Screamin Jay all the way!

45toLife45toLife 37 Posts
edited September 2008 in Strut Central
object width="425" height="344"1param name="movie" value=""1/param1param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"1/param1embed src="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"1/embed1/object1b,121b,121I just recently did a cover of this track and came accross this version which is awesome. Anyone know if one of the vinyl versions sound like this. I saw in his discography there was a 45 with Little Demon on the other side. I haven't heard that but I have heard a 45 with a different track on Decca and it doesn't follow that structure. Any help would be appreciated.

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    h,121
    b,121I just recently did a cover of ("I Put A Spell On You") and came accross this version which is awesome. Anyone know if one of the vinyl versions sound like this. I saw in his discography there was a 45 with Little Demon on the other side. I haven't heard that but I have heard a 45 with a different track on Decca and it doesn't follow that structure. Any help would be appreciated.
    b,121
    b,121
    h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121First of all, the single with "Little Demon" on the other side (on the OKeh label) was the hit version that his whole career was based on. It sounds about like what you see in that video clip, except that it doesn't have that spoken intro.b,121b,121What does the Decca version sound like? It must be radically different, because the video clip basically sounds like all the other times I've heard him do the same song...from the original on Grand (the OKeh was version #2) to the live take he did in the movie American Hot Wax.

  • the classic, hit version is a waltz ( in 3/4) and at a slow tempo and is from 57 or 58 I believe. The Decca version is from 64 and is a 4/4, uptempo tune. Both very different....the 64 version is kind of a Northern Soul "hit" and the 45 of it will set you back about a 100 bucks.

  • Good lookin out fellas. I thought that the one with little demon was what I was looking for and did figure it would set me back a bit but I just am not a fan of the Decca version really.

  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    I'm curious how you could be doing a cover of the song w/o ever having heard the only version of it that most people are aware of?

  • hemolhemol 2,578 Posts
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    h,121
    b,121I'm curious how you could be doing a cover of the song w/o ever having heard the only version of it that most people are aware of?
    b,121
    b,121
    h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121Perhaps by covering the one that he has heard? Outrageous, no?

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    h,121
    b,121Good lookin out fellas. I thought that the one with little demon was what I was looking for and did figure it would set me back a bit
    b,121
    b,121
    h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121...if you're only looking for the OKeh original. This WAS Jay's ***signature song***, so it's been reissued several times. I wouldn't be surprised if that fact drove the value of the OKeh down a little.b,121b,121/font1
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    h,121
    b,121but I just am not a fan of the Decca version really.
    b,121
    b,121
    h,121
    font class="post"1b,121b,121I'm not a fan of the Decca version and I've never even heard it!!b,121b,121By now, I am TOO familiar with the OKeh version - the one that most covers are based on - and the idea of a FAST "Spell On You" don't make no kind of sense.

  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    There were two slightly different versions of the late '50s OKeh track. I have both copies of the song, and the second version of the two has some of the snorts and more outlandish mannerisms edited out. It's a nearly imperceptible difference, but might interest fans of the song.b,121b,121To my knowledge, it's the edited version of the song that gets play on the radio nowadays.

  • The Screamin' Jay/Decca side I want to hear is one which likely never came out. The writer Nick Tosches once visited Jay at his apartment in 1973, and asked to hear a specific song. Jay complied, but when he pressed play, out came this sound: "WE ARE GATHERED HERE TONIGHT, LADIES & GENTLEMEN, LAYING DOWN SOME FINE SOUNDS THAT YOU HAVEN'T HEARD AND PROBABLY NEVER WILL HEAR ON THE RADIO, SIMPLY BECAUSE DECCA IS A STUPID-ASS RECORD COMPANY AND REFUSES TO---"/b1b,121b,121Jay laughed as he hit the fast-forward button: "I didn't mean for you to hear that..."b,121b,121(You can read about the rest of Nick's visit with Jay in Nick's book, Unsung Heroes Of Rock & Roll.)
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