Screamin’ Jay Hawkins - “I Put a Spell on You” (1956)

Fifty years later, still insane.

I Put a Spell on You - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hawkins had originally intended to record “I Put a Spell on You” as a refined love song, a blues ballad. He reported, however, that the producer “brought in ribs and chicken and got everybody drunk, and we came out with this weird version. I don’t even remember making the record. Before, I was just a normal blues singer. I was just Jay Hawkins. It all sort of just fell in place. I found out I could do more destroying a song and screaming it to death.”

[…]

Up to this time, Hawkins had been a blues performer; emotional, but not wild. Freed suggested a gimmick to capitalize on the “demented” sound of “I Put a Spell on You”: Hawkins wore a long cape, and appeared onstage by rising out of a coffin in the midst of smoke and fog.
The act was a sensation, later bolstered by tusks worn in Hawkins’ nose, on-stage snakes and fireworks, and a cigarette-smoking skull named “Henry”. The theatrical act was one of the first shock rock performances, and a basis for much that came later in rock and roll….

Source: youtube.com

86 Notes/ Hide

  1. manufactured reblogged this from lammer
  2. ghostbiscuit reblogged this from merlin
  3. jennatollerson reblogged this from merlin and added:
    Rock n roll is so amazing.
  4. ihatemornings reblogged this from merlin and added:
    Like the man says: “UhgrubOWdamalahuwuwuwuwurooooodaBAUW”.
  5. afinedram reblogged this from merlin
  6. dearanalogue reblogged this from merlin
  7. thevessel reblogged this from merlin
  8. taff1973 reblogged this from beefranck and added:
    I love this song too. One of the celebrities on Strictly Come Dancing danced a Viennese Waltz to this track last night...
  9. beefranck reblogged this from merlin and added:
    didn’t think it was possible to love this song more than I already did, but now that I know
  10. scottbarrett reblogged this from merlin
  11. goosebumpsfitsandmalaria reblogged this from blerughrugh
  12. blerughrugh reblogged this from rachelsuzanna and added:
    rachelsuzanna | merlin...My dad tried to tell me that CCR were the people to record this...
  13. rachelsuzanna reblogged this from merlin and added:
    This, Jeepster, and Speaking in Tongues are the trio of songs I play, without fail, whenever I’m at The Earl. It makes...
  14. kennethlove reblogged this from merlin