Dear listeners,
If you’ve noticed anyone walking around with their paws up, speaking in tongues and raving about the floor being on fire, allow me to explain: In an ad Sunday night during the Grammy Awards, Lady Gaga debuted a new single. It’s called “Abracadabra,” and it’s a gloriously nostalgic return to form, reminiscent of the infectious gibberish hook of “Bad Romance” and the go-for-broke electro-sleaze she perfected on “The Fame Monster” and “Born This Way.” Rejoice, ye elder millennials: A star has been reborn.
As I’ve been strutting around all week with “abracadabra, abra-cadaaaabra” on an endless loop in my head, I’ve been thinking about how many great songs throughout pop music reference magic — as a tried-and-true metaphor for the mysteries of love, or just as a thematic excuse to get a little weird. (For Gaga, it’s a little bit of both, but always with emphasis on the latter.)
The ’60s gave us spellbinding classics like the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic?” and the Drifters’ “This Magic Moment.” But “Abracadabra” is just the latest proof that pop still has magic on the mind: In the last year or so, there have been not one but two Top 20 hits called “Houdini.” (Though never forget that Kate Bush beat them both to it.)
Since a definitive playlist of every song ever to conjure magic would be incredibly long and contain quite a few overindulgent duds, this collection reflects my own tastes. Which is to say that it omits Eminem’s “Houdini,” as well as the song it samples, that other “Abracadabra,” by the Steve Miller Band. Personal preference! But it does feature enchanting tunes from Electric Light Orchestra, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and, of course, Gaga’s latest incantation.
Like a poem said by a lady in red,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. Lady Gaga: “Abracadabra”
Following the electro-crunch of “Disease” and the anodyne chart-topping Bruno Mars duet “Die With a Smile,” the latest trick from Lady Gaga’s forthcoming eighth studio album, “Mayhem,” is shameless but welcome fan service for those of us who miss the wild theatrics and dance-or-die urgency of early hits like “Poker Face,” “Paparazzi” and “Bad Romance.” “Hold me in your heart tonight,” she sings atop a thumping house beat, “in the magic of the dark moonlight.” The video is half “Hunger Games,” half drag ball, full of precise choreography, striking costumes and vintage Gaga zaniness.
2. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins: “I Put a Spell on You”
In the immortal words of Eszter Balint in Jim Jarmusch’s “Stranger Than Paradise,” “It’s Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and he’s a wild man, so bug off!”
3. Electric Light Orchestra: “Strange Magic”
Leave it to Jeff Lynne to work some sonic sorcery, as he does on this swirling wonder that first appeared on ELO’s 1975 album, “Face the Music.” Great magicians don’t reveal how they do their tricks, but thankfully great producers are rarely so tight-lipped — which is how we know that Lynne achieved the song’s signature weightless guitar sound by running a 12-string acoustic through a phaser pedal.
4. Dua Lipa: “Houdini”
My preference, when it comes to the two recent “Houdini” releases (Houdinii?), is this kinetic dance-floor anthem in which Dua Lipa challenges a suitor to give her one good reason not to disappear. I find it superior to Eminem’s “Houdini” for two reasons. First, I have a deep-seated personal aversion to the Steve Miller Band’s “Abracadabra” and, thus, to any song that samples it. But, much more important, Dua Lipa understands that at the end of a chorus it is just very fun to yell, “Houdini!”
5. Siouxsie and the Banshees: “Spellbound”
I had to include this frenetic tune from Siouxsie and the Banshees’ 1981 album, “Juju,” not only because it’s an occult classic in its own right, but also because Gaga interpolates its melody during the pre-chorus of “Abracadabra,” giving it an extra layer of wild-eyed magic.
6. The Police: “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
Though not as creepy as that other Police song that at first seems to be about a mutually reciprocated love but on closer inspection turns out to be about a guy obsessed with someone from afar (and which also happens to have a title that begins with the word “every”), this one is certainly the more magical of the two.
7. Pilot: “Magic”
This Alan Parsons-produced 1974 hit from the Scottish band Pilot is technically about supernatural forces, though these days you’d been excused for thinking it is actually an ode to a certain omnipresent diabetes drug. (Sing it with me: “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic!”) Last year, Craig Marks wrote a highly entertaining story for The Times about this earworm’s second life as an advertising jingle. Shrugged the song’s vocalist and co-writer David Paton, “A lot of people don’t know the name Pilot, but they know the Ozempic song.” The magic of advertising!
8. The Drifters: “This Magic Moment”
Perhaps the most romantic of all the love-as-magic tunes in existence, the Drifters’ sumptuous harmonies give this ballad its otherworldly ambience. (For a completely different kind of ambience, see Lou Reed’s sparse cover, which was featured prominently in David Lynch’s great “Lost Highway.”)
9. The Lovin’ Spoonful: “Do You Believe in Magic?”
Finally, in this upbeat 1965 classic, the Lovin’ Spoonful posits that music itself possesses the power to cast a spell: “It’s magic,” the band sings, “if the music is groovy.” But, having reached the end of this playlist, you’ve certainly learned that by now.
The Amplifier Playlist
“9 Spellbinding Songs About Magic” track list
Track 1: Lady Gaga, “Abracadabra”
Track 2: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, “I Put a Spell on You”
Track 3: Electric Light Orchestra, “Strange Magic”
Track 4: Dua Lipa, “Houdini”
Track 5: Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Spellbound”
Track 6: The Police, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
Track 7: Pilot, “Magic”
Track 8: The Drifters, “This Magic Moment”
Track 9: The Lovin’ Spoonful, “Do You Believe in Magic?”
Bonus Tracks
I’m told that a big football game is airing this weekend. (Go Birds.) If you want to prepare for Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show, my colleague Joe Coscarelli wrote a definitive look at Lamar’s evolving artistic reputation and the ways in which his Grammy-winning diss track “Not Like Us” has transformed his image. (He also discussed it all on an episode of The Daily.) Additionally, Niela Orr provided an in-depth analysis of Lamar’s visual language, as captured in six key performances.
And, as always, if you’re looking for new music, we’ve got a fresh Friday Playlist for you. In addition to the aforementioned Lady Gaga track, you’ll hear just-released songs from Doechii, Valerie June, Destroyer and more. Listen here.
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