Don't Bring Me Down

Album: Animalization (1966)
Charted: 6 12
Play Video
  • When you complain and criticize
    I feel I'm nothing in your eyes.,
    It makes me feel like givin' up
    Because my best just ain't good enough.
    Girl I want to provide for you and
    Do the things you want me to!

    But oh, oh, no, don't bring me down!
    Oh, baby you know!
    Oh, oh, no, don't bring me down!

    Sacrifices I will make,
    I'm ready to give as well as take,
    One thing I need is your respect,
    One thing I can't take is your neglect,
    More than anything I need your love
    Then trouble's easy to rise above.

    But oh, oh, no, don't bring me down!
    Oh, baby you know!
    Oh, oh, no, don't bring me down!

    When you complain and criticize
    I feel I'm nothing in your eyes.,
    It makes me feel like givin' up
    Because my best just ain't good enough.
    Girl I want to provide for you and
    Do the things you want me to!

    But oh, oh, no, don't bring me down!
    Oh, baby you know!
    Oh, oh, no, don't bring me down!
    Oh, oh, no, don't bring me down!
    Oh, oh, no, don't bring me down!
    Oh, oh, no, don't bring me down! Writer/s: Carole King, Gerry Goffin
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 7

  • Sam from Sherman OaksI was listening to a very special interview Carole King did with her daughter Louise Goffin and a published songwriter/author writer about songwriting (Paul Zollo, who I happen to know personally) on their podcast The Great Song Adventure, and in that, Carole casually mentions that this song and “Just Once In My Life” were songs where the lyrics to those two tunes were written by Gerry directly about Carole and the songs were very much confessions about their relationship/marriage which at the time as you can tell from listening to those two songs was pretty rocky.i wish they elaborated more on this in those interviews but I understand if they wanted the interview to be less on her personal life and more on her career achievements and how she wrote the famous hits she wrote with her then husband Gerry Goffin at that time.
  • Jennifur Sun from RamonaOne thing I liked about their music was the ORGAN.
  • Jennifur Sun from RamonaMartin I can so relate to that one. Have felt like this more than once.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn April 17th 1966, the Animals performed "Don't Bring Me Down" on the CBS-TV program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'...
    One month earlier on May 15th, 1966 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #79; and on June 26th, 1966 it peaked at #12 (for 1 week) and spent 10 weeks on the Top 100...
    It reached #3 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart...
    Was the group's last charted record using the name 'The Animals'; they're next single was "See See Rider" and the name on the label was 'Eric Burton and the Animals'...
    R.I.P. bassist 'Chas' Chandler (1938 - 1996) and Mr. Sullivan (1901 - 1974).
  • Elmer H from Westville, OkI still love this Animals hit whenever I hear it on the radio. When it was released in 1966 I bought the 45 rpm single & noticed the writing credits as "Goffin/King" and I was very familiar with that writing team over the years from their other great hits. But this one didn't sound like their typical composition. I loved it anyway. Mostly because it had attitude. And it told a story about the diffiulties in life and a relationship. Emotions laid bare! Actually, I have always loved The Animals & even their incarnation as Eric Burdon and The Animals. Back in 1964, when they first hit the U.S. as part of the British Invasion, I didn't take to them, but then I changed my mind after my brother got a copy of "House of the Rising Sun" and then "Boom Boom." The latter was their revision of an old John Lee Hooker blues hit from the early Sixties that was a real "roof-raiser" of a song. Good rock & roll.
  • Martin from Fresno, CaGreat song. He is telling her he loves her but please don't be critical.
  • Don Hertel from Dover, NjI never heard Carole King's demo of the song (but I know one exists), but I heard a version by a band called Obsession and I believe the melody is probably close to the way that she wrote it.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Paul Stanley of Kiss, Soul Station

Paul Stanley of Kiss, Soul StationSongwriter Interviews

Paul Stanley on his soul music project, the Kiss songs with the biggest soul influence, and the non-make-up era of the band.

Richie McDonald of Lonestar

Richie McDonald of LonestarSongwriter Interviews

Richie talks about the impact of "Amazed," and how his 4-year-old son inspired another Lonestar hit.

Dennis DeYoung

Dennis DeYoungSongwriter Interviews

Dennis DeYoung explains why "Mr. Roboto" is the defining Styx song, and what the "gathering of angels" represents in "Come Sail Away."

Yoko Ono

Yoko OnoSongwriter Interviews

At 80 years old, Yoko has 10 #1 Dance hits. She discusses some of her songs and explains what inspired John Lennon's return to music in 1980.

Tom Keifer of Cinderella

Tom Keifer of CinderellaSongwriter Interviews

Tom talks about the evolution of Cinderella's songs through their first three albums, and how he writes as a solo artist.

In The Cards

In The CardsSong Writing

Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.