Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Hawkins studied classical piano as a child and learned guitar in his twenties. His initial goal was to become an opera singer (Hawkins has cited Paul Robeson as his musical idol in interviews), but when his initial ambitions failed he began his career as a conventional blues singer and pianist.
Hawkins was an avid and formidable boxer. In 1949, he was the middleweight boxing champion of Alaska.
In 1951, Hawkins joined guitarist Tiny Grimes's band, and was subsequently featured on some of Grimes's recordings. When Hawkins became a solo performer, he often performed in a stylish wardrobe of leopard skins, red leather and wild hats.
His most successful recording, "I Put a Spell on You" (1956), was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. According to the AllMusic Guide to the Blues, "Hawkins originally envisioned the tune as a refined ballad." The entire band was intoxicated during a recording session where "Hawkins screamed, grunted, and gurgled his way through the tune with utter drunken abandon." The resulting performance was no ballad but instead a "raw, guttural track" that became his greatest commercial success and reportedly surpassed a million copies in sales, although it failed to make the Billboard pop or R&B charts.
The performance was mesmerizing, although Hawkins himself blacked out and was unable to remember the session. Afterward he had to relearn the song from the recorded version. Meanwhile the record label released a second version of the single, removing most of the grunts that had embellished the original performance; this was in response to complaints about the recording's overt sexuality. Nonetheless it was banned from radio in some areas.
Soon after the release of "I Put a Spell on You", radio disc jockey Alan Freed offered Hawkins $300 to emerge from a coffin onstage. Hawkins accepted and soon created an outlandish stage persona in which performances began with the coffin and included "gold and leopard skin costumes and notable voodoo stage props, such as his smoking skull on a stick – named Henry – and rubber snakes." These props were suggestive of voodoo, but also presented with comic overtones that invited comparison to "a black Vincent Price."
He continued to tour and record through the 1960s and 1970s, particularly in Europe, where he was very popular. He appeared in performance (as himself) in the Alan Freed bio-pic American Hot Wax in 1978. Subsequently, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch featured "I Put a Spell on You" on the soundtrack – and deep in the plot – of his film Stranger Than Paradise (1983) and then Hawkins himself as a hotel night clerk in his Mystery Train and in roles in Álex de la Iglesia's Perdita Durango and Bill Duke's adaptation of Chester Himes' A Rage in Harlem.
His 1957 single "Frenzy" (found on the early 1980s compilation of the same name) was included in the compilation CD, Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files, in 1996. This song was featured in the show's Season 2 episode "Humbug". It was also covered by the band Batmobile. "I Put a Spell on You" was featured during the show and over the credits of Episode 303 of The Simpsons.
In 1983, Hawkins relocated to the New York area. In 1984 and 1985, Hawkins collaborated with garage rockers The Fuzztones, resulting in "Screamin' Jay Hawkins and The Fuzztones Live" album recorded at Irving Plaza in December 1984. They perform in the 1986 movie Joey.
In July 1991, Hawkins released his album Black Music for White People. The record features covers of two Tom Waits compositions: "Heart Attack and Vine" (which, later that year, was used in a European Levi's advertisement without Waits' permission, resulting in a lawsuit), and "Ice Cream Man" (which, contrary to popular belief, is a Waits original, and not a cover of the John Brim classic). Hawkins also covered the Waits song, "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard", for his album Somethin' Funny Goin' On. In 1993, his version of "Heart Attack and Vine" became his only UK hit, reaching #42 on the UK singles chart.
When Dread Zeppelin recorded their "disco" album, It's Not Unusual in 1992, producer Jah Paul Jo asked Hawkins to guest. He performed the songs "Jungle Boogie" and "Disco Inferno".
Hawkins also toured with The Clash and Nick Cave during this period, and not only became a fixture of blues festivals, but appeared at many film festivals as well, including the Telluride Film Festival premier of Mystery Train.
Hawkins died on February 12, 2000 after surgery to treat an aneurysm. He left behind many children by many women; an estimated 55 at the time of his death, and upon investigation, that number "soon became perhaps 75 offspring".
Although Hawkins was not a major success as a recording artist, his highly theatrical performances from "I Put a Spell On You" onward earned him a steady career as a live performer for decades afterward, and influenced subsequent acts. He opened for Fats Domino, Tiny Grimes and the Rolling Stones. This exposure in turn influenced rock groups such as The Cramps, Screaming Lord Sutch, Black Sabbath, Arthur Brown, Dread Zeppelin, The Horrors, Marilyn Manson, Tom Waits, Alice Cooper and Glenn Danzig.
Constipation Blues
Screamin' Jay Hawkins Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
UMM-UMMMH, aeoh
UMM-UOOMH
OOH!
OH!
UH UH
Aaah
Let it go! Let it go! Let it go! Let it go!
I don't believe I can take much more
Let it go
Aah
Got a pain down inside
Won't be denied
Yeah, every time I try
I can't be satisfied
Let it go!
WOAH, UMMH
Let it, let it go!
OH!
WAAAAOOOH!
This pain down inside
Just won't let me be satisfied
Let it go!
SPLASH!!! SPSHHH....
Feel, ah, I feel alright
Yeah, I feel alright
SPLASH!!! Shpsh...
Yeah
I feel alright
SPLASH!
Flush
Phew
Phew
Phew...
Feel alright
Screamin' Jay Hawkins's "Constipation Blues" is a humorous and raunchy commentary on constipation. Hawkins introduces the song as something different from the norm, not a love song, heartbreak or money issues, instead, he sings about real pain. The lyrics follow Hawkins discussing the excruciating pain from being constipated, moaning and groaning, begging for relief, and trying to let it go. He sings about his struggle to find relief from the constant pain and how his attempts are not enough to satisfy him. As the music continues, there is a dramatic pause before Hawkins makes a release, flushing the toilet and feeling relieved.
Hawkins's lyrics in "Constipation Blues" are comical and straightforward. However, the song can also be interpreted as a metaphor for other forms of pain and release. The idea that holding onto something for too long can cause physical and emotional pain is something many can relate to. The song's lyrics also play with cultural taboos surrounding toileting and bodily functions. Overall, "Constipation Blues" is a humorous and catchy song that pokes fun at an everyday struggle many can relate to.
Line by Line Meaning
UMM-UMMMH, aeoh
The sound of the singer reflecting the sounds of the pain he is going through
UMM-UOOMH
The sound of the singer straining
OOH!
The singer is feeling the physical agony of the constipation
OH!
Exclamation of the singer's pain - he can hardly hold it in anymore
UH UH
The singer is physically uncomfortable and can hardly contain his discomfort
Aaah
A sound of relief that comes from release of gas during the process of defecation
UOH, aah
Another exclamation from the singer as intense as earlier lines signaling uncomfortable situation
Let it go! Let it go! Let it go! Let it go!
The singer's urging his bowels to let go of the constipated stool
I don't believe I can take much more
The singer has been going through the digestive pain for quite some time and is at his wit's end
Let it go
Repetition of the singer urging his bowels to let go of the constipated stool
Aah
Another sound of relief that comes from any movement in the bowel, signaling stool is about to pass through
Got a pain down inside
Singer is describing his acute abdominal pain as the stool presses and distends his rectum
Won't be denied
The pain from constipation can't simply be ignored or pushed through
Yeah, every time I try
The singer has given his best to pass a stool, but the attempts have been largely unsuccessful
I can't be satisfied
The constipated stool and the bowel atony are preventing the singer from feeling like his evacuations are complete
WOAH, UMMH
Singer is experiencing chills through bowel's muscle spasms, signaling parasympathetic nervous system stimulation
Let it, let it go!
Singer is now exasperated and is begging his rectum to release the stool
OH!
Exclamation of the constipation pain
WAAAAOOOH!
Singer somehow experiences chest pain due to the Vagal nerve stimulation, causing feeling of breathlessness
This pain down inside
The chronic constipation pain has now become the supreme focus of the singer's existence
Just won't let me be satisfied
The insatiable need for a proper stool is leaving the singer always hungry for an evacuation
SPLASH!!! SPSHHH....
Singer is now in the toilet trying his best to pass the stool with the help of a lot of straining and grunting
Feel, ah, I feel alright
Singer has given birth to a stool, and the sense of relief after all the pain is what he is expressing now
Yeah, I feel alright
The release of the stool finally brings a sense of relief to the singer's constant constipation pain
SPLASH!!! Shpsh...
Stool splashes in the toilet as the singer's body expels it
Yeah
The feeling of liberation from the constipation is expressed by the singer
I feel alright
Expression of the relief that comes after constipation pain has been eradicated
SPLASH!
No more commentary, just sound of the stool falling in a mass into the toilet water
Flush
The call to action to the singer to flush the toilet is expressed.
Phew
Singer expresses that it was a long, tiring process, and the draining effect of this the evacuation is felt.
Phew
The song finishes with the singer expressing deep relief and pleasure that the constipation wants to be over.
Phew...
Relief of finished evacuation and relaxation of stomach muscles.
Feel alright
Complete joy and freedom from pain after evacuation are expressed by the singer.
Contributed by Tristan O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
JWK
This song almost made it to #2 on the charts.
ScreaminMadMurphy
that's such a perfect joke holy shit I'm dying
David Saroea
Ha just got that
zloboslav
😂😂😂💀💀💀
Mace Griffin
I think you spelled sharts wrong
Tim Sears
LOL
Kevin Taylor
I played this for my wife in a moment when she was... struggling... She laughed hard enough that it ACTUALLy helped!!!
TroubleToby
This is going to sound like I'm joking or just being VERY inappropriate, but what did this to her. I ask cuz it happened to me for the first and (thank GOD) only time a year ago, and I want to know how to avoid it. I have looked on medical sites but nothing was unequivocally relevant to me so I started asking random people who suffered. Ty.✌👍👌
Kevin Taylor
@TroubleToby Whole thing was a joke, I;m not married.
TroubleToby
@Kevin Taylor Wow. Didn't see that coming. I'm as devastated as my asshole was when I finally pushed thru, lol. No, of course. Just kidding. Thanks anyway.😉👍👍👍