From the 1999 book 'Exotica. Fabricated soundscapes in a real world' by David Toop:"Alan Freed also brought Screamin' Jay Hawkins to movie fame: 'I did Don't Knock the Rock, but they cut it out - they even paid me for it, but they cut it out because I walked on naked with a loin cloth across here, white shoe polish marks on my face, a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, like one of those wild Mau Mau and I was singing a song called 'Frenzy'. The movie people claimed it would be an insult to the black people of the United States. I bet it would go over today. Again, I was trying to explain to them that I was different, I do everything different. Do you realize they banned 'I Put a Spell On You' because it had cannibalistic sounds? When they banned it, it had already sold a million. When they banned it, it sold another quarter of a million. I wish they'd ban every record I made." Screamin' Jay Hawkins, interviewed by Norbert Hess in Blues Unlimited, 1976."
Below you'll first find a truly wonderful YouTube video for "I Put A Spell On You". Second, an entertaining, long (1h 42m) Greek (English-language) 2001 documentary on Screamin' Jay Hawkins called "Screamin' Jay Hawkins: I Put A Spell On Me" featuring Jim Jarmusch, the Fuzztones, Bo Diddley, Diamanda Galas, Arthur Brown, amongst others.
I Put A Spell On You
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: I Put A Spell On Me
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Wouldn't it be nice if Imperial's N.i.l. would cover 'I Put A Spell On You' on his next album?
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