"I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)" is a song written by

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and 1 ...

and recorded by

Ike & Tina Turner Ike & Tina Turner were an American musical duo consisting of husband and wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by Ike Turner's band the Kings of Rhythm and backing vocal ...

's backing trio

The Ikettes The Ikettes, originally The Artettes, were a trio (sometimes quartet) of female backing vocalists for the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Despite their origins, the Ikettes became successful artists in their own right. In the 1960s they had hits such as ...

in 1961. In 2017, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' ranked the song No. 63 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.

Overview

Like most of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue's music during this time, it was recorded while the group was on the road. By 1961, the formerly known Artettes had been singing as a backing trio with Ike & Tina for over a year, having been involved since the hit, "

A Fool in Love "A Fool in Love" is the debut single by Ike & Tina Turner. It was released on Sue Records in 1960. The song is Tina Turner's first professional release although she had been recording with Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm since 1958. It was the f ...

". To bide time in the studio, Ike Turner wrote a song custom-made for the

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

herself was involved in the recording, helping to arrange the vocals and could be heard singing along in the background. Ike Turner credited the song's production to him and Tina. Since Ike & Tina recorded for

Sue Records ''Sue Records was also the name of a Louisiana-based record company which owned Jewel Records (Shreveport record label).'' Sue Records ("The Sound of Soul") was an American record label founded by Henry 'Juggy' Murray and Bobby Robinson in 1957. ...

, Ike Turner decided to distribute the record to another company, agreeing to sign an advance to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

Atco Atco or ATCO may refer to: Businesses * ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies ** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company * Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing com ...

subsidiary in late 1961 for the song. Released in November 1961, the song became a national hit reaching No. 19 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 3 on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

. "I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)" was the fifth hit single associated with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue and the first of three charting singles for the original Ikettes between 1962 and 1965.

Later versions and samples

The song would later be recorded by: *

The Spencer Davis Group The Spencer Davis Group were a British band formed in Birmingham in 1963 by Spencer Davis (guitar), brothers Steve Winwood (keyboards, guitar) and Muff Winwood (bass guitar), and Pete York (drums). Their best known songs include the UK numbe ...

The Newbeats ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

on their debut album '' Bread & Butter'' *

Sylvie Vartan Sylvie Vartan (; born Sylvie Georges Vartanian; hy, Սիլվի Ժորժ Վարդանյան. on 15 August 1944) is an Armenian-Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. ...

(called "Gong Gong" and recorded in French) *

The Shangri-Las The Shangri-Las were an American pop girl group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 several hit songs of theirs documented teen tragedies and melodramas. They continue to be known for their hits "Remember (Walking in the Sand)", "Give Him a Gre ...

The Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists. A founding member of the group was Dionne Warwick, who was later replaced by her aunt, Cis ...

*Decades later, the song, in its Sweet Inspirations version, would famously be sampled by

Salt-n-Pepa Salt-N-Pepa (also stylized as Salt 'N' Pepa or Salt 'N Pepa) is an American hip-hop group formed in New York City in 1985, that comprised Salt (Cheryl James), Pepa (Sandra Denton), and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper). Their debut album, ''Hot, C ...

on their 1993 hit, " Shoop". Upon hearing of the news of his song being sampled, Ike Turner re-recorded the song with Joe Louis Walker that same year.

In popular culture

*"I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)" is featured on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the 1988 film ''

Hairspray Hairspray may refer to: * Hair spray, a personal grooming product that keeps hair protected from humidity and wind * ''Hairspray'' (1988 film), a film by John Waters ** ''Hairspray'' (1988 soundtrack), the film's soundtrack album ** ''Hairspray ...

'' *The song also appears in ''

Kill Bill Volume 1 ''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. Fox) an ...

'', where it is performed by The 5.6.7.8's.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

*Lead vocal by Delores Johnson *Background vocals by

Joshie Armstead Josephine Armstead (born October 8, 1944), also known as "Joshie" Jo Armstead, is an American soul singer and songwriter. Armstead began her career singing backing vocals for blues musician Bobby "Blue" Bland before becoming an Ikette in the Ike ...

, Eloise Hester and

*Instrumentation by

(piano) and The Kings of Rhythm *Written by Ike Turner *Produced by Ike Turner and Tina Turner (listed as "A I-&-T-T Production")

References

{{authority control 1961 songs 1961 singles Songs written by Ike Turner Song recordings produced by Ike Turner The Ikettes songs The Newbeats songs Atco Records singles