Song of the Day 2/27: Little Willie John, “Fever”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on February 27, 2020

This winter was the last time we’ll ever live through cold and flu season — from now on, it will be known as cold, flu and coronavirus season, because if the only thing standing between Earth and a pandemic is the Trump administration, dude, we’re getting a pandemic. Eventually we’ll all have the fever.

Of all the songs about fevers, this, as best I can determine, is the first. The song was co-written by Otis Blackwell, the tunesmith responsible for many of Elvis Presley’s early hits, and first recorded by Little Willie John, a successful R&B artist in the ’50s. The song reached No. 24 on the Hot 100.

While John’s record was a minor hit, Peggy Lee’s version, using lyrics she modified herself, was a smash. It reached No. 1 in 1958 and became her signature song.

The song has been recorded by scores of artists, including Madonna and Beyonce, but my favorite of the rocked-up interpretations was this 1965 release by the McCoys, led by singer/lead guitarist Richard Zehringer, who was still a few years away from renaming himself Rick Derringer.

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