Rock & roll pioneer Screamin’ Jay Hawkins had only one hit, the voodoo blues funeral march “I Put a Spell on You.” Springing from a coffin with a bone in his nose and shakin’ a human skull on a walking staff named Henry at his audience, the Cleveland-born singer (1929-2000) was the genre’s first shock rocker. Scaring the snot out of many teenage white girls at Brooklyn’s Paramount Theatre in 1956, he also had a penchant for self-mythology: Raised by Indians, lying about his age to fight in World War II, father of 75 bastard children, dropped as star of Jailhouse Rock after the studio decided he was too black and weird. Rolling Stone contributor Mark Binelli is a comic genius for channeling those latter attributes. This Novel scans some of the most hilarious rock & roll fiction ever, especially the description of the aforementioned film had Hawkins played Vince Everett, and schooling Elvis Presley in the occult. Gracefully, the book does not condescend, telling these leg-pullers with wit and warmth.

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ All-Time Greatest Hits: a novel

by Mark Binelli
Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Company, 224 pp., $26

This article appears in December 9 • 2016.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

Tim Stegall contributed to The Austin Chronicle 1991-1995, and was a staff writer 1995-1997. He returned as a contributor in 2013. He has also freelanced for publications ranging from Flipside to Alternative Press to Guitar World. He plays punk rock guitar and sings in the Hormones.