Bil Sabab Power Hour: Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I am the Cool

This blog was created to keep notion of awesome things like this.

"I am the Cool" is the song by the blues extraordinaire Screamin' Jay Hawkins. It was released in 1994 on an album "Somethin's funny goin' on". In its core it is boisterous braggadocio covered in old time blues stomp. Ol' Screamin' Jay keeps on talking about how cool he is. It is corny, it is cheesy, it is unbelievably tongue in cheek but it is also surprisingly earnest and curiously sincere. Because of that song makes puzzling impression. On its own it is no good but Screamin' Jay Hawkins means what he says and that makes the song tick. I guess it is what is called "magick".

Lyrical content of the song is astoundingly bizarre in its "on the nose" drooling. You need to understand where Screamin' Jay Hawkins was in the early 90's. He was a "has-been" "one-hit-wonder" BOO blues man in a vein of Slim Gaillard. His gimmick was macabre Universal Horror-styled theatrics and lots and lots of drama in vocal performance. He was over the top. He had one smash hit in 1956 - "I put a spell on you" and a couple of other great tunes like "Constipation blues" and "Frenzy". But he never managed to make a mark and floundered here and there for decades,  inspiring musicians and playing catch-up. In the 90s he reemerged as a elder statesman of bizarre and started recording again. This time he was embracing his gimmick and turnining it up to eleven.

Stylistically "I am the Cool" is a mishmash of later career Robert Palmer (addicted to love, simply irrestieable, didn't mean to turn you on, etc), overly exaggerated lyricism of Prince, braindead thunderstruck Morrissey and every conceivable gangsta rap cliche as seen by Kool Keith (the song will be just fine tinted in g-funk vibes). The more you think about this combination the more you like it. It is twisted: turned inside out, upside down and then backwards. It is Stone Cold Steve Austin Theme song if he was Chilly McFreeze.