1 Major Singer Wrote Little Eva’s ‘The Loco-Motion’

Many of the greatest classic rock stars gave away tunes to other artists. For example, Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion” was written by one of the most prominent female rock stars of all time. The track is one of the only songs to reach No. 1 twice when two different artists performed it.

Carole King wrote Little Eva’s ‘The Loco-Motion’

Carole King was a massive pop star. Her album Tapestry is one of the most acclaimed albums ever. During her peak in the 1970s, King wrote and sang hits like “Jazzman,” “One Fine Day,” “It’s Too Late,” “Nightingale,” and “I Feel the Earth Move.” While King became a household name in the 1970s, she spent much of the 1960s writing hit songs for other artists with her then-husband, Gerry Goffin.

Hits King and Goffin co-wrote during the 1960s include Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” The Monkees’ “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” and The Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.” While those songs are all emotional powerhouses or feature some social commentary, King also had a silly, fun side. That’s why she and Goffin also penned “The Loco-Motion.”

Little Eva was given the song because she was cleaning Carole King’s house

During a 2012 interview with the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, King discussed how she came to give “The Loco-Motion” to Little Eva. “I was a mother of two by then and I really needed some help around the house, and I was a working mom,” she said. “So Eva came to work for Gerry and me. The legend is that she was pushing the broom around the house and we said, ‘We must record that voice.’ But we knew she could sing and we used her on some of our demos.”

Music publisher Don Kirshner helped make the song a hit. “Donny decided that he was going to start a record company,” King recalled. “So we have Little Eva record this song that we had written for Dee Dee Sharp, who had had ‘The Mashed Potato.’  So we recorded this demo, and Dee Dee Sharp didn’t want or need our song. So Donny said, ‘You know what? I’m going to start a record label.’ And so he just took that demo and put it out, and that was ‘Loco-Motion.’ It was just fun. I wrote the music.”

How ‘The Loco-Motion’ became a No. 1 twice

According to The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a week in 1962. The track’s success was not a huge surprise. Early 1960s radio was rife with novelty dance songs like Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” and Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash.” 

What is surprising is that ‘The Loco-Motion” became a No. 1 single twice. Grand Funk Railroad’s cover of the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1974. Grand Funk Railroad’s cover lacks the charm of the original but it kept the song alive for when Kylie Minogue covered it as her debut single in 1988. To think, without King’s songwriting genius, we might not have Minogue’s career!

“The Loco-Motion” isn’t King’s most significant accomplishment — but it’s still a lot of fun!