DIAMANDA GALÁS – I Put A Spell On You (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins)

Diamanda Galás (born August 29, 1955) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, visual artist, and soprano. She has campaigned for AIDS education and the rights of the infected.

Galás’s commitment to addressing social issues and her involvement in collective action has made her concentrate on themes such as AIDS, mental illness, despair, loss of dignity, political injustice, historical revisionism, and war crimes. Galás has attracted the attention of the press particularly for her voice – a soprano sfogato – and written accounts that describe her work as original and thought-provoking refer to her as “capable of the most unnerving vocal terror”, an “aesthetic revolutionary”, “a mourner for the world’s victims” and “an envoy of risk, honesty and commitment”.

“I Put a Spell on You” is a 1956 song written and composed by Jalacy “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins, whose own recording of it was selected as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It was also included in Robert Christgau’s “Basic Record Library” of 1950s and 1960s recordings—published in Christgau’s Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)—and ranked No. 313 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The selection became a classic cult song covered by a variety of artists and was his greatest commercial success, reportedly surpassing a million copies in sales, even though it failed to make the Billboard pop or R&B charts.

Devil, Devil, Devil (x)

I put a spell on you Because you’re mine You gonna stop the things you do I ain’t lyin’

I can’t stand it (x) I can’t stand the way you run around

I put a spell on you Because you’re mine I love you, I love you (x)

Like a snake in the grass I keep waitnig Like a vulture in the sky I keep waiting Like a shark in the water I keep waiting

I don’t care if you don’t want me Because I’m yours, anyhow, anyway, anyplace

I put a spell on you Because you’re mine

Devil, Devil, Devil (x)