I Put a Spell on You / Little Demon

by Screamin' Jay Hawkins

I Put a Spell on You / Little Demon cover art
  • Type: Single
  • Released: October 1956
  • Label: Okeh
  • Country: United States
  • Community rating: 4.14/5 from 2 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Originally intended as a refined, melancholic blues ballad, producer Arnold Maxin famously brought food and alcohol to the recording session to loosen the band up. The resulting intoxicated take birthed a raw, guttural performance filled with demonic screams and groans that fundamentally invented the 'shock rock' aesthetic. The visceral recording was initially banned by many radio stations for being deemed sexually suggestive and terrifying.

Genres

Descriptors: scary, occult, halloween

Tracklist

  1. I Put A Spell On You
  2. Little Demon

Credits

  • Screamin' Jay Hawkins - primary artist, written-by
  • Leroy Kirkland - directed by [orch. under the dir. of]
  • Herb Slotkin - written-by
  • Irving Nahan - written-by

More from Screamin' Jay Hawkins: full discography