The Animals' top 10 songs, ranked

23 February 2026, 09:39

Eric Burdon and The Animals released some of the greatest music of the 1960s.

Forget about London or even Merseyside... one of the greatest British bands of the 1960s came from Newcastle.

Spinning off from the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo, Eric Burdon joined keyboardist Price, guitarist Hilton Valentine, drummer John Steel and bassist Bryan 'Chas' Chandler to become The Animals.

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After a few short years leader Eric Burdon rang the changes and renamed the group Eric Burdon and The Animals. They only stuck around for a couple more years after the rebrand, but still managed to release four further albums in that time.

The group split by 1969, and although the original Animals (and various other incarnations) reformed on and off over the years and even recorded a couple of decent comeback records, it's that original 1960s run where they released their biggest and best songs.

Below we round up the very best of The Animals.

1. Good Times

   

   The Animals - Good Times (1967)

   Nothing to do with the Chic song of the same name, this Eric Burdon & The Animals single from the Winds of Change album was a decent number 20 hit in the UK, even though it was relegated to B-side status in the US.

   Produced by Tom Wilson (The Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel), writing-wise it was a group effort from Eric Burdon, John Weider, Vic Briggs, Danny McCulloch and Barry Jenkins that interrogates the "good" times had boozing things up and how good they really were.

2. I'm Crying

   

   The Animals "I'm Crying" on The Ed Sullivan Show

   Written by Eric Burdon and Alan Price, this rollicking bit of Brit blues from 1964 was produced by Mickie Most and went top 10 in the UK and top 20 in the US.

   Apparently that wasn't good enough and meant the band's next few singles would be covers, but it's endured as one of the group's stomping best.

3. Inside-Looking Out

   

   The Animals "Inside-Looking Out" on The Ed Sullivan Show

   Another Tom Wilson production and the group's first single for Decca, 'Inside-Looking Out' is a hard hitting slab of rocking rhythm and blues.

   Loosely based on a prison work chant 'Rosie and so credited to musicologists John and Alan Lomax as well as Eric Burdon and Chas Chandler, the song was also the band's last to feature original drummer John Steel before his replacement by Barry Jenkins.

4. It's My Life

   

   The Animals - It's My Life

   This sexy, swaggering, arrogant track was written by NYC writers Roger Atkins and Carl D'Errico, at the behest of producer Mickie Most.

   It was another top ten UK hit and number 23 in the States, Burdon affects an almost Stonesy-growl while by Dave Rowberry's organ (in place of the departed Alan Price) meant it still sounds like The Animals.

5. San Franciscan Nights

   

   Eric Burdon & The Animals : San Franciscan Nights (Live 1967)

   Another self-penned Animals track (Burdon, Briggs, Weider, Jenkins, McCulloch) produced by Tom Wilson, it's proof that the band could deliver when they stripped things down every bit as much as when they rocked out hard.

   A song of love for San Francisco, it was consciously written as part of the anti-Vietnam War, counterculture movement ("A cop's face is filed with hate /Heavens above, he's on a street called love").

6. Don't Bring Me Down

   

   The Animals "Don't Bring Me Down" on The Ed Sullivan Show

   While The Animals proved time and again that they could absolutely write their own material (and have pretty decent hits with it, too), they were also being shoved towards tracks written by others.

   It's claimed that 'Don't Bring Me Down', by songwriting goals Carole King and Gerry Goffin, came from that Mickie Most call-out, but by the time they recorded it they were working with Tom Wilson.

   As with all their material whether written by themselves or others, The Animals put their own stamp on the song, mixing up the romantic King/Goffin sensibilities with their own bluesy style to earn a UK number 6 and US number 12.

7. Bring It On Home To Me

   

   The Animals - Bring It On Home To Me (clip, 1965) ♫♥

   Not just "not written by The Animals", but a proper cover, having been a hit originally for its author Sam Cooke back in 1962.

   The Animals recorded their version in 1965, shortly after Cooke's tragic death in his memory. For their last single featuring Alan Price, they offered up a soulful, powerful tribute to one of their many influences.

8. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

   

   The Animals - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (HQ • HD • 4K)

   When a song has originally been performed by Nina Simone, you're going to have to go some to hold your own when you cover it.

   Written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott and Sol Marcus, Nina first recorded it in 1964 for Broadway-Blues-Ballads.

   Just one year later, the Animals rocked it up, with their Mickie Most production keeping the soul of the original and if anything adding even more power.

   "It was never considered pop material, but it somehow got passed on to us and we fell in love with it immediately," Eric Burdon would later say.

9. We Gotta Get Out of this Place

   

   The Animals "We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place" on The Ed Sullivan Show

   'Don't Bring Me Down' by the King/Goffin team was big. 'We Gotta Get Out of this Place' by Barry and Cynthia Well was a total MONSTER.

   It's not just one of the biggest songs of The Animals' career, but one of the great rock moments of the 1960s.

   Apparently written for The Righteous Brothers, before Mann decided he was going to record it himself. The only problem for him was that Mickie Most had already heard it and passed it on to his band.

   The Animals shrugged off the departure of Alan Price and integrated his replacement Dave Rowberry, scoring a number two hit in the UK (only The Beatles' 'Help!' kept it off the top), and number 13 in the US, where it also became an unofficial anthem for soldiers in Vietnam.

10. The House of the Rising Sun

    

    The Animals - House Of The Rising Sun (Music Video) [4K HD]

    A traditional American folk song with a backstory so interesting we've devoted a whole article to it, 'House of the Rising Sun' seems an unlikely hit for a gaggle of Brits from Newcastle Upon Tyne, but they did more than put their stamp on it.

    They took an old song that had already been recorded by massive names like Lead Belly, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, and still emerged with the definitive version of the song.

    A live favourite, the band managed to capture that lightning in a bottle when they got in the studio and more than earned their number one on both sides of the Atlantic.

    There was fallout over songwriting (Price snaffled the arrangement credit - and the money), but when you listen to the song you forget all of that and just lose yourself in one of the all time classics.