Le Freak by Chic

About

“Le Freak” enjoyed #1 status atop the disco charts for seven consecutive weeks in the summer of 1978, as well as being the first song to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 three separate times. On New Year’s Eve 1977, disco star Grace Jones had invited Rodgers and Edwards to the exclusive widely popular New York City nightclub Studio 54 but hadn’t put them on the guest list. After being denied access by an ignorant rude doorman and despite the fact that Chic’s music was regularly played in the club, the pair angrily left and ending up creating what would become one of the era’s most enduring classic dance-funk songs. As Nile Rodgers told Sound On Sound: We were so pissed off at what had happened. I mean, it was Studio 54, it was New Year’s Eve, it was Grace Jones, and we were wearing the most expensive outfits that we had… We grabbed a couple of bottles of champagne from the corner liquor store and then went back to my place, plugged in our instruments and started jamming. Originally the song featured the lyrics “Fuck off!“ but by the end of the night Rodgers had lightened it up a bit: That night we actually converted ‘fuck off’ to ‘freak out’. First, we changed it from ‘fuck off’ to ‘freak off’ and that was pretty hideous. Then, all of a sudden, it just hit me. For one second, the light bulb went on and I sang ‘Aaaaahh, freak out!’ http://imgur.com/jDXIbaX