Screamin Jay Hawkins

Shock rock, or how to rattle audiences and critics alike by tackling macabre, boundary-pushing themes in which sex and violence take center stage. Not a genre in its own right, but a distinctive (and visually striking) way for artists to command the stage during their shows. And while it draws heavily on the wellsprings of blues, jazz and soul, the ultimate forerunner of the shock rock attitude was without doubt Jalacy Hawkins, known to the wider public as Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

A formidable performer, after working with guitarist Tiny Grimes as a jazz pianist, he made his solo debut with "At Home With Screamin' Jay Hawkins", an album whose tracks blend soul, r&b and rock'n'roll flourishes. The record's main hallmarks are the powerful vocal delivery flaunted by the Cleveland-born artist - who originally aspired to become an opera singer, counting among his idols Paul Robeson, H-Bomb Ferguson, Mario Lanza and Enrico Caruso - and atmospheres that repeatedly draw on the repertoire of musicals and dark cabaret. During his live shows, Jalacy's wild screams were paired with other highly theatrical touches, such as voodoo symbols and dolls, skulls, eccentric ornaments and exotic costumes, and the occasional disappearance in a puff of smoke.

Show me the coffin

The undisputed highlight of the record is the track that made him universally famous, the dark and overwhelming spell of "I Put A Spell On You". Released as a single in 1956 and reinterpreted ever since by a countless number of musicians, the song is also famous for its live introduction, which had Jalacy emerging from a coffin, brandishing a skull nicknamed "Henry". The idea for this performance came from Alan "Moondog" Freed, a well-known DJ and rock'n'roll promoter of the era: initially reluctant, Hawkins agreed to be seen with the coffin only after the disc jockey offered him 300 dollars. Another notable, far from marginal detail concerns the censorship the track ran into: despite the release of a second, "cleaned-up" version stripped of the moans and groans that clearly hinted at sexual content, it was banned by several radio stations and drew the ire of the NAACP (one of the first major civil rights associations for African-Americans in the United States). The single nonetheless sold over a million copies, scandal and restrictions notwithstanding.

The album kicks off with the swinging notes of the frenzied trumpet on "Orange Colored Sky", a masterful reinterpretation of the piece originally performed by Janet Brace. The shock factor isn't confined to the vocals and stage presence, but extends to the content too: the racist undertones of the lyrics have aged decidedly worse, paired with the loose-limbed, mocking swagger and the emphatic howls of "Hong Kong", and those framed by the choir and accordion of "I Love Paris", a revised and thoroughly "uncorrected" version of Cole Porter's original track. The record continues with the exotic airs of the unsettling "Temptation" and the solemn, almost religious mood of the brief choral prayer "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot".

The people quit the scene like the devil was loose

The clouds turned green and let down lemon juice

What walks on two feet and looks like a goat?

That crazy Screamin’ Jay in a bright yellow coat

Next comes the irresistible "Yellow Coat", another rhythm & blues cornerstone in Hawkins's career, gliding along on horns and excellent guitar riffs, while the histrionic emphasis of the traditional "Ol' Man River" leans toward cabaret, alternating stripped-back passages built around the artist's voice alone with faster, more jazzy ones.

The album continues along this line with the languid "If You Are But A Dream" and the rock'n'roll flashes of "Give Me My Boots And Saddle", giving way to the stripped-down "Deep Purple", a cover of the Dick Todd track of the same name, on which Hawkins slips into the role of a lofty, distinguished soul crooner, before closing the album with a return to the mad, ironic tones carried by piano and trumpet on Al Jolson's "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It)".

The mischievous "little demon" (a fitting reference to the B-side of "I Put A Spell On You", "Little Demon", included only in later reissues of the album) that slipped out of Screamin' Jay Hawkins's flamboyant yet darkly gothic mansion laid the crude, early groundwork for a path that would go on to draw the attention of countless artists across the "dark" landscape (spanning punk, rock and metal), all known for their unconventional performances; from the Stooges to Arthur Brown, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, through Kiss, Helloween, Cramps, Misfits, Throbbing Gristle, all the way to the more extreme and controversial GG Allin, Rammstein, Marilyn Manson and many more besides.

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11/08/2024