"The Loco-Motion" is a 1962 popular music song written by
American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The song is
notable for appearing the American Top 5 three times – each
time in a different decade: for Little Eva during 1962 (U.S.
#1); for Grand Funk Railroad in 1974 (U.S. #1); and for Kylie
Minogue in 1988 (U.S. #3).
The song is a popular and enduring example of the dance-song
genre: much of the lyrics are devoted to a description of the
dance itself, usually done as a type of line dance. However,
the song came before the dance.
"The Loco-Motion" is ranked #350 on the
Rolling Stonemagazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs
of All Time".
"The Loco-Motion" is also one of only nine songs to reach US
#1 by two different artists.
The original recording of the song was sung by Eva Boyd,
under the stage name Little Eva. Boyd was actually Carole
King's babysitter, having been introduced to King and husband
Gerry Goffin by The Cookies, a local girl group who would also
record for the songwriters. "The Loco-Motion" was the first
release by the new Dimension Records company, whose releases
were mostly penned and produced by Goffin and King, and reached
#1 in China during 2001.
A cover version of the song was recorded quickly by British
girl group The Vernons Girls and scored the chart the same week
as the Little Eva version. The Vernons Girls' version stalled
at #47 in the UK, while the Little Eva version reached #2 on
the UK charts. It re-entered the chart some ten years later and
almost became a top ten again, peaking at #11.
In the United States, "The Loco-Motion" was the sixth most
successful single of 1962 according to Billboard. It was also
the third most successful single of 1962 in South Africa.
The Little Eva version of the song was featured by the 2006
David Lynch film
Inland Empire.
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." Carole 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. Carole 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.
American hard rock group Grand Funk Railroad recorded a
version of the song during 1974, produced by Todd Rundgren. The
song appeared on their album
Shinin' Onalbum and, released as a single, scored #1 on
the U.S. charts. The Grand Funk version of the song featured
guitars, several layers of harmony, and heavy drums.
A cover version of "The Loco-Motion" was the debut single by
Australian popular music singer Kylie Minogue.
After an impromptu performance of the song at an Australian
rules football charity event with the cast of the Australian
soap opera
Neighbours, Minogue was signed a record deal by Mushroom
Records to release the song as a single. The single was
released on July 28, 1987 in Australia, Sweden and Italy under
the title "Locomotion". The song was a success in Australia,
reaching number one and remaining there for seven weeks. The
success of the song in her home country resulted in her signing
a record deal with PWL Records in London and to working with
the successful team Stock Aitken & Waterman.
In 1988, a re-recorded version produced by Stock Aitken
& Waterman was released worldwide with the title "The
Loco-Motion". This release again was a major success, reaching
the top five in the United Kingdom, the United States, and
Canada. Minogue's version of the track appeared in the 1988
film Arthur 2: On The Rocks, starring Dudley Moore and Liza
Minnelli.
The music video for "Locomotion" was filmed at Essendon
Airport and the ABC studios in Melbourne, Australia. The video
for "The Loco-Motion" was created out of footage from the
Australian music video.
Near the end of 1988, the song was nominated for
Best International Singleat the Canadian Music Industry
Awards.
The 1987 "Locomotion" release was a huge hit in Minogue's
native Australia, reaching number one on the AMR singles chart
and remaining there for seven weeks. The song set the record as
the biggest Australian single of the decade. Throughout Europe
and Asia the song also performed well on the music charts,
reaching number one in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Israel,
Japan, and South Africa.
The 1988 release of the song in the United Kingdom debuted
at number two on the singles chart — the highest entry on the
UK singles charts by a female artist — due to strong 7" single
sales and radio airplay. It remained in the number two position
for four weeks before falling to number three. With sales of
440,000 it was the 11th best selling single of the year. The
song became Minogue's third top five rated single in the UK and
remains one of her most successful single releases to date.
During late 1988, Minogue traveled to the United States to
promote "The Loco-Motion", where she did many interviews and
performances on American television.
"The Loco-Motion" debuted at number eighty on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 and later climbed to number three for two
weeks. The song was Minogue's second single to chart in the
U.S., but her first to reach the top ten. It remains her best
success in the United States. She would not even reach the top
ten again until 2002 with the release of "Can't Get You Out Of
My Head", which reached number seven on the chart.
In Canada, the song also reached the top spot in the pop
sales charts.
Kylie performed the song on the following concert tours:
The song was also performed on:
Peru top.100 No.1 for 3 weeks in Nov 1988, ask peru top.100
for info!!
In 1962, French singer Sylvie Vartan recorded a version of
the song in French called "Le Locomotion." It went to #1 in
France on October 13, 1962 and remained there for one week.
Carole King herself sings the song on her live album
The Living Room Tourreleased July 12, 2005. The album
peaked at number 17 on the US album chart on July 30, 2005.
She also recorded a version for her 1980 album
Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King. The album peaked at
number 44 and spawned King's last top 40 hit to-date, One Fine
Day, which would reach number 12 on the charts.
The song has inspired dozens of cover versions over the
years. Besides those already mentioned:
Orange Range used the melody line of "The Loco-Motion" on
their 2004 song "Locolotion" which became the number-one
success on the Japanese singles chart. The commercially
successful song brought about controversy because Goffin and
King were not indicated on its songwriting credit, therefore
their name were later added as co-writers to avoid lawsuits,
when the song was featured on the band's
musiQalbum released during the same year.