"Le Freak" is a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

song by American disco band Chic, released in September 1978 by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

as the first single from their second album, '' C'est Chic'' (1978). It was written and produced by Bernard Edwards and

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

, and became the band's third single and first US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B number-one hit song. Along with the tracks " I Want Your Love" and "Chic Cheer", "Le Freak" scored number one on the disco charts for seven weeks. The single achieved sales of 7 million and also peaked at number seven in the UK Singles Chart. ''Billboard'' magazine ranked it as the number three song for 1979 and number 21 on the magazine's top 100 songs of the first 55 years of the Hot 100. In 2018, "Le Freak" was selected for preservation in the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Lyric

The lyric mentions "

Stompin' at the Savoy "Stompin' at the Savoy" is a 1933 jazz standard composed by Edgar Sampson. It is named after the famed Harlem nightspot the Savoy Ballroom in New York City. History and composition Although the song is often credited to Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, ...

", a 1933 song composed by Edgar Sampson. It also invites the listener to "Come on down to 54": that is,

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...

, a popular nightclub in New York City at the time. This song is written in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: Changes needed for the melodic ...

History

This song commemorates

in New York City for its notoriously long customer waiting lines, exclusive clientele, and discourteous doormen. According to guitarist

, the song was devised during New Year's Eve 1977, as a result of his and bassist Bernard Edwards' being refused entrance to Studio 54, where they had been invited by

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, model and actress. She began her Model (person), modelling career in New York State, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves St ...

, due to her failure to notify the nightclub's staff. He said the lyrics of the refrain were originally "Fuck off!" rather than "Freak out!"; for the documentary ''How to Make It in the Music Business'', he said that "beano's socks" was what the doorman had said to him when he slammed the door on them; first it was changed to "freak off" after Rodgers mused that they would not be able to say "beano's socks" on the radio, but that sounded "terrible", so he changed it to "freak out". "Le Freak" was the first song to score the number one position on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 three separate times. It spent a total of six non-consecutive weeks at the position. In 1987, an

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just " acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synt ...

-styled re-mix was issued under the title "Jack Le Freak". It reached number 18 in the United Kingdom, becoming Chic's last top 40 hit to date in that country. This remix was done by British producer Phil Harding, who had access to the original DAT tapes for "Le Freak". Due to him producing a similar remix for Mel and Kim's " F.L.M." (known as the "Two Grooves Under One Nation" remix, which samples "Le Freak") that same year, he included acapella samples taken from their songs " Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend)", " Respectable" and "F.L.M." during the breakdown.

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, MC Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first female rapper to release a ...

sampled the song "Woo Woo (Freak Out)" featuring Nicci Gilbert of the group

Brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Ty ...

, which first appeared on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the 1998 movie '' Woo'' and was also included on her album '' Seven & Seven'', titled "Woo Woo (Party Time)", which released three months later.

Reception and legacy

Upon the release, ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' described it as "a handclapping

song bolstered by solid bass work and airy vocals." In 2000,

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

ranked "Le Freak" No. 26 in their list of "100 Greatest Dance Songs". In 2012, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' ranked it No. 10 in their list of "The Best Disco Songs of All Time". In 2013, the song was ranked No. 21 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine's top 100 songs of the first 55 years of the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

chart. In 2015, the 1978 recording of the song by Chic on

was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

. In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the

by the

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2022, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked "Le Freak" No. 81 in their "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" list. In 2024, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' ranked it No. 27 in their list of "The 30 Greatest Disco Songs of All Time".

Track listing and formats

* Atlantic 7" 3519, September 21, 1978 :A. "Le Freak" (7" Edit) – 3:30 :B. "Savoir Faire" – 4:57 * Atlantic promo 12" DSKO 131, 1978 / Atlantic 12" DK 4700, 1978 :A. "Le Freak" – 5:23 :B. "Savoir Faire" – 4:57 * Atlantic 12" DK 4620, 1978 / Atlantic Oldies promo 12" DSKO 178, 1979 :A. "Le Freak" – 5:23 :B. "You Can Get By" – 5:36

Personnel

* Alfa Anderson –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

* Diva Gray – lead vocals * David Lasley – vocals * Luci Martin – vocals *

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

– vocals *

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, vocals * Raymond Jones or Andy Schwartz – Fender Rhodes electric piano * Robert Sabino – acoustic piano,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

* Bernard Edwards –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, vocals * Tony Thompson –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Sammy Figueroa – percussion * The Chic Strings: ** Marianne Carroll –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

** Cheryl Hong – violin ** Karen Milne – violin *

Gene Orloff Gene Orloff (June 14, 1921 – March 23, 2009) was an American violinist, concertmaster, arranger, contractor and session musician. Background The son of a Russian immigrant violin maker, Orloff would try and get his father's violin down from th ...

– concert master ;Production staff * Nile Rodgers - producer * Bernard Edwards - producer * Bob Clearmountain - engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

In popular culture

This song was used in a 2010 film ''

Toy Story 3 ''Toy Story 3'' is a 2010 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The third installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' series, it was directed by Lee Unkrich, the editor ...

'' scene in which Ken models his outfits for Barbie. It was also heard in the 2004 film ''

Shrek 2 ''Shrek 2'' is a 2004 American animated fantasy comedy film loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig. Directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon from a screenplay by Adamson, Joe Sti ...

'', when the fairytale creatures were partying in Shrek’s Swamp. This song also appears in the 1995 film '' Heavyweights'' during one of Tony Perkis’ exercise regimens with the struggling campers. It is also used in Walmart commercials. The song also appears in the video game '' Just Dance'' (2009).

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freak Songs about dancing Songs about parties Songs about nightclubs 1978 singles 1979 singles Chic (band) songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Australia Songs based on actual events Songs written by Bernard Edwards Songs written by Nile Rodgers Song recordings produced by Nile Rodgers Song recordings produced by Bernard Edwards 1978 songs Atlantic Records singles United States National Recording Registry recordings Studio 54