The Loco Motion - Music
The Loco Motion by Little Eva
Little Eva
Artist Biography For Little Eva
Eva Narcissus Boyd June 29 1943 – April 10 2003 Known By The Stage Name Of Little Eva Was An American Pop Singer. Born In Belhaven North Carolina She Moved To The Brighton Beach Section Of Brooklyn New York At A Young Age. Although Some Sources Claim That Her Stage Name Was Inspired By A Character From The Novel Uncle Tom's Cabin She Stated In An Interview That She Was Named After Her Aunt Which Prompted Her Family To Call Her "Little Eva." As A Teenager She Worked As A Maid And Earned Extra Money As A Babysitter For Songwriters Carole King And Gerry Goffin. It Is Often Claimed That Goffin And King Were Amused By Boyd's Particular Dancing Style So They Wrote "The Loco-Motion" For Her And Had Her Record It As A Demo The Record Was Intended For Dee Dee Sharp . However As King Said In An Interview With NPR And In Her "One To One" Concert Video They Knew She Could Sing When They Met Her And It Would Be Just A Matter Of Time Before They Would Have Her Record Songs They Wrote The Most Successful Being "The Loco-Motion." Music Producer Don Kirshner Of Dimension Records Was Impressed By The Song And Boyd's Voice And Had It Released. The Song Reached #1 In The United States In 1962. It Sold Over One Million Copies And Was Awarded A Gold Disc. After The Success Of "The Loco-Motion " Boyd Was Stereotyped As A Dance-Craze Singer And Was Given Limited Material. The Same Year Goffin And King Wrote "He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss " Performed By The Crystals After Discovering That Boyd Was Being Regularly Beaten By Her Boyfriend. When They Inquired Why She Tolerated Such Treatment Eva Replied Without Batting An Eyelid That Her Boyfriend's Actions Were Motivated By His Love For Her. Phil Spector's Arrangement Of The Song Was Ominous And Ambiguous. It Was A Brutal Song As Any Attempt To Justify Such Violence Must Be And Spector's Arrangement Only Amplified Its Savagery Framing Barbara Alston's Lone Vocal Amid A Sea Of Caustic Strings And Funereal Drums While The Backing Vocals Almost Trilled Their Own Belief That The Boy Had Done Nothing Wrong. In More Ironic Hands And A More Understanding Age 'He Hit Me' Might Have Passed At Least As Satire. But Spector Showed No Sign Of Appreciating That Nor Did He Feel Any Need To. No Less Than The Song's Writers He Was Not Preaching He Was Merely Documenting. Boyd's Other Single Recordings Were "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby " "Let's Turkey Trot " And A Remake Of The Bing Crosby Standard "Swinging On A Star " Recorded With Big Dee Irwin Though Boyd Was Not Credited On The Label . Boyd Also Recorded The Song "Makin' With The Magilla" For An Episode Of The 1964 Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series The Magilla Gorilla Show. She Continued To Tour And Record Throughout The Sixties But Her Commercial Potential Plummeted After 1964. She Retired From The Music Industry In 1971. She Never Owned The Rights To Her Recordings. Although The Prevailing Rumor In The 1970s Was That She Had Received Only $50 For "The Loco-Motion " It Seems $50 Was Actually Her Weekly Salary At The Time She Made Her Records An Increase Of $15 From What Goffin And King Had Been Paying Her As Nanny . Penniless She Returned With Her Three Young Children To North Carolina Where They Lived In Obscurity. Interviewed In 1988 After The Success Of The Kylie Minogue Cover Version Of "The Loco-Motion" Boyd Stated That She Did Not Like The New Version However Its Then-Current Popularity Allowed Her To Make A Comeback In Show Business. She Returned To Live Performing With Other Artists Of Her Era On The Cabaret And Oldies Circuits. She Also Occasionally Recorded New Songs. The Only Existing Footage Of Little Eva Performing "Loco-Motion" Is A Small Clip From The ABC Sixties Live Show Shindig! Where She Sang A Short Version Of The Clip Along With The Famous Dance Steps. She Also Sang "Let's Turkey Trot" And The Exciters' Song "I Want You To Be My Boy" In The Same Episode. This TV Show Was One Of Her Final Performances Until 1988 When She Began Performing In Concerts With Bobby Vee And Other Singers. In A 1991 Richard Nader Concert She Performed "Loco-Motion" And "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby". The Concert Was Partially Documented On Videotape Albeit Of Marginal Quality. She Continued Performing Until She Was Diagnosed With Cervical Cancer In October 2001. She Died On April 10 2003 In Kinston North Carolina At The Age Of 59 And Is Buried In A Small Cemetery In Belhaven North Carolina. Her Gravesite Was Sparsely Marked Until July 2008 When A Report By WRAL-TV Of Raleigh North Carolina Highlighted Deteriorating Conditions At The Cemetery And Efforts By The City Of Belhaven To Have It Restored. A Simple White Cross Had Marked The Site Until A New Gravestone Was Unveiled In November Of That Year. Her New Grey Gravestone Has The Image Of A Steam Locomotive Prominently Engraved On The Front And The Epitaph Reads "Singing With The Angels".
Frogtoon Music - Song Info: The Loco Motion
Little-Eva - All The Hits The Back Catalogue Vol.5
"The Loco-Motion" Is A 1962 Pop Song Written By American Songwriters Gerry Goffin And Carole King. The Song Is Notable For Making The American Top 5 Three Times – Each Time In A Different Decade For Little Eva In 1962 U.S. #1 For Grand Funk Railroad In 1974 U.S. #1 And For Kylie Minogue In 1988 U.S. #3 . It Is Ranked #350 On The Rolling Stone Magazine's List Of "the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time". Notable Releases Original Little Eva Version The Song Is A Popular And Enduring Example Of The Dance-Song Genre Much Of The Lyrics Are Devoted To A Description Of The Dance Itself Usually Done As A Type Of Line Dance. The Original Recording Of The Song Was Sung By Eva Boyd Under The Stage Name Little Eva Which Reached #1 In The U.S. In 1962. Boyd Was Actually Carole King's Babysitter Having Been Introduced To King And Husband Gerry Goffin By The Cookies A Local Girl Group Who Would Also Record For The Songwriters. Apparently The Dance Came Before The Lyrics Eva Was Bopping To Some Music That King Was Playing At Home And A Dance With Lyrics Was Soon Born. It Was The First Release On The New Dimension Records Label Whose Releases Were Mostly Penned And Produced By Goffin And King. It Is Sometimes Categorized As Belonging To The 1960s Girl Group Sound Which Goffin And King Helped Create Though It Was Recorded By A Solo Artist. A Cover Version Of The Song Was Quickly Recorded By British Girl Group The Vernons Girls And Entered The Chart The Same Week As The Little Eva Version. The Vernons Girls' Version Stalled At #47 In The UK While The Little Eva Version Climbed All The Way To #2 On The UK Charts. It Re-Entered The Chart Some Ten Years Later And Almost Became A Top Ten Again Peaking At #11. The Little Eva Version Of The Song Was Featured In The 2006 David Lynch Film Inland Empire. Grand Funk Railroad Version American Hard Rock Group Grand Funk Railroad Recorded A Version Of The Song In 1974 Produced By Todd Rundgren. The Song Appeared On Their Album Shinin' On And Released As A Single Reached #1 On The U.S. Charts. The Grand Funk Version Of The Song Featured Guitars Several Layers Of Harmony And Heavy Drums. Kylie Minogue Version "The Loco-Motion" Is The Debut Single By Australian Singer-Songwriter Kylie Minogue And Was Released On July 28 1987 By PWL And Mushroom. It Was Produced By Stock Aitken And Waterman. It Is A Cover Of The Original Little Eva Song The Loco-Motion. The Song Was Released By Minogue As Her Debut Single On July 28 1987 In Australia Sweden And Italy Under The Title "Locomotion". After An Impromptu Performance Of The Song At An Australian Rules Football Charity Event With The Cast Of The Australian Soap Opera Neighbours Minogue Was Signed A Record Deal By Mushroom Records To Release The Song As A Single. The Song Was A Hit In Australia Reaching Number One And Remained There For Seven Weeks. The Success Of The Song In Her Home Country Led To Her Signing A Record Deal With PWL Records In London And To Working With The Hit Producing Team Stock Aitken & Waterman. In 1988 Kylie Re-Recorded This Song. This Version Was Subsequently Remixed And Released As The Third Single In The Summer Of 1988 See 1988 In Music And Was A Top Five Hit In The United Kingdom Debuting At Number Two Giving Minogue The Record For The Highest Entry On The UK Singles Charts By A Female Artist. It Also Reached Number Three On The U.S. Billboard Charts With Sales In Excess Of Half A Million And Made Number One In Canada.
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Biography - Little Eva
Eva Narcissus Boyd June 29 1943 – April 10 2003 Known By The Stage Name Of Little Eva Was An American Pop Singer. Born In Belhaven North Carolina She Moved To The Brighton Beach Section Of Brooklyn New York At A Young Age. Although Some Sources Claim That Her Stage Name Was Inspired By A Character From The Novel Uncle Tom's Cabin She Stated In An Interview That She Was Named After Her Aunt Which Prompted Her Family To Call Her "Little Eva." As A Teenager She Worked As A Maid And Earned Extra Money As A Babysitter For Songwriters Carole King And Gerry Goffin. It Is Often Claimed That Goffin And King Were Amused By Boyd's Particular Dancing Style So They Wrote "The Loco-Motion" For Her And Had Her Record It As A Demo The Record Was Intended For Dee Dee Sharp . However As King Said In An Interview With NPR And In Her "One To One" Concert Video They Knew She Could Sing When They Met Her And It Would Be Just A Matter Of Time Before They Would Have Her Record Songs They Wrote The Most Successful Being "The Loco-Motion." Music Producer Don Kirshner Of Dimension Records Was Impressed By The Song And Boyd's Voice And Had It Released. The Song Reached #1 In The United States In 1962. It Sold Over One Million Copies And Was Awarded A Gold Disc. After The Success Of "The Loco-Motion " Boyd Was Stereotyped As A Dance-Craze Singer And Was Given Limited Material. The Same Year Goffin And King Wrote "He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss " Performed By The Crystals After Discovering That Boyd Was Being Regularly Beaten By Her Boyfriend. When They Inquired Why She Tolerated Such Treatment Eva Replied Without Batting An Eyelid That Her Boyfriend's Actions Were Motivated By His Love For Her. Phil Spector's Arrangement Of The Song Was Ominous And Ambiguous. It Was A Brutal Song As Any Attempt To Justify Such Violence Must Be And Spector's Arrangement Only Amplified Its Savagery Framing Barbara Alston's Lone Vocal Amid A Sea Of Caustic Strings And Funereal Drums While The Backing Vocals Almost Trilled Their Own Belief That The Boy Had Done Nothing Wrong. In More Ironic Hands And A More Understanding Age 'He Hit Me' Might Have Passed At Least As Satire. But Spector Showed No Sign Of Appreciating That Nor Did He Feel Any Need To. No Less Than The Song's Writers He Was Not Preaching He Was Merely Documenting. Boyd's Other Single Recordings Were "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby " "Let's Turkey Trot " And A Remake Of The Bing Crosby Standard "Swinging On A Star " Recorded With Big Dee Irwin Though Boyd Was Not Credited On The Label . Boyd Also Recorded The Song "Makin' With The Magilla" For An Episode Of The 1964 Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series The Magilla Gorilla Show. She Continued To Tour And Record Throughout The Sixties But Her Commercial Potential Plummeted After 1964. She Retired From The Music Industry In 1971. She Never Owned The Rights To Her Recordings. Although The Prevailing Rumor In The 1970s Was That She Had Received Only $50 For "The Loco-Motion " It Seems $50 Was Actually Her Weekly Salary At The Time She Made Her Records An Increase Of $15 From What Goffin And King Had Been Paying Her As Nanny . Penniless She Returned With Her Three Young Children To North Carolina Where They Lived In Obscurity. Interviewed In 1988 After The Success Of The Kylie Minogue Cover Version Of "The Loco-Motion" Boyd Stated That She Did Not Like The New Version However Its Then-Current Popularity Allowed Her To Make A Comeback In Show Business. She Returned To Live Performing With Other Artists Of Her Era On The Cabaret And Oldies Circuits. She Also Occasionally Recorded New Songs. The Only Existing Footage Of Little Eva Performing "Loco-Motion" Is A Small Clip From The ABC Sixties Live Show Shindig! Where She Sang A Short Version Of The Clip Along With The Famous Dance Steps. She Also Sang "Let's Turkey Trot" And The Exciters' Song "I Want You To Be My Boy" In The Same Episode. This TV Show Was One Of Her Final Performances Until 1988 When She Began Performing In Concerts With Bobby Vee And Other Singers. In A 1991 Richard Nader Concert She Performed "Loco-Motion" And "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby". The Concert Was Partially Documented On Videotape Albeit Of Marginal Quality. She Continued Performing Until She Was Diagnosed With Cervical Cancer In October 2001. She Died On April 10 2003 In Kinston North Carolina At The Age Of 59 And Is Buried In A Small Cemetery In Belhaven North Carolina. Her Gravesite Was Sparsely Marked Until July 2008 When A Report By WRAL-TV Of Raleigh North Carolina Highlighted Deteriorating Conditions At The Cemetery And Efforts By The City Of Belhaven To Have It Restored. A Simple White Cross Had Marked The Site Until A New Gravestone Was Unveiled In November Of That Year. Her New Grey Gravestone Has The Image Of A Steam Locomotive Prominently Engraved On The Front And The Epitaph Reads "Singing With The Angels".
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16 Similar Artists To Little Eva - Frogtoon Music
The Chiffons The Shirelles The Cookies The Dixie Cups Pat Boone The Crystals Paul & Paula Dee Dee Sharp Danny & The Juniors Betty Everett Johnny Tillotson Neil Sedaka Bobby Vee Johnnie Ray Helen Shapiro The Exciters.
"The Loco-Motion" is a 1962 pop song written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The song is notable for making the American Top 5 three times – each time in a different decade: for Little Eva in 1962 (U.S. #1); for Grand Funk Railroad in 1974 (U.S. #1); and for Kylie Minogue in 1988 (U.S. #3).
It is ranked #350 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Notable Releases
Original Little Eva version
The song is a popular and enduring example of the dance-song genre: much of the lyrics are devoted to a description of the dance itself, usually done as a type of line dance.
The original recording of the song was sung by Eva Boyd, under the stage name Little Eva, which reached #1 in the U.S. in 1962. Boyd was actually Carole King's babysitter, having been introduced to King and husband Gerry Goffin by The Cookies, a local girl group who would also record for the songwriters. Apparently the dance came before the lyrics; Eva was bopping to some music that King was playing at home, and a dance with lyrics was soon born. It was the first release on the new Dimension Records label, whose releases were mostly penned and produced by Goffin and King. It is sometimes categorized as belonging to the 1960s girl group sound (which Goffin and King helped create), though it was recorded by a solo artist.
A cover version of the song was quickly recorded by British girl group The Vernons Girls and entered the chart the same week as the Little Eva version. The Vernons Girls' version stalled at #47 in the UK, while the Little Eva version climbed all the way to #2 on the UK charts. It re-entered the chart some ten years later and almost became a top ten again, peaking at #11.
The Little Eva version of the song was featured in the 2006 David Lynch film Inland Empire.
Grand Funk Railroad version
American hard rock group Grand Funk Railroad recorded a version of the song in 1974, produced by Todd Rundgren. The song appeared on their album Shinin' On and, released as a single, reached #1 on the U.S. charts. The Grand Funk version of the song featured guitars, several layers of harmony, and heavy drums.
Kylie Minogue version
"The Loco-Motion" is the debut single by Australian singer-songwriter Kylie Minogue and was released on July 28, 1987 by PWL and Mushroom. It was produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman. It is a cover of the original Little Eva song, The Loco-Motion.
The song was released by Minogue as her debut single on July 28, 1987 in Australia, Sweden and Italy under the title "Locomotion". After an impromptu performance of the song at an Australian rules football charity event with the cast of the Australian soap opera Neighbours, Minogue was signed a record deal by Mushroom Records to release the song as a single. The song was a hit in Australia, reaching number one and remained there for seven weeks. The success of the song in her home country led to her signing a record deal with PWL Records in London and to working with the hit producing team, Stock, Aitken & Waterman.
In 1988 Kylie re-recorded this song. This version was subsequently remixed and released as the third single in the summer of 1988 (see 1988 in music) and was a top five hit in the United Kingdom, debuting at number two, giving Minogue the record for the highest entry on the UK singles charts by a female artist. It also reached number three on the U.S. Billboard charts with sales in excess of half a million and made number one in Canada.
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