Grand Funk – The Loco-Motion

This is one band the critics roasted during the seventies but they were extremely popular. Led Zeppelin was also the critic’s target but their music has aged very well. Grand Funk did come out with some catchy hits …and this remake is one of them.

I remember this song as a kid and I was captivated by it…I’ve always liked the overall sound of this recording that Todd Rundgren captured. He produced this album named Shinin’ On in 1974 and We’re an American Band the year before. He made a big difference with their sound. He started to work with them to shorten songs. When I was around 7 or 8…I heard this solo and it grabbed my attention.

Little Eva first took this song to #1 in 1962. The Grand Funk version peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100 and #1 in Canada in 1974. The Locomotion was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Another cover that Grand Funk did well with was Some Kind Of Wonderful.

The album Shinin’ On peaked at #5 on the Billboard Album Charts and #4 in Canada in 1974.

Don Brewer: “The idea of Locomotion came when we were working on the Shinin’ On album in the studio with Todd (Rundgren). We had basically finished the album – ‘Shinin’ On’ was going to be the first single, and we were thinking about what we were going to do for another song. Mark (Farner) came in one day and off the top of his head was singing, ‘Everybody’s doing a brand new dance now,’ just for fun, and we all went, ‘Yeah, Grand Funk doing the Locomotion.’ It was a tongue-in-cheek kind of thing, and we said, ‘Let’s try it, let’s do it,’ so we sent off to New York, got the lyrics, and Todd had the idea of doing the song kind of like The Beach Boys’ ‘Barbara Ann’ where it sounded like a big party was going on, except Todd could really crank up everything with the hand claps and all of that stuff. It just had this huge sound to it – it sounded like a big party.”

Gerry Goffin: “It’s like a nice gift. It is kind of weird hearing it done in a different way, but you can still hear how it appeals to the kids.”

The Locomotion

Everybody’s doing a brand-new dance, now
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
I know you’ll get to like it if you give it a chance now
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
My little baby sister can do it with me
It’s easier than learning your A-B-C
So come on, come on, do the Loco-motion with me
You gotta swing your hips, now

Come on
Jump up
Jump back
Well, now, I think you’ve got the knack
Wow, wow

Now that you can do it, let’s make a chain, now
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
A chug-a chug-a motion like a railroad train, now
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
Do it nice and easy, now, don’t lose control
A little bit of rhythm and a lot of soul

Come on, come on
And do the Loco-motion with me

Move around the floor in a Loco-motion
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
Do it holding hands if you get the notion
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)

There’s never been a dance that’s so easy to do
It even makes you happy when you’re feeling blue
So come on, come on, do the Loco-motion with me

(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
So come on, come on and do the Loco-motion with me
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
So come on, come on and do the Loco-motion with me
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)
(Come on baby, do the loco-motion)

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

28 thoughts on “Grand Funk – The Loco-Motion”

    1. It’s easier to list the albums he didn’t produce there for a while. Everyone from Badfinger to Grand Funk… That solo is what got me into guitar.

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    1. That solo in this one…caught my 7 year old ear…and I couldn’t get it out of my head. It helped me get into guitar. Funny things like that stick with you.

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      1. How to put this nicely?;) I avoided mentioning it in my first comment. That guitar solo seems appropriate for a 7 year old and the reason our parents dismissed rock and roll as noise…almost a parody of a rock guitar solo and one of the reasons I hated Grand Funk then and still do.

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      2. Whew…you should have been a rock critic. I’m going to brace myself when I post my songs lol. I’ll tell you with caution the other solo later on that really made me pick up a guitar and learn…the solo in We Will Rock You.

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      4. Oh we are scheduled to have some on Sunday. I’m looking forward to it. One inch will shut us down and I’ll get to work from home…so I hope it does….plus our Saint Bernard loves playing in the snow.

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  5. I love it, of course to me this was ‘the’ version of it since I was too young to have known the Little Eva version. I don’t know if I noticed Rundgren was producer, but he did a good job as usual.

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  9. While Grand Funk’s rendition of “The Locomotion” is okay, I really love Little Eva’s original and Carole King’s own version. You probably know Eva Boyd (Little Eve) worked as a babysitter for King and Gerry Goffin. She was still a teenager when they recorded and released that single.

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  10. I learned something about the song today. I’m most familiar with the GFR version. Had no idea Rundgren produced. It’s a good pop tune that brings back a particular time in my life, not a particularly good time, but I still like the song.

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  11. Pingback: Grand Funk – The Loco-Motion – MobsterTiger

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