Jezebel (song)

"Jezebel" is a 1951 popular song written by Wayne Shanklin. It was recorded by Frankie Laine with the Norman Luboff Choir and Mitch Miller and his orchestra on April 4, 1951 and released by Columbia Records as catalog number 39367. The record reached #2 on the Billboard chart and was a million seller.

The title refers to the biblical woman Jezebel of the Old Testament.

Influence

• Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour recorded a French version of the song.
• Brazilian singer Leny Eversong recorded another popular version in the early 1950s.
• Alexander Veljanov recorded a cover of the song.
• Czechoslovak singer Waldemar Matuška performed a Czech version of this song.

• In 1952 the only Dutch Navy helicopter at that time, Sikorsky S-51 H-1, was named "Jezebel" after this song.^[1].
• Desi Arnaz sings the song in an episode of I Love Lucy (1950s).
• Gene Vincent recorded this song with his group The Blue Caps for his first LP record Blue-Jean Bop (1956), Capitol Records.
• The Illusions, a surf music band, recorded an instrumental version in 1963.
• Herman's Hermits recorded the song in the mid-1960s, and it became a regular feature of their live performances afterward.
• The Rumbles, Ltd, a band from Lincoln, Nebraska, recorded a pop-psychedelic version of the song in 1967, but it did not make the national record charts.
• Frankie Laine and the song "Jezebel" are referred to in the lyrics of Leonard Cohen's song "Memories", from the album Death of a Ladies' Man.
• The Controllers, a band from Los Angeles, recorded a punk rock version of this song in 1978.
• Reverend Horton Heat covered this song on his album Liquor in the Front in 1994.
• Anna Calvi covered this song in 2010.

References

In 1964 the song sang in Czech singer Waldemar Matuska, who came from Slovakia named "Jezabel". In 1986 Waldemar immigrated with his family from Czechoslovakia to the U.S. in Florida.