990), Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
(1992, again as part of an Animals medley for an MTV special), Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil , were an Australian rock band from Sydney originally performing as Farm from 1972 with drummer Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James and keyboard player/lead guitarist Jim Moginie...
(1993, for their MTV Unplugged), Space (1998), Grand Funk Railroad
Grand Funk Railroad
Grand Funk Railroad is an American rock band that was highly popular during the 1970s. Grand Funk Railroad toured constantly to packed arenas worldwide. A popular take on the band during its heyday was that, although the critics hated them, audiences loved them...
(a 1982 live performance first released in 1999), Southside Johnny
Southside Johnny
Southside Johnny is an American singer-songwriter, who usually fronts his band Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes.-Early days:...
(concerts in the 2000s), Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring...
(2005), Ann Wilson
Ann Wilson
Ann Dustin Wilson is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, flute player, songwriter, and occasional guitar player of the rock band Heart.-Personal life:...
with Wynonna Judd
Wynonna Judd
Wynonna Ellen Judd is an American country music singer. Her solo albums and singles are all credited to the singular name Wynonna. Wynonna first rose to fame in the 1980s alongside her mother, Naomi, in the country music duo The Judds...
(2007), and Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
(2011) and many others.
In 1990 Eric Burdon returned to the song, joining Katrina and the Waves
Katrina and the Waves
Katrina and the Waves was an English pop rock band, best known for their 1985 hit "Walking on Sunshine" and their 1997 Eurovision Song Contest victory with the song "Love Shine a Light".-Pre-history: The Waves and Mama's Cookin' :...
for a recording of it for use by the aforementioned China Beach. In 2000 Barry Mann revisited the song, performing it with Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
on Mann's retrospective solo album Soul & Inspiration.
When Suzi Quatro
Suzi Quatro
Susan Kay "Suzi" Quatro is an American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor.She scored a string of hit singles in the 1970s that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, and had a recurring role on the popular American sitcom Happy Days.-Music:Quatro began her...
was on a Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
tour in 2008 she came on stage and played bass on "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" during an Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
concert at the Porsche Arena
Porsche Arena
Porsche Arena is a multi-purpose arena, located in Stuttgart, Germany. The seating capacity of the arena varies, from 5,100 to 8,000 people and it was opened in 2006, after 14 months of construction....
in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
.
Burdon also performed it in 2010 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, when songwriters Mann and Weil were inducted.