Arthur Brown - "I Put A Spell on You"

[nomorenomore08]

[TexasTowelie]

1. Another cover version from about the same time:

The date is mislabeled in the title, it was released in 1968. The tempo is also faster.

[Warpy]

2. And the original crazy man covering this, Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Radio stations would play this one only in the wee hours, most stations banned it. It was the original underground hit.

Hawkins said very large amounts of alcohol in the studio provoked this performance.

[nomorenomore08]

3. Hank Ballard ("Work With Me Annie" etc.) had several records banned by radio stations, I believe...

Kind of amusing now, what was considered risque back then...

[Warpy]

4. Yeah, I'm old enough to remember

and it was followed up with "Annie Had a Baby." It was about the only sex education kids in the south got back then.

Little indie AM stations all over the eastern half of the country would play this stuff late at night, when AM was bounced all over hell and a squirrely kid (me) could get stations from NYC to Odessa, TX. Some stations played old radio plays and sit coms. Most stations let the jocks play what they wanted to after 1 AM.

[Jetboy]

5. The stage show Hawkins did in the 1950s complete with coffin and the voodoo

get-up was beyond shocking for it's time. Hawkins career dates to playing with Tiny Grimes back in the 1940s. It was Grimes who co-headlined the first rock-n-roll concert, the Moondog Ball Coronation back in 1952.

If all of Hawkins children were in one place, it would be the size of a small town. Screamin' Jay Hawkins, the REAL Bill Brasky!

[Warpy]

7. The last performance I saw was on TV

in the early 90s and he still used his coffin and his skull on a stick, cig in its mouth. I was working in a 6 bed head injury ward with a TV and he shocked the shoes off my co workers, who had not only never heard of him but had never been exposed to that sort of morbid excess.

He was a rare character, probably a good thing.

One of my prized possessions is a European album of his with "I Love Paris" on it. He had a remarkable voice and did schmaltz beautifully when the mood struck him.

[IcyPeas]

6. version by Bryan Ferry