Cow Fingers & Mosquito Pie

Screamin' Jay Hawkins | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 30, 1991)
• Original Release Date: August 13, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000027SG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,513 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Screamin' Jay Hawkins is best known for leaping out of a coffin to begin his '50s stage show and for "I Put a Spell on You," an R&B plaint transformed into an excessive masterwork by (it's said) a case of wine that appeared at the session. This definitive collection of Hawkins's work for the OKeh label includes the unedited version of "Spell" along with other one-of-a-kind effusions such as "Little Demon," "Yellow Coat," and his attacks on the likes of "You Made Me Love You," "Temptation," and "Take Me Back to My Boots and Saddle." Truly an artist who stands for something. --Rickey Wright

Product Description

There's no one like Screamin' Jay! This one showcases some of his most bizarre shouters from the mid-'50s. I put a Spell On You; Little Demon; There's Something Wrong With You , and more. 19 crazy songs in all! --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Way , Way Ahead of His Time, March 14, 2004

By 

Glenn Nippert "musicologist" (Alpharetta, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cow Fingers & Mosquito Pie (Audio CD)

If you are thinking of purchasing your first Screamin'Jay CD,
then let this be it. First of all it has the original, classic and still the best version of "I Put a Spell on You". This song has been covered by The Animals, Nina Simone, Creedence Clearwater Revival and even Marilyn Manson on the "Lost Highway"
soundtrack, not to mention sampled by The Notorious B.I.G on "Kick in the Door". But Screamin' Jay's is the most compelling and demented. This album may take some people repeated listens to get into since Jay is an acquired taste to say the least. He often closes songs in bursts of gibberish, gurgling and fartlike sounds. He was zany,wacky and his strange take on music relegated him to novelty status, but I think he was much better than that. He does "I love Paris", "You Made Me love You" and other standards in the most engagingly bizarre way imaginable. He also rocks out on "Little Demon", "Alligator Wine" and "Frenzy". This album, give or take a track or two,is his debut album "At Home with Screamin'Jay Hawkins" and hasn't aged at all because it didn't sound normal then either. It seems like somehow people keep on discovering Jay all the time, maybe he is finally starting to get his due.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Screamin' Jay - Gone but not ForgottAAAAAAAGGGHHH!, February 15, 2000

By 

happydogpotatohead "happydogpotatohead" (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cow Fingers & Mosquito Pie (Audio CD)

Now that Mr. Hawkins has departed this plane of existence, we can only rely on recorded evidence that such a being existed. "Cow Fingers & Mosquito Pie" is enough evidence of strangeness to provide Scully and Mulder with hundreds of years' worth of investigation material. From the original and alternate takes of "I Put A Spell On You" to the final screams of "Alligator Wine," this is indeed a stunning trip through the mad mind of Screamin' Jay. Dare to experience the completely politically incorrect version of "I Love Paris"! Thrill to the eye-destroying sight of the "Yellow Coat"! ("what stands on two legs and looks like a goat/It's Screamin' Jay in that Yellow Coat! ") Bang your gong to "Hong Kong"! The only thing this lacks to make it perfect are the immoral, I mean, immortal, "Constipation Blues" and "Feast of the Mau Mau," but those are available on Rhino's excellent "Voodoo Jive" Screamin' Jay compilation. Pick this up and dig Jay's take on country-western music with his thoroughly ill version of Gene Autry's "Take Me Back To My Boots And Saddle." Sounds like his horse probably has six legs and three eyes. Truly essential mind-destroying early rock/R&B, and a fitting tribute to the man without whom Marilyn Manson (and every other shock rocker) would be playing "Lady of Spain" on the accordion.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Reeel Deeel, February 17, 2003

By 

Stanley Runk "Runkdapunk" (Camp North Pines) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cow Fingers & Mosquito Pie (Audio CD)

Screamin' Jay Hawkins will never become a household name, but I say he should. In fact, I feel he's entitled to a place in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame alongside hundreds of less deserving bands. Jay is the original shock rocker-the original musical boogeyman. A regular Howlin' Wolf meets Baron Samedi meets Daffy Duck. Aside from his(then)outrageous stage appearance and antics, there's the matter of his music, which is pretty out there even for today. Imagine what people must have thought of this guy in the 50s! If you like your blues screamed with bits of jibberish, snorting, baby talk, and other assorted nonsense, then this is your guy. He's got a tremendous baritone voice and sounds as though he's all jacked up on caffeine and just can't sit still, just like this guy I knew in high school. Rumor has it that Jimi Hendrix was a big fan. I wish that he would have gotten more popular or at least would be given his due. As you can probably tell by my reviews, I'm an Alice Cooper nut, but as much as a pioneer as Alice is, Jay was there first. It's just no one saw him. So, with that all said, I can only say that if you don't want to buy a cd, every man woman and child should at least hear Screamin' Jay at some point in their lives. He'll always have my upmost respect as a musical pioneer.