“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” – Single by Santa Esmeralda from the album Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
A-side: “You’re My Everything”
Released: December 1977
Recorded: 1977
Label; Casablanca
Songwriters: Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott, Sol Marcus
Producers: Nicolas Skorsky, Jean Manuel de Scarano
Charted No.15 in US (Billboard HOT 100), No.41 in UK, No.2 in France, No.10 in Canada
“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” is a song written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott and Sol Marcus for American singer-songwriter and pianist Nina Simone, who recorded the first version in 1964. “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” has been covered by many artists. Two of the covers were transatlantic hits, the first in 1965 by the Animals, which was a blues rock version; and in 1977 by the disco group Santa Esmeralda, which was a four-on-the-floor rearrangement. A 1986 cover by new wave musician Elvis Costello found success in Britain and Ireland.
A disco version of the song by the group Santa Esmeralda, which took the Animals’ arrangement and transformed it with disco, flamenco, and other Latin rhythm and ornamentation elements, also became a hit in the late 1970s. Their version of the song was first released in summer 1977 as a 16-minute epic that took up an entire side of their Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood album, which was picked up for greater worldwide distribution by their label at the time, Casablanca Records. The 12-inch club remix was extremely popular, reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Club Play Singles chart and in some European countries as well. Though, the single peaked at No. 4 on the Hot Dance/Disco-Club Play chart. Their 7-inch single version peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., which is coincidentally the same number at which The Animals version peaked.
