Album: LLLLLoco-Motion (1962)

Charted: 2 1

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• Everybody's doin' a brand-new dance, now
  (Come on baby, do the Loco-motion)
  I know you'll get to like it if you give it a chance now
  (Come on baby, do the Loco-motion)
  My little baby sister can do it with me,
  It's easier than learning your A, be, see's,
  So come on, come on, do the Loco-motion with me.
  You gotta swing your hips, now. Come on, baby.
  Jump up. Jump back. Well, now, I think you've got the knack.
  
  Now that you can do it, let's make a chain, now.
  (Come on baby, do the Loco-motion)
  A chug-a chug-a motion like a railroad train, now.
  (Come on baby, do the Loco-motion)
  Do it nice and easy, now, don't lose control:
  A little bit of rhythm and a lot of soul.
  So come on, come on, do the Loco-motion with me.
  
  Move around the floor in a Loco-motion.
  (Come on baby, do the Loco-motion)
  Do it holding hands if you get the notion.
  (Come on baby, do the Loco-motion)
  There's never been a dance that's so easy to do.
  It even makes you happy when you're feeling blue,
  So come on, come on, do the Loco-motion with me Writer/s: Carole King, Gerry Goffin
  Publisher: Kanjian Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 14

• Christopher Patefield from LondonIn 1962 the King Georges Hall in Blackburn Lancashire (yes that one) had a run of rock and roll concerts. I was 12 and started going with two of my school friends. We went to three. The first was Gene Vincent and Brenda Lee, the second was Jerry Lee Lewis with Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and the third was Brian Hyland with Little Eva. All 3 concerts were poorly attended as pop music was in the doldrums at the time with the end of the rock and roll era. Little did we know that the Beatles and many other great bands were waiting just around the corner.
• Tim from Bloomington, IlAnybody know how they got that heavy sort of smashing tambourine sound with the drums? Did they just stick a couple of tambourines together and set them on the drum kit? It reminds me of a Motown song where they dragged or struck a set of tire chains. Oh, it's Dancing in the Street: https://motownjunkies.co.uk/2012/10/26/544/
• Paul Mason from Liverpool, EnglandI have heard a story that the singer was Carole King herself but she was told the song sounded black (African-American )and she decided to ask Eva Boyd to be the "face" of the song. No doubt Eva could sing, and did so live and had a short and successful career. Sadly she only made it to 60. Eva Boyd RIP.
• Jennifur Sun from RamonaThanks so much for doing that aritcle. Often wondered who some of the musicians for the Brill Building recordings were. Could never find any info.
• Babbling Babette from Tulsa OkI love this record by Little Eva. I knew it from my first hubby's record collection. He was much oler than me & he grew up in the Sixties and loved all the dance-crazes (The Bird, Watusi, The Twist, Mashed Potato, Fly, Pony, Twine, Jerk, Monkey, etc.). I recall he was a big Dee Dee Sharp fan & he had her LP "All The Hits By Dee Dee Sharp" that had a much better version of The Loco-Motion on it. As history goes, the song was composed for Dee Dee Sharp in hopes she'd record it, but the VIPs at her label, Cameo-Parkway Records, turned it down. What fools! Then Litte Eva & The Loco-Motion became famous. A lot of history behind this record & song. My ex-hubby got me interested in Early Sixties rock which is definitely different from that of the Late Sixties. I've heard that Little Eva Boyd passed on from terrible health problems, but Dee Dee Sharp is still an R&B star in Philadelphia. And a big thanks to Barry of Sauquoit, NY for all the wonderful background info.
  
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyConcerning the next post below; on the same March 3rd, 1965 'Shindig!' episode Little Eva also performed "Let's Turkey Trot"; it had entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 two years earlier on January 27th, 1963 at position #82; and seven weeks later on March 17th, 1963 it peaked at #20 {for 1 week} and spent 10 weeks on the Top 100...
  Besides this record and "The Loco-motion"; she had two other Top 100 records; "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" {peaked at #12 in 1962} and "Old Smokey Locomotion" {reached #63 in 1963}.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 3rd 1965, Little Eva performed "The Loco-Motion" on the ABC-TV program 'Shindig!'...
  Three years earlier on June 24th, 1962 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #86; and on August 19th it peaked at #1 (for 1 week) and spent 16 weeks on the Top 100...
  And on the same day it reached #1 on the Top 100 it also peaked at #1 (for 3 weeks) on Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
  "The Loco-Motion" bumped Neil Sedaka's "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" out of the #1 spot on the Top 100; and the trio the Cookies sang back-up on both records (the Cookies biggest hit was "Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)"; it peaked at #7 in 1963)...
  And on April 28th, 1974 Grand Funk's covered version of the song also peaked at #1 (for 2 weeks) on the Top 100...
  R.I.P. 'Little' Eva Narcissus Boyd (1943 - 2003) and Jimmy O'Neill (Shindig's host, 1940 - 2013).
• Marcus from Columbus, OhAn underground comic book features the story of "The Birmingham Angel" aka Christine McKay, who came to Columbus, Ohio to find an 8 year old child named Michael Mercury & kill him off as a child before he grows up to be her assassin as an adult. One of her theme songs was "Locomotion" by Little Eva. At the final stand off at Garfield's Garage, The Birmingham Angel on November 8, 1963 met her opponents with her Chaos-powered, 1957 Plymouth Fury & Michael took up a partner named Bridget Lundgren, an exchange student from LA & she operated The Bulldozer named "Baby Huey". When McKay's car was totaled by Baby Huey, the last song played on the radio was "Locomotion" by Little Eva. The rest is history. McKay's Racial War was averted but two weeks later The Nation loses a President in Dallas. But "Locomotion" was McKay's favorite theme song.
• Elmer H from Westville, OkThis was a great hit for Little Eva Boyd in '62. I was a kid back then & my brother bought the 45 rpm single. We saw Little Eva on American Bandstand. Much later I heard that Little Eva became destitute, yet made a comeback and was touring the Oldies Circuit a while. Then I heard she had passed away due to health problems. I loved this song and her follow-up "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby!" Plus, she had "Let's Turkey Trot" (1963) that was on the soundtrack of the great movie "Easy Rider." When I saw that movie, I was so surprised it was included in a late Sixties movie because by then the music "scene" had changed dramatically to more socially relevant music. Still, Little Eva left her mark on rock and roll history.
• Bubblesk from Memphis, TnI still love hearing Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" (written by Carole King & Gerry Goffin) from 1962. A #1 hit. And years later I bought Grand Funk's version too which had a funky guitar break. The song sure has a history! I remember hearing that the song's demo was taken to Cameo-Parkway Records in hopes of getting the red-hot singer Dee Dee Sharp to record it. Dee Dee had just hit the top with the 1962 million-sellers "Mashed Potato Time," "Gravy," and then "Ride!" But Cameo turned it down cold. When "Loco-Motion" hit #1 Cameo must've imploded! Not a good decision by Cameo president Bernie Lowe who made some terrible financial decisions later that domed Cameo-Parkway Records. Dee Dee Sharp, however, did record "The Loco-Motion" and included it in her 1962 album of party tunes on "All The Hits by Dee Dee Sharp." I bought that LP too & DeeDee Sharp's version had a bigger bass beat to her recording and since she had a stronger, trained voice she made the song come alive.
• Barry from New York, NcLittle Eva's vocals sound rather uninspired and rudimentary. Anybody could have sung it better than her.
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny
  At the Beacon Theatre in NYC on July 3rd, 1976
  Bruce Springsteen makes a spur-of-the-moment stage appearance at the final night of Carole King's 3-night appearance, singing a rollicking duet with Carole on the evening's encore, "Loco-motion".
• Tom from Green Bay, WiAs told by Carole King herself (on CBS Sunday Morning, 7/24/05): "Our babysitter (Little Eva) was cleaning around the house, humming and singing. I stopped her and said "We need to write a song for you." So we sat down...and did...and lost our babysitter!!"
• Rene from Blaine, MnThe locomotion dance was created after the song came out.

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