| "The Loco-Motion" | ||||
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| Single by Little Eva | ||||
| from the album Locomotion | ||||
| B-side | "He is the Boy" | |||
| Released | June 1962 | |||
| Format | 7", 45rpm | |||
| Genre | Pop, R&B | |||
| Length | 2:27 | |||
| Label | Dimension Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Gerry Goffin, Carole King | |||
| Producer | Gerry Goffin | |||
| Little Eva singles chronology | ||||
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"The Loco-Motion" is a 1962 pop song written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The song is notable for appearing in the American Top 5 three times – each time in a different decade: for Little Eva in 1962 (U.S. #1); for Grand Funk Railroad in 1974 (U.S. #1); and for Kylie Minogue in 1988 (U.S. #3).
The song is a popular and enduring example of the dance-song genre: much of the lyrics are devoted to a description of the dance itself, usually done as a type of line dance. However, the song came before the dance.
"The Loco-Motion" is ranked #359 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
"The Loco-Motion" was also the second song to reach #1 by two different musical acts. The earlier song to do this was "Go Away Little Girl," also written by Goffin and King. It is one of only nine songs to achieve this feat.[1]
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The original recording of the song was sung by Eva Boyd, under the stage name Little Eva. Boyd was actually Carole King's babysitter, having been introduced to King and husband Gerry Goffin by The Cookies, a local girl group who would also record for the songwriters. "The Loco-Motion" was the first release by the new Dimension Records company, whose releases were mostly penned and produced by Goffin and King, and reached #1 in China in 2001.
A cover version of the song was recorded quickly by British girl group The Vernons Girls and scored the chart the same week as the Little Eva version. The Vernons Girls' version stalled at #47 in the UK, while the Little Eva version reached #2 on the UK charts. It re-entered the chart some ten years later and almost became a top ten again, peaking at #11.
In the United States, "The Loco-Motion" was the sixth most successful single of 1962 according to Billboard. It was also the third most successful single of 1962 in South Africa.[2]
The Little Eva version of the song was featured by the 2006 David Lynch film Inland Empire.
The widely-believed story of how the song "The Loco-Motion" came to be is that Carole King was playing music at home and Eva Boyd was doing some chores and started dancing to it; the dance The Loco-Motion was born. However, this is not true. Eva Boyd was introduced to Goffin and King and they realized she had a good singing voice, so they had her record "The Loco-Motion." Carole King stated this during an interview on National Public Radio (NPR) shortly after Little Eva died.
As the song came before the dance, there was no dance when the song was originally written. When the song became a smash hit, Eva Boyd ended up having to create a dance to go along with the song. Carole King stated this in her "One to One" concert video.
In live performances of the song, Little Eva can be seen doing her version of the dance.
Another bit of the conventional lore is that she had received only $50 for "The Loco-Motion." However, although she never owned the rights to her recordings, it seems $50 was actually her weekly salary during the years she was making records (an increase of $15 from what Goffin and King had been paying her as nanny). In 1971, she moved to South Carolina and lived in obscurity on menial jobs and welfare, until being rediscovered in 1987.[3] She died of cervical cancer in 2003.
Believed by some to be the penultimate Top-40 DJ of all time, Dan Ingram has been quoted as saying that he believes the original "The Loco-Motion" was recorded by Carole King herself.
| Chart | Peak Position[2] |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 2 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | 1 |
| "The Loco-Motion" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Grand Funk Railroad | ||||
| from the album Shinin' On | ||||
| B-side | "Destitute and Losin'" | |||
| Released | May 1974 | |||
| Format | 7", 45rpm | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 2:46 | |||
| Label | Capitol Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Gerry Goffin, Carole King | |||
| Producer | Todd Rundgren | |||
| Grand Funk Railroad singles chronology | ||||
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American hard rock group Grand Funk Railroad recorded a version of the song in 1974, produced by Todd Rundgren. The song appeared on their album Shinin' On, and released as a single, scored #1 on the U.S. charts. The decision to play the song came about after guitarist Mark Farner was heard whistling the song in the studio. The Grand Funk version of the song featured guitars, several layers of harmony, and heavy drums.
Durimg the 2000s, this version of the song was featured in advertisements for the Japanese technology and communications company SoftBank, featuring the pop group SMAP. SMAP also used the song on their television variety show SMAP×SMAP for a music video, singing along to the original Grand Funk recording rather than covering it. The song is a downloadable content for Rock Band 3.
| Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| Australia Go-Set | 5 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 7 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 1 |
| German singles Chart | 11 |
In 1986, Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin released a version of the song as a single in May. The duo had scored a UK #1 hit back in 1981 with their cover of "It's My Party", but had achieved little success since. For this single, they embarked on a big promotional push in an attempt to gain a second significant hit. The single however stalled at #70 in the UK charts in June.[4]
| "Locomotion"/"The Loco-Motion" | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cover of 1987 version |
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| Single by Kylie Minogue | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| from the album Kylie | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| B-side | (1987 version) 1. "Glad to Be Alive" 2. "Getting Closer" (1988 version) 1. "I'll Still Be Loving You" |
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| Released | July 28, 1987 (See release history) |
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| Format | CD single, cassette single, vinyl single | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | London | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre | Pop, dance, freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 3:12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Label | PWL/Mushroom A&M Records Geffen Records (US) |
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| Writer(s) | Gerry Goffin, Carole King | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Producer | (1987 version) Mike Duffy (1988 version) Stock Aitken & Waterman |
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| Certification | 3× Platinum (Australia)[5] Platinum (Canada) Gold (UK & U.S.) |
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| Kylie Minogue singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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A cover version of "The Loco-Motion" was the debut single by Australian popular music singer Kylie Minogue.
After an impromptu performance of the song at an Australian rules football charity event with the cast of the Australian soap opera Neighbours, Minogue was signed a record deal by Mushroom Records to release the song as a single. The single was released on July 28, 1987 in Australia, Sweden and Italy under the title "Locomotion". The song was a success in Australia, reaching number one and remaining there for seven weeks. The success of the song in her home country resulted in her signing a record deal with PWL Records in London and to working with the successful team Stock Aitken & Waterman.[6]
In 1988, a re-recorded version produced by Stock Aitken & Waterman was released worldwide with the title "The Loco-Motion". This release again was a major success, reaching the top five in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. Minogue's version of the track appeared in the 1988 film Arthur 2: On the Rocks, starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli.
The Minogue version of "The Loco-Motion" substitutes the Australian term railway for the American usage of railroad in the song's lyrics.
| Country | Date |
|---|---|
| Australia | July 28, 1987 |
| Worldwide | July 28, 1988 |
The music video for "Locomotion" was filmed at Essendon Airport and the ABC studios in Melbourne, Australia. The video for "The Loco-Motion" was created out of footage from the Australian music video.
Near the end of 1988, the song was nominated for Best International Single at the Canadian Music Industry Awards.
The 1987 "Locomotion" release was a huge hit in Minogue's native Australia, reaching number one on the AMR singles chart and remaining there for seven weeks. The song set the record as the biggest Australian single of the decade. Throughout Europe and Asia the song also performed well on the music charts, reaching number one in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, and South Africa.
The 1988 release of the song in the United Kingdom debuted at number two on the singles chart — the highest entry on the UK singles charts by a female artist — due to strong 7" single sales and radio airplay. It remained in the number two position for four weeks before falling to number three. With sales of 440,000 it was the 11th best selling single of the year.[7] The song became Minogue's third top five rated single in the UK and remains one of her most successful single releases to date.
During late 1988, Minogue traveled to the United States to promote "The Loco-Motion", where she did many interviews and performances on American television. The song was also used in the hit film around the world at the time, Arthur 2: On the Rocks starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli.
"The Loco-Motion" debuted at number eighty on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and later climbed to number three for two weeks. The song was Minogue's second single to chart in the U.S., but her first to reach the top ten. It remains her best success in the United States. She would not even reach the top ten again until 2002 with the release of "Can't Get You Out of My Head", which reached number seven on the chart.
In Canada, the song also reached the top spot in the pop sales charts.
Kylie performed the song on the following concert tours:
The song was also performed on:
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In 1962, French singer Sylvie Vartan recorded a version of the song in French called "Le Locomotion". It went to #1 in France on October 13, 1962 and remained there for one week.[14]
Carole King herself sings the song on her live album The Living Room Tour released July 12, 2005. The album peaked at number 17 on the US album chart on July 30, 2005.[15]
She also recorded a version for her 1980 album Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King. The album peaked at number 44 and spawned King's last top 40 hit to-date, One Fine Day, which would reach number 12 on the charts.
The song was recorded and performed by La Toya Jackson in 1992 as part of her Moulin Rouge show Formidable It is the only song in the show to be sung in English, as the rest of the show features numbers entirely in French. Jackson also performed the song as part of her live sets throughout the early to mid-1990s.
| Preceded by "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" by Neil Sedaka |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Little Eva version) August 25, 1962 (one week) |
Succeeded by "Sheila" by Tommy Roe |
| Preceded by "You'll Lose a Good Thing" by Barbara Lynn |
Billboard Hot R&B Singles number-one single (Little Eva version) August 25, 1962 – September 9, 1962 (three weeks) |
Succeeded by "Green Onions" by Booker T. & The MG's |
| Preceded by "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" by MFSB and The Three Degrees |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Grand Funk Railroad version) May 4, 1974 (two weeks) |
Succeeded by "The Streak" by Ray Stevens |
| Preceded by "He's Gonna Step on You Again" by The Party Boys |
Australian number-one single (Kylie Minogue version) August 10, 1987 – 21 September 1987 (7 weeks) |
Succeeded by "La Bamba" by Los Lobos |
The song has inspired dozens of cover versions over the years. Besides those already mentioned:
Orange Range used the melody line of "The Loco-Motion" on their 2004 song "Locolotion" which became the number-one success on the Japanese singles chart. The commercially successful song brought about controversy because Goffin and King were not indicated on its songwriting credit; their names were later added as co-writers to avoid lawsuits, when the song was featured on the band's musiQ album released during the same year.
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