I Put a Spell on You

Buy the Album at Rhino.com

Written by: Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Herb Slotkin
Produced by: Arnold Maxin
Released: Sept. '56 on OKeh
Charts: Did not chart

Former boxer Jalacy J. Hawkins got loaded on muscatel before shrieking out the hoodoo of "I Put a Spell on You," and it took a healthy swig of J&B for him to re-create his studio performance onstage, where he climbed out of a coffin. The stage prop was DJ Alan Freed's brainstorm. When Hawkins resisted, Freed peeled off three hundred-dollar bills; "I said, 'Show me the coffin,' " the singer quipped.

Appears on: Voodoo Jive (Rhino)

Next: Comfortably Numb

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