In the fall of 1971, Palmers was visiting London.
BLUE SUEDE BAND HOOKED ON A FEELING PLUS
Plus it was featured on every compilation in the tiniest countries.” It may not be Ed Sheeran or One Direction but it put petrol in my Rolls. In those days you could sell huge quantities of vinyl and that single had a B-side that I wrote and published, so I made around a million dollars. “But my ‘Hooked’ was a hit all over the world and sold around 400,000 copies. King admits he was disappointed that his version of “Hooked on a Feeling” wasn’t a bigger success. When I played it for Johnny, I said, ‘This was going to be on guitars but it sounds rather fun done by male voices so let’s keep it as it is.'” I wanted a reggae rhythm, so I did that with my voice. I can’t really play any instruments so I’d sing all the parts for each instrument in the string section and brass so he could take them and transpose. My heroes were always producers – Phil Spector, Joe Meek, Bob Crewe and Steve Barri.”Ĥ5 Years Ago Today, ABBA Started Its Global Conquest With Eurovision Win for 'Waterloo'Įlaborating on where the “ooga-chagga” came from, King explains: “I was doing it vocally on my demo for the arranger, Johnny Arthey. I’m essentially a singing producer – except for ‘Everyone’s Gone to the Moon’ when I was a teenager. The moment I heard it, I thought, ‘I’m covering that.’ I don’t do straight covers – I haven’t got the voice – but I have the imagination to render them differently. I wasn’t keen on the country-style guitar riff that was the backbone. “But I thought the song deserved a pop treatment. King tells Billboard he loved Thomas’ version when it was on the charts.
BLUE SUEDE BAND HOOKED ON A FEELING CRACK
and though it was released in America, it failed to crack the Hot 100. King (who years later served half of a seven-year prison sentence beginning in 2001 for sexual abuse and has continued to claim his innocence) recorded his own cover version of “Hooked on a Feeling” in 1971. No, the man who came up with “ooga-chagga” - and who insists it’s “chagga,” not “chaka” - was British recording artist/label owner/producer/politician/TV presenter Jonathan King.
And not Bengt Palmers, the EMI head of A&R in Sweden who produced the No. But who put the “ooga-chagga” in “Hooked on a Feeling”? Not Mark James, who wrote the song. The Blue Swede version had something the Thomas recording did not – an irresistible hook that caught listeners’ attention right from the opening salvo. And in the U.S., Blue Swede became the first Swedish act to top the Billboard Hot 100, as it moved into pole position with a remake of “Hooked on a Feeling,” a song that was a No.
“Waterloo” was the first song from Sweden to win the Pan-European competition. In Brighton, England, the Eurovision Song Contest was won by a new quartet named ABBA.
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