Burdon (vocals), Barry Jenkins (drums), John Weider (guitar/violin), Vic Briggs (guitar), and Danny McCulloch (bass). The song has been covered by many punk rock and heavy metal bands. This song is noted for its Indian riff, played by an electric guitar as well as a violin. It is also distinctive for its introduction featuring a heavily distorted guitar's tremolo descent from E to D. This somewhat autobiographical song told about Burdon's father, who was a soldier during tough times, as well as young Eric's adventures including his first smoke of a cigarette at 10, to his meeting his first love at 13. The final verse shows his disillusionment with society by saying: "My faith was so much stronger then, I believed in fellow men, And I was so much older then. When I was Young". Burdon's composition marks an important turning point for the Animals: many of The Animals' hits had been Brill Building productions, most notably the husband-and-wife team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, which was an effort by their producer Mickie Most to make this British Invasion band sound more American. Burdon found this too restricting, and the group moved to Decca Records by 1966. This was amongst their first hits after this move. Speaking with American Songwriter magazine in a 2013 interview, Eric Burdon said this is the first song he wrote that has stood the test of time. He explained: "When I first wrote it I played it to George Harrison and his comment was 'Great! You got to do more of this. You'll know you'll be able to sing this song when you are in your forties.' Now I am in my 70s and I am still singing it." The B-Side "A Girl Named Sandoz" is named after the drug company that invented LSD.