Beech Tree News Network

In the spirit of Halloween that just ended, my first cover review of the week is “I Put A Spell On You”.  I’d always been familiar with this song as done by Creedence Clearwater Revival, who took the song to #58 and performed the song at Woodstock.  The origins of the song go back further, though.  The 1956 song was written and recorded by Jalacy “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins, whose own recording of it was selected as one of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that shaped Rock & Roll.  It was also included in Robert Christgau’s Basic Record Library of 1950’s and 1960’s Recording.  

Hawkins had originally recorded “I Put a Spell On You” as a ballad during his stint with Grand Records in 1955.  That version was not released at the time(it has since been released).  The following year, Hawkins re-recorded the song for Columbia’s Okeh Records-the notorious screaming version, which was released October 1956.  This version was banned from radio at that time for its outrageous “cannibalistic” style.  Nina Simone’s version of the song peaked at #23 on the U.S. Billboard charts.  

“Cry To Me” is a song written by Bert Berns(listed as Bert Russell) and was first recorded by Solomon Burke in 1961.  Released in 1962, it was Burke’s second single to appear in both Billboard magazine’s Hot R&B sides and Hot 100 singles charts.  Several other artists have recorded the song, including Betty Harris(1963), The Pretty Things(1965), Rolling Stones(1965), Freddie Scott(1967), Tom Petty(1979), Precious Wilson(1980), Marc Broussard(2016) and Huey Lewis for their 2010 Soul covers album Soulsville.

“Mama Told Me Not To Come” was written by Randy Newman.  Written for Eric Burdon’s first solo album in 1966, Three Dog Night’s 1970 cover topped the U.S. pop singles chart.  Tom Jones and the Stereophonics’s version hit #4 on the UK singles charts in 2000.  TDN’s version went to #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #3 in the U.K.  Tom Jones’ version peaked at #4 on the U.K. singles chart.  (www.google.com) 

Our final song this week is “Pressure Drop”.  First recorded in 1969, the song was included on the 1970 Monkey Man album and became popular around the world when it was included on the soundtrack to the popular 1972 movie The Harder They Come.  The group’s frontman Toots Hibbert wrote the song.  It’s a very repetitive, danceable song but carries sincere sentiment.  Hibbert felt his home country of Jamaica and Jamaican musicians were under a lot of pressure, and it was hard for them to make a living.  The song was covered in 1975 by the late Robert Palmer.  

I hope you enjoyed this week’s walk down musical memory lane.