Skifs howls over all of it with Tom Jones levels of brio, making B. Everything about their arrangement seems scientifically calibrated to stick with you: the blaring horn riff, the high-cheese guitar line, the perfectly timed drum hits during the “IIIIIIII’m” of the chorus. Blue Swede’s version of “Hooked On A Feeling” cranks up the catchiness of the original further than it should be allowed to go. (In any case, Blue Swede took out even the most harmless drug references, turning “I’ll just stay addicted and hope I can endure” into the even-more-meaningless “I just stay a victim, if I can for sure.”) And yet that chant just bulldozes its way into your skull and stays there forever.Īnd it’s not just the ooga-chakas. The ooga-chakas mean nothing, and they don’t have anything to do with the whole love-as-drug metaphor. With their version of “Hooked On A Feeling,” Blue Swede took that dinky fake war chant from the Jonathan King version and weaponized it, transforming it into a loud-as-hell brain-destroyer. (“Blue Suede.” I know.)Ĭredit the ooga-chakas - or, if you prefer, blame the ooga-chakas. So it got an American release, and Blåblus got an English-language stupid-pun name. (Blue Swede’s arrangement was supposedly based on “ Do You Like Worms?,” an unfinished and widely bootlegged Beach Boys song, but the only real similarity I hear is in the deeper chanting.) Blue Swede recorded their version, and it became a big Scandinavian hit. Skifs, who’d started out in the excellently named Swedish rock band Slam Creepers, started Blue Swede as a cover band called Blåblus, which is some kind of Swedish pun involving the word “blues.” That same year, they recorded their big, ridiculous version of “Hooked On A Feeling.” Blåblus had started covering the Jonathan King version of “Hooked On A Feeling” live. Blue Swede started in 1974, as a vehicle for the Swedish pop singer Björn Skifs. King was inspired to add the oogas and chakas after listening to Johnny Preston’s 1959 song “Running Bear.Blue Swede weren’t even a band when the Jonathan King version of “Hooked On A Feeling” came out. The famous ooga-chaka ooga-oogas that you hear at the opening of Blue Swede’s version was a result of a separate cover version of “Hooked on a Feeling.” In 1971, English singer/songwriter Jonathan King recorded his own version of the track and added the famous chant. The song peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The ’68 version also featured the electric sitar played by Reggie Young and produced by Chips Moman. (James wrote Presley’s hit “Suspicious Minds.”)įor “Hooked on a Feeling,” James pulled inspiration from his childhood sweetheart and penned lyrics revolving around young, and often unrequited, love. In addition to collaborations with Thomas, James also worked with none other than The King, Elvis Presley. Thomas released the original version of the song, which was written by Mark James.
Several years before, in 1968, country and pop singer B.J.
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