A metal head friend of mine first told me about Jay Hawkins, he said there was this dude that basically invented heavy metal with one song and we have to listen. I didn’t know this dude would turn out to be a black dude with a mesmerising crazy stage presence. The first time I hear the iconic “I put a spell on you” i was hooked and I now listen to it on a regular basis!

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins never set out to invent a new genre or style but he became known as the founder of shock rock, the founder of heavy metal screaming…. The one song that started it all was actually just the result of being drunk! A playful version of what was supposed to be a nice ballad.

Wikipedia outlines the rough history:

Hawkins’ most successful recording, “I Put a Spell on You” (1956), was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. According to the AllMusic Guide to the Blues, “Hawkins originally envisioned the tune as a refined ballad.” The entire band was intoxicated during a recording session where “Hawkins screamed, grunted, and gurgled his way through the tune with utter drunken abandon.” The resulting performance was no ballad but instead a “raw, guttural track” that became his greatest commercial success and reportedly surpassed a million copies in sales, although it failed to make the Billboard pop or R&B charts.

The performance was mesmerizing, although Hawkins himself blacked out and was unable to remember the session. Afterward he had to relearn the song from the recorded version. Meanwhile, the record label released a second version of the single, removing most of the grunts that had embellished the original performance; this was in response to complaints about the recording’s overt sexuality. Nonetheless it was banned from radio in some areas.

Soon after the release of “I Put a Spell on You”, radio disc jockey Alan Freed offered Hawkins $300 to emerge from a coffin onstage. Hawkins accepted and soon created an outlandish stage persona in which performances began with the coffin and included “gold and leopardskin costumes and notable voodoo stage props, such as his smoking skull on a stick – named Henry – and rubber snakes.” These props were suggestive of voodoo, but also presented with comic overtones that invited comparison to “a black Vincent Price.”

“I Put a Spell On You” became a classic cult song, covered by a variety of artists such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Nina Simone, Alan Price, The Animals, the Them with Van Morrison, Arthur Brown, Bryan Ferry, Buddy Guy with Carlos Santana, Tim Curry, Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, Nick Cave in a concert only version, Marilyn Manson, Mica Paris with David Gilmore, Jeff Beck and Joss Stone, Diamanda Galas, and Annie Lennox in 2014 for her Grammy nominated album Nostalgia.

Jay’s career was varied and successful, this guy knew what he was doing and is an important part of music history. Learn more here.

And, now the song! Enjoy!!!!