The Loco-Motion is one of this week’s Essential Songs of 1962 on The Right Hook. What makes the song particularly notable - despite it being improbably catchy and danceable - is that is an exceedingly rare song that has been a hit not once, not twice, but thrice.
The song - describing an accompanying dance, which has surely played a significant role in its appeal - was first released in June of 1962. Performed by Little Eva (aka Eva Narcissus Boyd) and written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, the song was originally written for singer Dee Dee Sharp, who turned it down.
The song was one of the biggest selling singles of the year in the US, and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. There’s only one known surviving video of Little Eva performing the song, from musical variety show Shindig!. She was accompanied, as you would expect, by a small army of backing dancers performing the eponymous dance.
Check it out below, and please don't resist the temptation to learn the dance for yourself:
The song was to resurface in another guise 12 years later. Appropriately for the rampant locomotive punning in the original, it was rock band Grand Funk Railroad who brought the Loco-Motion back to the top of the charts in the States. Their version is a reasonably loyal cover, albeit with significantly heavier guitar and drumming to earn its rock cred.
It was the band’s second and last Hot 100 number one, although later the same year they enjoyed a top five hit with another cover version - Some Kind of Wonderful.
As you can see from the video below, the band wholeheartedly embraced the train-theme in their live performances of the Loco-Motion:
It’s the rare song indeed that manages to hit chart gold twice - less than a dozen have hit US number one more than once. But history was not done with the Loco-Motion just yet: while it would not reach number one again (or at least hasn't yet), it came very close indeed thanks to a soap opera star from Down Under.
Yes, for younger readers it’s likely Kylie Minogue’s interpretation of the song that’s most familiar. It was her debut single, and went to number one in Australia in 1987. However, a re-recorded version released worldwide the following year only managed to get to number three in the US - although that's not a bad showing for a 25-year-old song. The Irish lapped it up, however, and it did reach number one here. It also featured in the film Arthur 2: On the Rocks.
The video for the song, meanwhile, successfully encapsulates everything horrible about the 1980s in a mere 200 seconds:
It would be remiss of us to not point out there have been several other versions of the song over the years. While they may not have been as big hits as the three mentioned above, the likes of La Toya Jackson, Sylvie Vartan, and Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin have also recorded and released the song. Vartan’s version was, however, a number one hit in her native France.
As far as Essential Songs go, there’s little debating the Loco-Motion’s claim to the description. Could we even see it in the charts again in the future? Those lyrics could definitely work their magic again.
After all, there's never been a dance that's so easy to do. It even makes you happy when you're feeling blue. So come on, come on, do the Loco-motion with me…
Every Thursday on The Right Hook, George is joined live in studio by Bill Hughes, who fills in the musical blindspot in the presenter’s cultural awareness with the riffs, refrains, and robust hits have defined musical history.
