"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.

Claude August "Bennie" Benjamin was a Virgin Islands-born American songwriter. He had particularly successful songwriting partnerships with Sol Marcus, with whom he wrote "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire", "When the Lights Go On Again ", and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"; and with George David Weiss, with whom he wrote "Oh! What It Seemed to Be" and "Wheel of Fortune". Most of his songs were in the traditional pop idiom.