**BOTB ~ where you listen to different recordings of the same song, and vote for the song version you like. Feel free to leave us a comment, along with your vote. There are two "Battles" per month, on the 1st and 15th. The results come six days later, (on the 7th and 21st). That's when I return, add all of the votes, including mine, and announce the winner. Feel free to return and see if your choice won!
The blogging event first introduced by our friends; a big thank you to them!
And, if you would like to join this blog-hop, contact Stephen T. McCarthy; leave him a message, and your blog address. We would love to have you participate.
Other battle participants are listed in the right-hand margin. Feel free to visit, listen, and vote on their battles.
Today's song: "I Put a Spell On You."
Battle background noise:
Lyrics and music: Screaming Jay Hawkins (1956). Two honors: 1- selected as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. 2- It was also ranked No. 313 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Although Hawkins' version did not make any charts, several later cover versions have done so. Two films featured the song: "Stranger Than Paradise," (1984) and "Hocus Pocus," (1993).
What does Hawkins say about this song? Hawkins had originally intended to record "I Put a Spell on You" as a refined love song, a blues ballad. He reported, however, that the producer "brought in ribs and chicken and got everybody drunk, and we came out with this weird version... I don't even remember making the record. Before, I was just a normal blues singer. I was just Jay Hawkins. It all sort of just fell in place. I found out I could do more destroying a song and screaming it to death." The theatrical act was one of the first shock rock performances. ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Put_a_Spell_on_You ))
Today's Challenger: Soundtrack version from "Hocus Pocus"
Hocus Pocus is a 1993 American horror comedy film directed by Kenny Ortega and starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as a trio of witches, the Sanderson Sisters, who are inadvertently resurrected by a cynical teenager, his younger sister, and his crush in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. Despite receiving negative reviews from critics during its theatrical release, the film has since received a cult following and has proved to be a popular Halloween-themed film. Halloween 2013 had 2.5 million viewers tune in to watch this movie. The musical score for Hocus Pocus was composed and conducted by John Debney.
Screaming Jay Hawkins versus "Hocus Pocus" soundtrack. Both versions are kind of quirky, but fun for a day like today.
Lyrics:
I put a spell on you
Because you're mine
Stop the things you do
Watch out, I ain't lying
I can't stand
No running around
I can't stand
No putting me down
I put a spell on you
Because you're mine, oh yeah
Stop the things you do
Watch out, I ain't lying
Oh, oh, I love you, I love you
I love you anyhow
I don't care if you don't want me
I'm yours right now
I put a spell on you
Because you're mine, mine, mine
Oh, ooh you're mine.
