I Put a Spell on You
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"I Put a Spell on You" is a song written by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, whose recording was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The song was later covered by numerous other artists.
[edit] The original version
The song starts out with the big-voiced Hawkins singing a ballad to a lost love. Very quickly, however, the performance becomes something unique: Hawkins seems positively demented as he sings, he threatens wildly, screams, grunts and groans, and sounds utterly demonical in reclaiming the lady as his own.
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."
Some sources claim that "I Put a Spell on You" had been released earlier than 1956 in a more sedate form, but this has not been verified. The date of 1949 for an original release on the Grand label would appear unlikely, since it predates both the formation of the record label and the beginning of Hawkins's performing career.
"I Put a Spell on You" became a quick success, despite being banned by some stores and radio stations. A softer version minus certain sounds deemed "cannibalistic" reached the Top 40 and brought Hawkins together with Alan Freed and his "Rock and Roll Review".
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".
[edit] Impact
The theatrical act was one of the first shock rock performances, and was the progenitor of much that came later in rock and roll, including George Clinton, Arthur Brown, Alice Cooper, Dr. John, Ted Nugent, Black Sabbath, Screaming Lord Sutch, Warren Zevon, and Marilyn Manson, among the many who vied for Hawkins' title as a rock and roll madman.
"I Put a Spell on You" has been covered dozens of times, perhaps most famously by Nina Simone, but also by performers such as Natacha Atlas, Audience, Creedence Clearwater Revival (who performed it at Woodstock), Them, Sonique, Arthur Brown, The Animals, Joe Cocker, Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Marilyn Manson, Eels, Kim Nalley, and many others. There is a live performance by Pete Townshend on his Deep End Live! album (with David Gilmour).
Most of the covers treat the song seriously; few attempt to duplicate Hawkins's bravura performance.
Also, it has been sampled in songs by Notorious B.I.G. (“Kick In The Door”) and by LL Cool J (“LL Cool J”).
In films, it has been performed by Bette Midler in Disney's Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus; and by Diamanda Galás, whose version is featured in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. Marilyn Manson's version was featured in David Lynch's Lost Highway as well as television ads for M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense. The Creedence Clearwater Revival version was used in Rebecca Miller's The Ballad of Jack and Rose. It has been also played in an episode of The Simpsons (I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can) and an episode of The PJ's. It was featured in the movie Stranger Than Paradise. Hawkins performed the song on film in A Rage in Harlem.
The Hawkins version has even become a standard accompaniment for ice skaters, including Michelle Kwan, Alexei Urmanov and the team of Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow.
The song has also figured in countless radio and television advertisements, like those for Pringles and Levi's.
