"Kung Fu Fighting" is a disco song by Jamaican vocalist

Carl Douglas Carlton George Douglas (born 10 May 1942) is a Jamaican recording artist based in the UK who is best known for the 1974 disco single " Kung Fu Fighting". Early life Carlton George Douglas was born in Kingston, Colony of Jamaica. He later li ...

, written by Douglas and produced by

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musician Biddu. It was released in 1974 as the first single from his debut album, ''

Kung Fu Fighting and Other Great Love Songs ''Kung Fu Fighting and Other Great Love Songs'' is the first studio album by Jamaican disco artist Carl Douglas. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Soul LPs chart and number 37 on ''Billboards overall Top LPs & Tape chart in 1975. In Eur ...

'' (1974), on the cusp of a chopsocky film craze and rose to the top of the British, Australian, Canadian, and American charts, in addition to reaching the top of the

Soul Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart. It received a

Gold certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

from the

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in 1974 and popularized disco music. It eventually went on to sell eleven million records worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. The song uses the quintessential

Oriental riff The Oriental riff, also known as the East Asian riff and the Chinaman lick, is a musical riff or phrase that has often been used in Western culture as a trope to represent the idea of China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Taiwan, or a gene ...

, a short musical phrase that is used to signify

Chinese culture Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...

. "Kung Fu Fighting" was rated number 100 in

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's '' 100 Greatest one-hit wonders'', and number one in the UK

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's ''Top 10 One Hit Wonders'' list in

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, the same channel's ''50 Greatest One Hit Wonders'' poll in 2006 and ''Bring Back ... the one-hit Wonders'', for which Carl Douglas performed the song in a live concert. The song was

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CeeLo Green Thomas DeCarlo Callaway - Burton (born May 30, 1975), known professionally as CeeLo Green (or Cee Lo Green), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. He is known for his work in hip hop and R&B, including the Gnarl ...

with

Jack Black Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), '' Shallow Hal'' (2001), '' Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ' ...

and The Vamps for the first and

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of the ''Kung Fu Panda'' franchise respectively.

Background and composition

The song was originally meant to be a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

to "I Want to Give You My Everything" (written by

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songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

Larry Weiss and sung by Carl Douglas). The producer Biddu originally hired Douglas to sing "I Want to Give You My Everything" but needed something to record for the B-side, and asked Douglas if he had any lyrics they could use. Douglas showed several, out of which Biddu chose the one that would later be called "Kung Fu Fighting" and worked out a melody for it without taking it too seriously. After having spent over two hours recording the A-side and then taking a break, "Kung Fu Fighting" was recorded quickly in the last ten minutes of

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

time, in only two takes, due to a three-hour time constraint for the entire session. According to Biddu, "Kung Fu Fighting was the B-side so I went over the top on the 'huhs' and the 'hahs' and the chopping sounds. It was a B-side: who was going to listen?" After hearing both songs, Robin Blanchflower of

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brothe ...

insisted that "Kung Fu Fighting" be the A-side instead. Following its release, the song did not receive any radio airplay for the first five weeks and sold poorly, but the song began gaining popularity in dance clubs, eventually entering 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 ...

at number 42 on 17 August 1974 and reaching the top on 21 September, where it remained for three weeks. It was then released in the United States, where it quickly topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The single went on to sell eleven million records worldwide. At the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) Jukebox Awards in 1975, the song was awarded "Jukebox Soul Record of the Year" for being the year's highest-earning

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became pop ...

song played on

jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...

machines in the United States.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Sales and certifications

Track listing

#"Kung Fu Fighting" – 3:15 #"Gamblin' Man" – 3:03

Bus Stop version

British dance act Bus Stop reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart with their 1998

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

single of "Kung Fu Fighting", which sampled the original vocals by Carl Douglas and added rap verses. In Australia, the single received a gold certification from

ARIA In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

References

{{authority control 1974 songs 1974 debut singles 1998 debut singles Disco songs Novelty songs Pye Records singles 20th Century Fox Records singles All Around the World Productions singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in France Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in South Africa Irish Singles Chart number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Songs written by Biddu

Background and composition

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Sales and certifications

Track listing

Bus Stop version

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

See also

References