Talk:Screamin' Jay Hawkins

WW2 service
There seems to be a problem with the dates of this article. it says Hawkins was born July 18, 1929. The article then goes on to say that her served in the Pacific theatre during WW2. If this was true he would have been 16 years old when Japan surrendered. Hardly the basis for a long wartime career. Even if he joined under age (at 14) he would surely not have gone straight from the recruiting office onto a troopship. Even the US Army carry out some training (especially if, as Hawkins claims, he was a Parachutist. 194.152.93.186 11:50, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

If SJH was born in 1929, then how could he have served in US army during WW2. This would make him 16 when the war ended? Is there a reliable reference? (79.190.69.142 (talk) 22:17, 22 October 2009 (UTC))


 * I wondered exactly the same thing. If he really was born in 1929, he cannot have been in the USAF even when the war ended in 1945, much less during the war itself. Either the birth year is wrong, the war story is a complete fabrication, or it happened during the Korean War instead of WWII; he could easily have been in the USAF during that war. In fact, the United States Air Force didn't even exist during WWII—it was still part of the Army until more than two years after that war ended.

I had never even heard of Hawkins until about ten minutes ago, so I know nothing about him, but it would be nice if somebody who does know about him would address this question.

This section seems to have been inserted into the middle of the conversation about cause of death, so I'm also going to do a little housekeeping to disentangle the two topics and get them back in correct chronological order.--Jim10701 (talk) 21:29, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

US Army Enlistment Records only show one Jalacy J Hawkins, an African-American born 1929 in Ohio, enlisting at Cleveland on 28 December 1945 as a Private in the regular Army. So obviously he could not have been a POW, at least not in WW2.173.61.213.87 (talk) 00:29, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

source to back up cause of death.
"(reportedly due to complications after surgery on an obstructed bowel)" is used in the article, but has only been a part of the article since March, 2007. Seems like graffiti playing on Hawkins' song 'Constipation Blues'. If a source cannot be found for this, it should be removed. --BarenakedKevin 01:09, 7 May 2007 (UTC)BarenakedKevin

AMG's biography of him says that he died after surgery following an aneurysm, so I'm going to go ahead and revert the cause of death. Obstructed bowels would be too funny to be true :/. I'd say that the whole children thing looks pretty credible, though. Recnilgiarc 20:14, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

~ the blockage as a cause of death was mentioned in the Feb. 2000 Salon obit. Here's the link: http://archive.salon.com/people/obit/2000/02/18/hawkins/index.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.193.144.201 (talk) 04:02, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Children
There is a documentary about the search for his children (sadly I can't recall the title)and the meeting they all had. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.13.39.98 (talk) 11:31, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Death overshadowed
Article says his death was overshadowed by the deaths, on the same day, as Schultz, Landry, and Oliver. WTF???? OLIVER? Hawkins's death was not in any way overshadowed by the death of Oliver. Unless I see a justification for the significance of Oliver's death, he gets deleted. Furrfu! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.68.134.1 (talk) 21:08, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

no leave it it's funny as hell —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.125.110.223 (talk) 21:06, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure why the other people who supposedly "overshadowed" his death with their owns have any bearing on Hawkins. I would recommend the entire bit get cut. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.65.97.51 (talk) 04:33, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Later career
Just out of curiosity, is there any way that this performance can be written into the article? DanTD (talk) 18:24, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

"Perhaps first shock rocker"
"Perhaps" is unnecessary. Simply he was. He influenced Arthur Brown and Screaming Lord Sutch, who were quick to cite him as a chief influence in their stage performances. Also, Hawkins was a seminal performer on Alan Freed's early rock n roll shows. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.191.34.227 (talk) 22:11, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Sources belong here, not in external links
These sources do not belong in External links. I have moved the link farm from there to this talk page where they do belong. Warning: I didn't check them to see if they follow criteria per WP policy, so be careful in choosing any potential references I've moved here. Thank you! --Leahtwosaints (talk) 18:05, 23 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Podcast of an interview with Screamin' Jay Hawkins, recorded in 1987.
 * Detailed web site on Hawkins
 * Reviews on Hawkins' records
 * [ Screamin' Jay Hawkins at Allmusic]
 * Transcription of 1983 interview on British radio
 * Screamin' Jay Hawkins discography, Singles, EP's, LP/CD
 * Screamin' Jay Hawkins Guest Appearance With Dread Zeppelin
 * Screamin' Jay Hawkins Guest Appearance With Dread Zeppelin

David Allen Coe and prison
DAC's article says that they did time together, but this article doesn't mention SJH doing time at all.69.138.223.87 (talk) 16:35, 24 October 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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Joined the US Army in 1944?
He would have been 15 years old! Is there any source to back up this claim that he served in the Army at 15? I guess it's possible he could have lied about his age, but it seems unlikely. Dpm12 (talk) 15:27, 27 June 2019 (UTC)


 * Here is a biography from Case Western stating that he forged his birth certificate and joined at age 13. https://case.edu/ech/articles/h/hawkins-jalacy-screamin-jay I havent dug more into it yet, but came up this article right away. Cwachove (talk) 16:39, 22 October 2022 (UTC)

Recording of I Put A Spell On You
I guess this far down the line no one involved is likely to be in a position to enlighten us but I'm very sceptical of The entire band was intoxicated during a recording session where "Hawkins screamed, grunted, and gurgled his way through the tune with utter drunken abandon." and then Although Hawkins himself blacked out and was unable to remember the session, he relearned the song from the recorded version.

Firstly the band doesn't sound remotely drunk - they're supremely tight - and Hawkins's performance, demented as it is, is also impressively controlled. I doubt anyone involved was more than slightly tipsy. Secondly, anyone who's heard his recording of (She Put The) Whammee (On Me) from the previous year will know that he wasn't doing anything on I Put A Spell On You that he hadn't done before. In fact the more uptempo parts of the former sound very much like the latter, and not only are the wilder parts of the vocal performance at least as deranged but the subject matter (a woman putting him under a voodoo spell) set the scene for his whole stage persona. If anything, it's a more scary record than I Put A Spell On You. It is very tempting to think that, given a better song in I Put A Spell On You, his new record company Okeh may have encouraged him to render it in a similar fashion in the - successful - hope of it becoming notorious. The whole "drunken abandon" story smells to me very much like an excuse put out to explain the record after the hostile reception it received in certain quarters, though it's certainly plausible that he may have originally intended I Put A Spell On You to be more like the A-side of (She Put The) Whammee (On Me), This Is All, a midtempo blues ballad that is pretty intense but not as deranged as Whammee or Spell. What would be really interesting would be to know how he came to record (She Put The) Whammee (On Me) and what kind of act he used around it on stage. Obviously all this is purely opinion, not even original research, but I think the "drunken abandon" tale is in the category of "never let the truth get in the way of a good story."Freewheeling frankie (talk) 17:17, 4 April 2020 (UTC)


 * In the case of "I Put a Spell on You", I think we shouldn't let the truth get in the way of a good story (and this is a good one). –Roy McCoy (talk) 18:56, 4 April 2020 (UTC)


 * I cited Bill Dahl who wrote the Hawkins entry in 2001's All Music Guide. Dahl assures us the band is blasted during the recording. Reliable source; let's retain the bit. Binksternet (talk) 19:33, 4 April 2020 (UTC)


 * I did notice the citation. I'm aware that All Music Guide is a trusted source for Wikipedia. However it would be interesting to know what the original source for that story was. Did Bill Dahl get it from the horse's mouth - Screamin' Jay or one of the musicians? I very much doubt it. Or is it just the story that was put out at the time for publicity purposes that has got repeated down the decades so many times that it's taken without question? I first encountered it in the sleeve notes of a Hawkins compilation released in 1982. What was Bill Dahl's source? There are so many stories like this in the music biz and we all know that many of them are at least partly fiction. I don't for one moment expect to be able to prove that here and I wasn't suggesting the story should be removed - merely treated with some degree of scepticism because to my ears I Put A Spell On You is a super-tight record made by people who, regardless of any alcohol consumption that may or may not have taken place, were fully in command of what they were doing - there's no sloppiness in that record at all, in either the band or the singer. And knowing that he had done something very similar a year or so earlier despite the claims that the whole "voodoo" persona started with I Put A Spell On You makes me even more sceptical. It IS a good story - but that's what PR is all about. Just for good measure, I've checked the Rough Guide To Rock entry on Hawkins, and while writer Simon Whittaker repeats the "so drunk he couldn't remember recording it" story (though it doesn't mention the rest of the musicians being drunk) it also confirms my theory that the producer wanted him to sound like that: He'd already recorded one version of "I Put A Spell On You" but it was the challenge by Columbia's A&R Department to make it scary that really pushed him over the edge. As producer Arnold Maxim got together the best session men of the day, Jay became so drunk for the session that he had no subsequent recollection of it. Refusing to believe that it was his bloodcurdling baritone on the recording, he burned a copy when confronted with photographic evidence. As for refusing to believe it was him - he'd recorded (She Put The) Whammee (On Me) the previous year, on which he made pretty similar noises over a very similar beat. Or was he so blind drunk that he didn't remember recording that one either? Sorry, I just don't buy it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Freewheeling frankie (talk • contribs) 22:17, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

Early Career
I am going to add to the early career section of this page. It is heavily focused on 'I Put a Spell on You' and I would like to add a few more sentences referring to a biography I found from Case Western. Cwachove (talk) 16:42, 22 October 2022 (UTC)