With The Abbey Road Sessions finally released this week, I was thinking about the longevity of one of Kylie Minogue’s biggest hits—a remake of Little Eva’s 1962 pop-dance hit, The Locomotion. Kylie’s 1987 version was the first song to introduce her to the international pop-music landscape. Although the version and subsequent music video were bubble gum, saccharin-laced, really, Kylie has never turned her back on what made her famous, musically speaking. And over the past 25 years, she has continued to reinvent the song to make it fresh for her and her audience.
The version that now appears on The Abbey Road Sessions is actually the closest to the Little Eva original. With its ‘60s-inspired baritone sax, harmonious backing vocalists, and the prerequisite series of 1-2-1-2 handclaps for good measure, it sounds so throwback I can imagine Kylie, in another life, sporting a fringe mini and singing in black and white on The Ed Sullivan Show or Shindig. BSo
Here’s a one-minute clip of Little Eva on Shindig:
Twenty-five years in 4 minutes: the many incarnations of Kylie’s The Locomotion through the decades—from ‘80s bubble gum and ’90s gold-jacket Kylie, to the ‘00s “brothel” and big-band versions where Kylie really finds her voice, to the reinterpreted retro sound in 2012:
The Locomotion live in Abu Dhabi 2012. Kylie can wear blue mop strands and still look amazing. The vocal run at 1:30 to the end at 2:14 is so period, it makes you want to Frug. Backing vocalists, Lucita Jules (L) and Roxy Rizzo (R) channel the '60s part in red cocktail wear:
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