Kung Fu Fighting
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| “Kung Fu Fighting” | |||||
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| Single by Carl Douglas | |||||
| Released | 1974 | ||||
| Length | 03:13 | ||||
| Label | 20th Century Records | ||||
| Producer | Biddu Appaiah | ||||
| Carl Douglas singles chronology | |||||
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"Kung Fu Fighting" is a song performed by Carl Douglas. It was released as a single in 1974, at the cusp of a chopsocky film craze, and quickly rose to the top of British and American charts. The song is also famous for its use of the quintessential Asian Riff — a short musical phrase that is used to signify Asian culture.
It was originally meant to be a B-side to I Want to Give You My Everything by Brooklyn songwriter Larry Weiss, and was recorded in the last ten minutes of his studio time.[1][2] This song has been featured prominently in pop culture including Mott's Clamato advertisements.
Douglas states that his inspiration to write the song was affected by three factors: He had seen a kung fu movie, later visited a jazz concert by Oscar Peterson and was suffering from side-effects of pain killers (Douglas had injured his foot playing football)[citation needed]. Another account gives his inspiration as simply seeing two kids in London doing kung fu moves[1].
The song remains one of the most fondly remembered one-hit wonders. Kung Fu Fighting was also rated #100 in VH1's 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders. It appeared at number one in the UK's Channel 4's Top 10 One Hit Wonders list in 2000 and again in the station's 50 Greatest One Hit Wonders poll in 2006. It was also included in another 2006 programme for Channel 4, Bring Back... the 1 Hit Wonders, for which Carl Douglas performed the song in a live concert.
[edit] Influence on pop culture
British dance act Bus Stop reached #8 on the UK charts with their 1998 remix single of "Kung Fu Fighting", which sampled the original vocals by Carl Douglas and added rap verses.
"Kung Fu Fighting" is heard today on most radio oldies stations and even on Radio Disney. It's also used as a background song in the ads for Disney's Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior. The song also appeared in early versions of Dance Dance Revolution and can be heard in a disco scene in the acclaimed Brazilian film City of God. It was also used in a humorous TV commercial for the U.S. insurance company Geico in which the company's mascot (a talking gecko) breaks into the song while on a road trip, to the initial chagrin and disbelief of the other passengers, who in the end start singing along.)
In the Scrubs episode "My Day at the Races", "Kung Fu Fighting" was playing while Turk and The Todd fought a large group of surgical ninjas, who were all trying to retrieve the attending surgeon's briefcase to get on his good side. Also, in the episode "His Story", J.D. is seen singing the song on the elevator just before it stops working.
The song was performed live by Carl Douglas on Dutch absurdity show Discohoek.
In addition to the song's TV appearances, it has been used in several movies since 1974, including Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Shaolin Soccer, Little Manhattan, Epic Movie, Beverly Hills Ninja, Sin noticias de Dios, Bowfinger, Kung Fu Panda, and Rush Hour 3, in which Chris Tucker sings the song after successfully defeating a group of Triads in martial combat. It has also been used in most (if not all) of the trailers for the films Kung Fu Panda & Kung Fu Hustle for Asia.
The song appears in the video games Boogie for the Wii and Kung Fu Chaos for the Xbox. The song is featured on the soundtrack of a ZooYork skate podcast filmed on their latest trip to China.
The song was very popular in Jamaica and there were several cover versions by reggae artists including Lloyd Parks, The Maroons, The Cimarons, and Pluto Shervington[3]. Another cover version was made by Billy and Tyler and Derek was there too.
| Preceded by "I Can Help" by Billy Swan |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single December 7, 1974 |
Succeeded by "Cat's in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin |
| Preceded by "Boogie on Reggae Woman" by Stevie Wonder |
Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs number one single January 11, 1975 |
Succeeded by "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" by Barry White |
| Preceded by "Love Me For A Reason" by Osmonds |
UK Singles Chart number one single September 17, 1974 |
Succeeded by "Annie's Song" by John Denver |
[edit] References
- ^ a b Kung Fu Fighting, SongFacts.com
- ^ Bronson, Fred. The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. 4th ed. New York: Billboard Books, 1997. 385.
- ^ Search for "kung fighting", Roots-Archives.com
