We Gotta Get out of This Place Lyrics Meaning

I can easily understand why a soldier in Viet Nam would sing "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," but the song wasn't written about Viet Nam.

After all ,the Animals were Englishmen, from the town of Newcastle. They were in no danger of getting drafted to fight in Viet Nam!

The song is about a young man who yearns to get out of the dirty, dismal, smoggy industrial town he's growing up in. His own father is getting prematurely old and gray from working at a factory, and the young man wants no part of that life. He wants to run away with his girlfriend to somewhere they can be free and happy.