Animals – "It's My Life" (1965)

Taking all I can get

No regrets

In the late fifties and early sixties, the center of the pop music world was The Brill Building in New York City.

Many of the best songs that came out of the Brill Building were written by songwriting teams consisting of a composer and a lyricist.  For example, Burt Bacharach wrote the music for “The Look of Love,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” while Hal David wrote the lyrics for those songs.

The entrance to the Brill Building

Other well-known Brill Building songwriting teams included Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (“Jailhouse Rock,” “Hound Dog,” “Stand By Me”), Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (“On Broadway,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”), and Gerry Goffin and Carole King (“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “One Fine Day”).

One of the lesser-known Brill Building songwriting teams was composer Carl D’Errico (who also worked with Neil Diamond and Gerry Goffin) and lyricist Roger Atkins (whose other collaborators included Neil Sedaka and Michael Nesmith).  D’Errico and Atkins wrote a number of songs together, but one of them stands head and shoulders above the others: “It’s My Life,” which was recorded by the Animals in 1965.

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After the Animals struck gold with “House of the Rising Sun” in 1964, producer Mickie Most sent word to Don Kirshner – the most successful of the Brill Building music publishers – that the Animals needed new material.

Kirshner spread the word among his large stable of songwriters, who got busy writing songs that Kirshner could pitch to Most.  

Carl D’Errico and Roger Atkins

Three of the songs that Kirshner’s songwriters wrote in response to Most’s request – “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” and “It’s My Life” – became big hits for the Animals.

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Every element of “It’s My Life” is perfect, but it’s Roger Atkins’ lyrics that makes the song worthy of induction into the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” HIT SINGLES HALL OF FAME.

“It’s My Life” is sung by a poor young man who is brutally honest – and completely unapologetic – about his ambitions and the means he intends to use to achieve them.

“It’s a hard world to get a break in,” he says, but no matter.  “[T]here are ways to make certain things pay,” and he tells the girl who is in love with him that he won’t hesitate to exploit other women if that’s what it takes for him to get ahead:

Are you gonna cry

When I'm squeezin’ them dry?

Takin’ all I can get

No regrets

When I

Openly lie

And live on their money

If the girl is willing to accept him on his terms, that’s fine.  But if she has any doubts about how he plans to live his life, she’d better hit the road.  It’s his way or the highway:

It’s my life

And I'll do what I want

It’s my mind

And I'll think what I want

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Many of the hits that came out of the Brill Building back in the day went down as easy as a vanilla milkshake – simple songs for what we think of as simple times.  

But “It’s My Life” is more like a shot of 100-proof whiskey.  It’s slap-in-the-face honest. 

Click here to listen to “It’s My Life.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon: