This feature comes from KNKX's show Tree of Jazz, taking you through the eras, from the roots to the new budding leaves, with a weekly deep dive into iconic artists, albums, and instruments.
When the song “I Put a Spell on You" was released in October of 1956, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was surprised by his demented ballad. “I don’t even remember leaving the studio!” Hawkins said in a 1986 interview with Art Fein about the night he unleashed the manic performance that would help define his career.
During the session, Hawkins and the band got totally plastered at the suggestion of the producer, who furnished copious amounts of alcohol and food to resurrect a flat-lining session.
On the track, Hawkins, with his deep operatic voice, shrieks and hollers and declares he’d resort to the dark art of magic to keep his lover. Hawkins didn't hear what he did that night until weeks after the session.
“I listened to it and I heard all those drunken screams and groans and yells. I thought, 'Oh, my God!'” Hawkins said in a 1984 issue of High Times.
The disturbed blues was not a huge commercial success; it was banned by radio stations and never made the pop charts. But, it did help Hawkins become one of music's most distinctive personas.
Setting himself apart
“I Put a Spell On You,” more tortured than torch-song, is the result of a realization Hawkins had after touring and performing for some time.
Hawkins watched the greats of the era before him like Louis Jordan, Cab Calloway, and Louis Armstrong sing beautiful laments to lovers. He intended to go down that path and was also interested in opera singing. In the early-’50s, while Hawkins was steadily on the road singing and playing piano and saxophone in that vein, he realized he had to set himself apart.
“I do believe the least expected is the most effective,” Hawkins said. “I found it was easier to scream and make a lot of noise and destroy a song than it was to try and look handsome and sing a beautiful ballad. Everyone's doing that.”
Hawkins’ extraordinary vocal performance on "I Put A Spell on You" certainly caught people’s attention. As the song gained notoriety, Hawkins stepped fully into a macabre persona. He donned a staff crowned with a skull he named Henry, and he started some performances rising from a coffin through smoke and mist.
He also stirred up controversy. Sometimes, he appeared with a bone through his nose, sporting a loincloth and tribal face paint, which led the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to denounce Hawkins for promoting racial stereotypes in his performances.
Spooked by his coffin stunt, Hawkins' recalled some audience members were also known to rush out of the room, and on one occasion, mothers’ picketed outside one of his New York shows.
A wild life
The creativity of Hawkins’ outlandish lament may only be matched by the outlandish life he claimed to live. The numerous stories repeated about his life have been contested, unverified, and even contradicted by Hawkins himself.
He said he faked his birth certificate and joined the military at age 13, saw combat in WWII and was tortured as a prisoner of war. He also claimed he was an Alaskan boxing champion.
The most staggering story of his off-stage life surrounds his escapades under the sheets. After his death in 2000, 33 of his children were identified. Hawkins said at one point that he actually had more than double that. Apparently, his dying wish was for his many dozens of children to meet, so a website — jayskids.com — was launched to connect them.
Decades after the release of “I Put A Spell on You,” Hawkins continued performing, recording, and sharing outrageous stories. He lived in New York City, Hawaii and finally France, where he passed away in 2000.
Seventy years since his iconic release, listeners may never fully untangle the man behind the song, but what stands out is the emphatic way Hawkins held the audience’s attention, and the bizarre and outlandish lengths he would go to to do it.
The Tree of Jazz will have a Halloween edition of the show Sunday, October 25th including "I Put A Spell On You"
Listen to the past two weeks of Tree of Jazz On-Demand and hear deep dives like this each week on the Tree of Jazz, on air and online every Sunday from 3-6 p.m. PT.
