Wow, this is crazy. On Sunday night, right when the jazz radio station was switching over from their Saturday Night Fish Fry show (old rhythm and blues) to their blues show, the first song that they played was "I Am the Cool" a song that I did not recognize, but the lyrics were cool. Boastful, like Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love", but with a delivery that sounded more like Andre Williams. After checking their play list I found out it was Screamin' Jay Hawkins. When I was looking for it, I ran into a cover of it, a video by a Ukrainian band called Chernobilly Opkectp, which I think translates into Chernobilly Boogie. The video is awesome, the guy singing it as if he wants to snap your head off. The set design, the instrumentation, the camera work, lighting, everything about it is baddass. The guy's voice is kind of gravel-y, but if you listen to Hawkin's version first you'll get the lyrics (the lyrics are also posted with gravel guy's video).
From the production of Hawkins's version, I could tell that it was later in his career. The guitar tone was also a giveaway. A kind of meaty distorted tone. So I checked to see who it was playing guitar on it. That's what was crazy about this side road. One of the two guys playing guitar on it was a friend of mine, the late Buddy Blue. WTF? I wish he was still around so I could ask how that came about.
From the production of Hawkins's version, I could tell that it was later in his career. The guitar tone was also a giveaway. A kind of meaty distorted tone. So I checked to see who it was playing guitar on it. That's what was crazy about this side road. One of the two guys playing guitar on it was a friend of mine, the late Buddy Blue. WTF? I wish he was still around so I could ask how that came about.
As long as I've gone this far there's a couple other Hawkins things down there. One that I'd forgotten about was his collaboration with an amused Serge Gainsbourg doing "Constipation Blues", notable in that it may be the only time you'll ever see Serge Gainsbourg playing piano while Screamin' Jay Hawkins is making fart noises (at 6:00).
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell On You mp3 at Clayton Counts 1956
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - (She Put the) Wamee On Me mp3 at Tremors Rockabilly
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Am The Cool (streaming) at YouTube
Video:
Chernobilly Opkectp - I Am The Cool at YouTube
Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Serge Gainsbourg - Constipation Blues at YouTube
1 comment:
Stephanie, if that's your real name, I deleted your comment as it did not comment on the music of the post that you attached it to. It seemed like you were just putting up a generic comment to get people to your site. That's really a kind of spam. The silver lining for you is that not much traffic passes through here, let alone on an old post that gets practically no views whatsoever. Best of luck with your endeavor, whatever it is.
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