In fact it was a little bit frightening

Artist: Carl Douglas
Title: Kung Fu Fighting
Year: 1974
Chart peak: 1

It's amazing how many famous songs were actually written in a hurry as filler tracks. The history of one hit wonders is littered with them, from "Tequila" by The Champs to The Mock Turtles' "Can You Dig It?" - and here's another, and one of the most popular of all.

The intended A-side was actually a soul track called "I Want To Give You My Everything". Indian-born, London-based producer Biddu had discovered the song (written by Larry Weiss, who'd also penned "Rhinestone Cowboy" for Glen Campbell) and sought out someone to record it. Remembering a Jamaican singer he'd worked with on the soundtrack to the film "Embassy" a couple of years earlier, he put in a call to Carl Douglas. The session went well, and both men reckoned they had a hit in their hands, one that could launch Douglas as a major star. They needed something for the B-side though, and Douglas suggested a song he'd written, inspired by the kung fu films of Bruce Lee. It didn't take long for Biddu to work up a backing track with lots of "hoo!"s and "hah!"s, and the track was rattled off in ten minutes.

What neither Biddu or Douglas expected was that when they took it to A&R at Pye Records, was that it would be the b-side that got picked up as the potential hit. Biddu was unconvinced, and with good reason: the novelty sat in record store racks for weeks on end before finally starting to catch on in the clubs. But when it belatedly started selling, there was no stopping it. It climbed all the way to the top of the charts, sitting proudly at number one for three weeks before being replaced by, as it happens, another one hit wonder, John Denver with "Annie's Song". The same week that "Kung Fu Fighting" dropped from number one here, it entered the US hot hundred, where it once again proceeded to climb all the way to the top.


It was a massive hit, but it also seemed to be the kiss of death for Carl Douglas' ambitions of being accepted as a quality soul singer. Pye insisted on him recording a similarly-themed follow-up, "Dance The Fung Fu", which was a minor hit, and a "serious" song called "Run Back" nearly returned him to the top 20 (it topped out at 25) but despite going on to record several LPs, ultimately he never really had the material to break through as a serious artist. Nowadays he lives in Germany and runs a publishing company, and seems to be quite happy with his one hit wonder status. Biddu went to become a one hit wonder in his own right (with the 1975 single "Summer of '42") and also produced several hits for Brit disco diva Tina Charles, including a number one hit, "I Love To Love".

Meanwhile, the song itself has taken on a life of its own. As a highly memorable international smash, it's turned up in countless TV shows, films and computer games, and even spawned a further novelty dance hit courtesy of Bus Stop, who sampled it on their own 1998 success, also called "Kung Fu Fighting". What's more, when Channel 4 ran a poll in 2006 to find Britain's 50 favourite one hit wonders, it was "Kung Fu Fighting" that came in at number one, the nation's favourite, top of the pops. And all from a rushed-off B-side. Say what you like about Pye's A&R, but they could certainly pick a hit.

Get it: The Best of Carl Douglas