Blog: Doctor Mooney's 115th Dream

The one-time golden gloves victor was a well-oiled booze machine when unloading the demented spooky carnage of “I Put A Spell On You.” It was intended to be a sweet love ballad before head of Columbia Records Arnold Maxim fetched some gin and whiskey for the session; sinister pie-eyed madness ensued. Throughout his finest three minutes on wax, his first — and only — hit, backed by a menacing ghoulish shuffle, Hawkins comes off as a deranged R&B evangelist. His wicked spectral baritone oozing snarled feral shouts, “I put a spell on you / Because you're mine,” The [...]