Their recording was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 53rd Grammy Awards. With his deep and soulful voice and the light jazz embellishments on it, and beautiful keyboard interludes, the song was rightfully one of the top best covers of ‘I Put a Spell on You’.

This is a reference to the musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable, where the vaudeville act Mama Rose put on had a character (June, Louise, and finally Rose herself) say something similar. The record didn’t chart, because many radio stations refused to play it, but it nonetheless became a classic and reportedly sold over a million copies. In truth, though, it’s not that different from a record like “(She Put the) Wamee (On Me)”, and it seems more than likely that this is yet more of Hawkins’ exaggeration. As I mention in the episode, I leaned very heavily on one book here, I Put a Spell on You: The Bizarre Life of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins by Steve Bergsman.If Hawkins’ story of how the song came into being is anything to go by, it would seem that the original song in itself was a remastered version – seeing as the first recording of the song had a bluesy, ballad-like vibe to it, while the one that was released in 1956 was well known for containing the notorious screaming, courtesy a very in-form Screamin’ Jay.

The original release failed to make any impact on charts until it was included on the 2015 film Fifty Shades of Grey; after the inclusion, the song did chart in the US, UK and France. Hawkins replied that when they were on stage everyone was usually so drunk they couldn’t *remember* what it was they’d been doing. Of the thousands of people who have hits, many of them drop off the mental radar as soon as their chart success ends. Instead, he signed to yet another label, Mercury, which was at the time somewhere between a large independent label and a small major, and started putting out singles just as “Jay Hawkins”.He added, "There are really fine tunes and interpretations, on which Simone gives an edge to the potentially fey pop songs, taking a sudden (but not uncharacteristic) break for a straight jazz instrumental with 'Blues on Purpose. According to Hawkins, Ruth Brown came to see the show at one point, and said of him “This is the only bitch who can sing my song better than me”. I love that SO many of the covers stay true to the song’s roots with blues or jazz takes, but there are a few standouts or different sounds. And in the case of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, not only did he do that, but he created a stage show that would inspire every shock-rocker ever to wear makeup, and indirectly inspire a minor British political party. Episode fifty-three of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and the career of a man who had more than fifty more children than hit records.

He thought that everyone sounded a little too staid, a little too uptight, and he asked why they couldn’t sound in the studio like they did when they were having fun on stage and really cutting loose. I'm willing to share the chord progression I use with anyone else - the trouble is I play by ear, and I can't even identify by name one of the chords I use! Jalacey Hawkins was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and would often claim that he had musical training at the Ohio Conservatory of Music.The American rock band, who enjoyed a somewhat brief career lasting from 1968 to 1972, featured the song as a single in their 1968 debut self-titled album. It quickly became a large hit, entering the Record Retailer chart on April 6, 1966, at a position of number 38. Her favorite Halloween things include pumpkin guts, chocolate bars in her trick-or-treat pail, real haunted houses, and historic cemeteries. He told Freed that there was only one time a black man was ever getting into a coffin, and that was when he was never getting out again. By this time, he had started using some of the gimmicks he would use in his stage show, though for the most part his act was still fairly tame by modern standards.

Hawkins had originally intended to record "I Put a Spell on You" as "a refined love song, a blues ballad". Due to the more family-friendly nature of the show, the line "there's hell to pay" is changed to "there's heck to pay". But unfortunately, after two of these singles, Timely Records folded, and Hawkins had to find another label. Others who’ve seen the footage suggest it wasn’t quite that extreme, but still involved him being half-naked and looking like a “native”.It not only provides an excellent rendition of Nina Simone’s timeless music but also establishes a connection between the listeners and the artist in a way that’s hard to put into words. Hawkins was already starting to play up his stage persona even more — wearing capes and bones through his nose, and trying to portray a voodoo image. Joe from Hearentheir, OtherNo one has mentioned yet that Audience recorded the tune on "House On The Hill". Creedence Clearwater Revival’s take on the song was probably one of the most well-known versions of Jay Hawkins’ original ‘I Put a Spell on You’.