<P> The Animals' lead singer Eric Burdon would later say of the song, "It was never considered pop material, but it somehow got passed on to us and we fell in love with it immediately ." The Animals sped up the tempo and made prominent use of a guitar and organ riff that was picked out and expanded from an element that originally appeared in the Simone recording's outro . </P> <P> The song was recorded in November 1964 . The group gained a trans - Atlantic hit in early 1965 from their rendition, rising to number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, number 15 on the U.S. pop singles chart, and number 4 in Canada . </P> <P> This single was ranked by Rolling Stone at #322 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time . </P> <P> In Animals concerts at the time, the group maintained the recorded arrangement, but Burdon sometimes slowed the vocal line down to an almost spoken part, recapturing a bit of the Simone flavor . </P>

Don't let me be misunderstood the moody blues