"Get It On" is a song by the English
rock band
T. Rex
''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' liv ...
, featured on their 1971 album ''
Electric Warrior''. Written by frontman
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted into ...
, "Get It On" was the second chart-topper for T. Rex on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. In the United States, it was retitled "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" to avoid confusion with a song of the same name by the group
Chase.
History
Following the success of T. Rex's single, "
Hot Love", the band went on a United States tour. While in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
in March 1971, Bolan asked drummer
Bill Legend to help him brainstorm drum patterns for a song idea that would later become "Get It On".
Bolan claimed to have written the song out of his desire to record
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined a ...
's "
Little Queenie", and said that the riff was taken from the Berry tune. In fact, a slightly edited line (''And meanwhile, I'm still thinking'') from "Little Queenie" is said at the fade of "Get It On".
[Paytress, Mark, ''Bolan: The Rise And Fall Of The 20th Century Superstar'', p. 182, Omnibus Press (2003), ] According to producer
Tony Visconti
Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of many ...
, this line was an unscripted
ad-lib by Bolan during recording.
This was the song that virtually ended the once-solid friendship between Bolan and
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
, after Peel made clear his lack of enthusiasm for it on air after playing his advance white label copy. Bolan and Peel only spoke once more before the former's death in 1977.
The track was recorded at
Trident Studios
Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry. ...
, London, and the piano on the record was performed by either
Rick Wakeman or
Blue Weaver. Mark Paytress notes that both pianists may have played separate parts on the song, with Wakeman contributing only the piano
glissandos that feature several times throughout the song.
Wakeman, who was desperate for work at the time to pay his rent, had bumped into Bolan in
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...
, who offered him the session. Wakeman pointed out to Tony Visconti that the record did not actually need a piano player. Visconti suggested that he could add a gliss. Wakeman said that Visconti could do that, to which Bolan replied, "You want your rent, don't you?" Wakeman did, and earned £9 for his efforts.
Saxophones were played by
Ian McDonald of
King Crimson
King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...
. Producer Visconti later recalled: "He played all the saxes, one baritone and two altos. I kept the baritone separate but bounced the altos to one track. I bounced the backup vocals to two tracks, making an interesting stereo image."
Mark Volman
Mark Randall Volman (born April 19, 1947) is an American vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with his bandmate and friend Howard Kaylan, a member of the 1970s rock du ...
and
Howard Kaylan
Howard Kaylan (born Howard Lawrence Kaplan, June 22, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with bandmate and friend Mark Volman, a member of ...
(formerly
The Turtles) provided back up vocals.
During a December 1971 ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...
'' performance,
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
mimed a piano on the song. This performance is usually the video clip for the song which has aired on various music-video outlets such as
VH1 Classic
MTV Classic (formerly VH1 Smooth, VH1 Classic Rock, and VH1 Classic) is an American pay television network owned by Paramount Media Networks. It was originally launched in 1998 as VH1 Smooth, an adult contemporary and smooth jazz channel. It w ...
.
Track listing
*US: Reprise / 1032
*UK: Fly Records / BUG 10
*Germany: Ariola / 10 327 AT
*Denmark: Stateside / 6E 006-92700
*France: Columbia / CBS 7393 (without "There Was a Time")
# "Get It On" (Marc Bolan) – 4:25
# "There Was a Time" (Marc Bolan) – 1:00
# "Raw Ramp" (Marc Bolan) – 4:14
Personnel
T. Rex
*
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted into ...
– lead vocals, guitar
*
Rick Wakeman – piano,
hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...
*
Ian McDonald –
baritone and
alto saxophones
*
Steve Currie – bass
*
Bill Legend – drums,
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called " zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thou ...
*
Mark Volman
Mark Randall Volman (born April 19, 1947) is an American vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with his bandmate and friend Howard Kaylan, a member of the 1970s rock du ...
,
Howard Kaylan
Howard Kaylan (born Howard Lawrence Kaplan, June 22, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with bandmate and friend Mark Volman, a member of ...
– backing vocals
Chart performance
It spent four weeks at the top in the UK, starting 24 July 1971
("
Hot Love" was number one for six weeks from March to May), and it was the group's biggest hit overall, with Bolan claiming that it sold a million. It peaked on the
US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at #10
and at #12 in the
''Cash Box'' Top 100 in March 1972, becoming the band's only major US hit. The song reached No. 12 in Canada in March 1972.
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
The Power Station version
"Get It On" was covered by
the Power Station in 1985. Their version – referred to as "Get It On (Bang a Gong)" in the US – was released as their second single from their
debut album. The track was a strong hit on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, where the single peaked at number nine (one place higher than the original) in the summer of 1985.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the song reached number 22 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
When
Robert Palmer
Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful, soulful voice and wikt:sartorial, sartorial elegance, and his stylistic explorations, combining Soul music, so ...
heard that the other Power Station members had recorded demos of the song, he asked to try out vocals for it. Before long, the band had decided to record the entire album with Palmer. This single, along with "
Some Like It Hot", became The Power Station's signature songs.
On 13 July 1985, the Power Station (as well as
Duran Duran
Duran Duran () are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year the band wen ...
), had a participation at ''
Live Aid
Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine ...
'', on the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
concert, in which the band performed the song, this time with the British singer
Michael Des Barres on vocals.
The female dancer featured in the video is American dancer/singer-songwriter
Sara Carlson
Sara Carlson is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. She has released three music albums and her songs have appeared in U.S. film and television. While starring on a top-rated TV show '' Al Paradise'' on Rai Uno (Rome, Italy), along with f ...
.
The song also was performed live with
Michael Des Barres on vocals, in the ''
Miami Vice
''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs, two Me ...
'' episode "Whatever Works", which featured all of the then-touring group in
cameo roles.
Track listings
7" vinyl single
* US: Capitol Records / B-5479
* UK: Parlophone / R 6096
* Australia: EMI / A1510
* Europe: EMI / 20 0632 7
12" vinyl single
* US: Capitol Records / V8646
* UK: Parlophone / 12R 6096
* Europe: Parlophone / 1C K 060 20 0631 6
* Canada: Capitol Records / V 75107
Charts
Other cover versions
*
Blondie recorded a live version of the song on 4 November 1978 at The Paradise Ballroom in Boston, MA, which can be found on their 1978 live album, ''Headlines'', and also on the 2001 reissue of ''
Parallel Lines''.
* In 1979, studio disco group Witch Queen released a disco version of the song, titled, "Bang A Gong". It peaked at number eight on the disco charts.
* In 2020
U2 covered the song, with
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
on piano.
Sampling and references
British dance act
Bus Stop (known in the US as "London Bus Stop") sampled the vocals from the T. Rex original in their 2000 pseudo-cover of the song, which charted at No. 59 in the UK.
See also
*
List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States
References
{{authority control
1971 singles
1979 singles
1985 singles
T. Rex (band) songs
The Power Station (band) songs
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Songs written by Marc Bolan
Song recordings produced by Tony Visconti
Song recordings produced by Bernard Edwards
1971 songs
Fly Records singles
Reprise Records singles
Parlophone singles