1965 Rock Classic Released in Two Different Versions by Mistake Ranked Among 'Greatest Songs of All Time'
A popular English rock band called the Animals churned out a bunch of hits during the '60s and beyond, but one particular song of theirs has an interesting story behind it. The track, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," was originally released in 1965 as a single, and soon enough, it was rising on the charts and becoming a fan-favorite.
The song started as a demo written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Initially, they planned to give the song to the Righteous Brothers to record, before Mann shared an interest in recording it himself after he got his own record deal. In the end, neither of them got the song because the Animals recorded it first. It's lucky for them that they did, as it ended up being one of the group's biggest hits.
As happens with a lot of musical artists, there were multiple takes recorded of the song in the studio. In this case, there was a mixup with the versions that led a different version of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" to be released in the U.S. than the rest of the world. EMI, the Animals' parent record company, sent the wrong version to the band's U.S. music label, MGM Records, and it ended up getting officially released.
Thankfully, the two versions aren't too different. The main difference is a change in one line of lyrics, with the U.S. version saying, "See my daddy in bed a-dyin'," while the U.K. version said, "Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin'." The U.S. version was included on a number of releases in the years after, and when it was later dictated that the U.K. version be used on everything, fans of the other version complained about the change. It ended up included again on a couple of other compilation albums.
Luckily, when the song was first released, the two different versions didn't hinder its success in any way. "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" reached No. 2 on Canada and U.K. charts, while it peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Decades later, Rolling Stone included it on its 2004 version of the "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.
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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 5:35 AM.