REVOLVER:WHO WOULD have thought that Carole King – her of introspective singer-songwriter fame and the gazillion-selling Tapestryalbum – would be responsible for one of the most controversial songs of all time?
Back in 1962 when she was still married to Gerry Goffin, King was alarmed by the bruising on the face of her babysitter, Eva Boyd. Talking to Boyd, who would later become the singer Little Eva (King and Goffin wrote The Locomotionfor her), King found out that Boyd had been beaten by her boyfriend. What alarmed King was that Little Eva told her her boyfriend only hit her because he cared so deeply about her.
King and Goffin immediately wrote He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss). The lyric was supposed to address the dangerous situation facing women such as Little Eva and the fact she took responsibility for her partner's actions.
“He hit me and it felt like a kiss. He hit me and I knew he loved me. If he didn’t care for me I could have never made him mad. But he hit me, and I was glad.” You can scour all your death metal records and even the nasty end of the Oi! movement and you won’t find words as incendiary as that.
It’s hardly surprising but no one really got what Goffin and King were trying to do with the song: highlighting the sad rationale behind Little Eva’s comments. Radio wouldn’t play it, and it was generally viewed as an endorsement of violence against women and not, as intended, a protest song – or at the very least a satirical comment on such a mindset.
The blame for all of this we now know lies with Phil Spector. Critic Dave Thompson wrote of Spector's role in the song's production: "His arrangement amplified its savagery . . . The backing vocals almost trilled their own belief that the boy had done nothing wrong. In more ironic hands, He Hit Memight have passed at least as satire, but Spector showed no sign of appreciating that, nor did he feel any need to."
Spector is serving 20 years to life for the murder of actor Lana Clarkson. A just-released DVD called The Agonyand The Ecstasy of Phil Spectorfeatures He Hit Meand other Spector productions prominently, and is one of the most remarkable documentaries you'll see this or any other year.
You're constantly torn between admiring the godlike genius of a man who could shape such sublime moments as Be My Babyand Then He Kissed Meand squirming whenever he opens his mouth and comes out with some nonsense about his life, times and persecution.
The documentary is made up of interviews Spector gave just before his first trial for Clarkson’s murder. Originally made for the BBC, such is the brilliance of the work that it is now getting a commercial release. Throughout, Spector is a remarkable presence, but the more you hear you him talk (and he does so at length on a whole range of topics), the more you worry for his mindset. Spector is still trying to appeal his way out of the sentence.
When he’s not comparing himself to Bach, da Vinci and Galileo, he’s taking digs at his rival cultural icons (Hitchcock, Brian Wilson), elevating himself above Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney and taking the credit for the careers of Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese.
And you really don’t want to get him started on The Beatles. He shifts up a gear for them. If you’ve ever wondered about the links between creative genius and pathology (and there’s a lot of stuff out there on the subject), this will throw up some answers (along with plenty more ancillary questions). Just don’t expect to understand this damaged man. As becomes clear just a few minutes in, he barely understands himself.
bboyd@irishtimes.com
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