Little Eva – Loco-motion

“The Loco-Motion” – Single by Little Eva from the album Llllloco-Motion. Released in June 1962.

The husband-and-wife songwriting team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote this song. Little Eva was Eva Boyd, the babysitter – actually more of a nanny – being paid $35/week to watch their daughter Louise and clean the house. They were all young: Eva was 17, King 19 and Goffin 22. One day King came up with a melody that Goffin thought sounded like a locomotive, and when he saw Eva dancing with their daughter to the tune, he got the idea to make the song about a brand new dance – The Loco-Motion. He wrote the lyrics and they brought Eva to the studio and had her record the song as a demo – they were hoping Dee Dee Sharp would sing it. Their producer Don Kirshner thought Eva’s vocal was just fine, so they named her Little Eva and had her record the song. The only downside for King and Goffin was losing their nanny: when the song became a million-seller, Eva was able to buy a place of her own.

“The Loco-Motion” was the first release by the new Dimension Records company, whose releases were mostly penned and produced by Goffin and King. There are two common versions of the song in circulation: one includes handclaps during the verses; the other has no handclaps. King performed the backup vocals in the recording.

The widely believed story of how the song “The Loco-Motion” came to be is that Carole King was playing music at home and Eva Boyd was doing some chores and started dancing to it; the dance The Loco-Motion was born. However, this is not true. Eva Boyd was introduced to Goffin and King and they realized she had a good singing voice, so they had her record “The Loco-Motion”. King stated this during an interview on National Public Radio (NPR) shortly after Little Eva died.

As the song came before the dance, there was no dance when the song was originally written. When the song became a smash hit, Eva Boyd ended up having to create a dance to go along with the song. King stated this in her “One to One” concert video. In live performances of the song, Little Eva can be seen doing her version of the dance.

Top-40 DJ Dan Ingram has been quoted as saying that he believes the original “The Loco-Motion” was recorded by King herself. Producer Pete Waterman has also stated he believes it is King singing on the recording.

“Loco” means “crazy” in Spanish, implying that the dance was a crazy motion.

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The LocoMotion Little Eva FULL SONG ReEdit STEREO HiQ Hybrid JARichardsFilm 720p02:15

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The LocoMotion Little Eva FULL SONG ReEdit STEREO HiQ Hybrid JARichardsFilm 720p02:15

Backup Vocals for the video: Darlene Love & The Blossoms

Lyrics:
Everybody is 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-B-Cs
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, I think you’ve got the knack

Whoa-whoa, 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
Come on, come on, do the Loco-motion with me

Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah, 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

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