I spent a good part of this evening with a Swede. That’s not that odd because I do know a fair amount of of them, but it never fails that whenever I spend any time at all with any Swede, at least once during the visit, the 1970s group Blue Swede pops into my head.
And then I wonder…which is weirder: the fact that every one of Blue Swede’s hits were cover versions of other band’s hits or that their biggest hit, their version of B.J. Thomas’ “Hooked on a Feeling,” was not only a cover but the weird “Ouga Chaka” background vocal thing was itself “borrowed” from yet another cover version, by Jonathan King?
Huh?!
But Blue Swede ain’t got nothing on Jonathan King as far as weird goes. And Lord knows B.J. “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” Thomas isn’t weird. No, as far as weird is concerned, I need to stick with Jonathan King.
He wrote “Everyone’s Gone to the Moon” when he was still in college. He went on to produce (and name!) Genesis, run Decca Records (twice!), recorded nearly 20 chart hits between 1965-1979 under various names, was imprisoned for sexually molesting 5 teenage boys and most recently released a film called Me, Me, Me.
Wow.
His story is so much better than the three versions of “Hooked on a Feeling,” combined. Maybe what is weirdest here is that now you have three versions of “Hooked on a Feeling” when you may not even want a single one.
Ouga Chaka indeed.
margauxville 