Who recorded it first
Hooked on a Feeling
Not a Blue Swede original — a 1968 B. J. Thomas single on Scepter
Because of “Reservoir Dogs” and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” trailers, most listeners assume “Hooked on a Feeling” began with Blue Swede in 1974. It did not. Mark James wrote it and B. J. Thomas recorded it at American Sound Studio in Memphis in 1968, produced by Chips Moman, with Reggie Young’s electric sitar as its signature; Scepter Records issued it as a single that reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The chanted intro everyone imitates is not on the original at all — it was added by Jonathan King in 1971 and inherited by Blue Swede.
The record
Who recorded it first
Released Issued by Scepter Records in 1968 as a US single (catalogue SCE12230), backed with “I’ve Been Down This Road Before,” and included on Thomas’s Scepter album “On My Way.”
Charted A genuine hit, not an obscurity: No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969, and No. 3 in Canada. The parent album reached No. 133 on the Billboard 200.
Hear B. J. Thomas’s original recording, as it appears on the 1968 Scepter album “On My Way.” www.youtube.com · Auto-generated “Provided to YouTube by Gusto Records” upload on the B. J. Thomas Topic channel, credited to the album “On My Way” with Mark James as composer. Its 2:47 running time is within a second of the 2:48 master documented on Wikipedia (MusicBrainz lists 2:44 for the same recording), ruling out a re-cut; the ℗ 2005 Gusto line is a catalogue reissue claim — Gusto controls the Scepter masters — not a re-recording date.How to check this yourself
The song’s Wikipedia article ↗ dates the B. J. Thomas recording to 1968 at American Sound Studio in Memphis, credits Mark James as writer and Chips Moman as producer, and notes Reggie Young’s electric sitar.
The MusicBrainz recording entity ↗ for the original links to the 1968 United States Scepter single, catalogue SCE12230.
“On My Way” ↗, the 1968 Scepter album, lists the song as one of its two singles and records its No. 5 US peak.
Best Classic Bands ↗ traces the chanted introduction to Jonathan King’s 1971 version rather than to either the original or Blue Swede.
The Official Charts entry ↗ for Jonathan King’s version records its No. 23 peak and ten weeks on the UK singles chart from November 1971.
Wikipedia: Hooked on a Feeling — the original and its coversKnow more about the original — or think we’ve got it wrong? Add a source →
Fact-check
Setting the record straight
Blue Swede’s 1974 single is the version almost everyone can hum, and film soundtracks have kept it that way. But it is a cover of a cover’s idea, sitting on top of a 1968 American hit.
Blue Swede
Their No. 1 single is the arrangement used in “Reservoir Dogs” and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” campaign, so most listeners have never heard any other.
B. J. Thomas
Recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis, produced by Chips Moman with Reggie Young on electric sitar, and issued by Scepter Records; it reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Mark James
He wrote the song, as he wrote “Suspicious Minds” in the same period; neither Blue Swede nor B. J. Thomas had a hand in writing it.
Jonathan King
The chanted introduction that defines the Blue Swede record was King’s addition on his 1971 version, which reached No. 23 in the UK. It is not on the 1968 original.
First recorded by B. J. Thomas in 1968 for Scepter Records; written by Mark James; taken to No. 1 by Blue Swede in 1974.
Context
Why the cover swallowed the original
The unusual thing about this one is that the original was not obscure. B. J. Thomas’s record was a hit — No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, pulled from his Scepter album “On My Way,” cut at American Sound Studio in Memphis with Chips Moman producing and Reggie Young playing the electric sitar line that gives the record its shimmer. It was not overlooked. It was overwritten.
What overwrote it was an addition nobody in Memphis had anything to do with. In 1971 the English singer and producer Jonathan King recorded the song with a chanted vocal introduction of his own invention, and reached No. 23 on the UK singles chart. Blue Swede kept that chant, added brass and a heavier beat, and in April 1974 went to No. 1 in the United States. The hook that now defines the song in most people’s heads is therefore not the songwriter’s, not the original artist’s, and not even the hit act’s — and once film soundtracks locked onto that arrangement, the 1968 record had no way back.
The chronology, step by step
- 1968 — Mark James writes the song; B. J. Thomas records it at American Sound Studio in Memphis with Chips Moman producing and Reggie Young on electric sitar.
- 1968 — Scepter Records issues it as a single (catalogue SCE12230), backed with “I’ve Been Down This Road Before”; it also appears on the Scepter album “On My Way.”
- 1969 — the Thomas single peaks at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- 1971 — Jonathan King records a version with a chanted introduction of his own devising, reaching No. 23 in the UK.
- 1973 — Blue Swede, fronted by Björn Skifs, record the song and release it in Sweden in May, keeping King’s chant.
- 1974 — EMI issues it in the United States in February; it reaches No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April.
- 1992 and 2014 — the Blue Swede recording appears on the “Reservoir Dogs” soundtrack and then in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” campaign, cementing that arrangement as the version most listeners know.
The original was a top-five hit. It still lost.