Mar 5, 20222 min read

Greased Lightnin' - John Travolta (1978) 3/6/22

It's been almost a year since we've highlighted a "Great Song" from the 1978 film version of "Grease," so it's about time we revisited the soundtrack.

To check out the songs we've highlighted so far, just scroll down and click the links at the very bottom of this post.

Today, we're going to delve into the song that reached the Top 10 in The Netherlands (#4), Belgium (#5) and Ireland (#8), and just missed the Top 10 in the UK (#11).

In the US, however, the song barely squeaked into the Top 50 at #47. The reason? "Greased Lightnin''' was peppered with so much offensive language, it was lucky it got played on American radio at all!

And yet, it's STILL a "Great Song."

In the original musical, the song was sung by Kenickie and his fellow "greasers" in auto shop class, as they tried to build the perfect hot rod (although a car can't have both an automatic/hydromatic transmission and "four speed on the floor")!

In the film, Danny (John Travolta) sings it, with Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) and the "greasers" offering some backup.

Why the switch? John had already scored a few hit songs, so the film's producers felt that "Greased Lightnin'" had more of chance of being a hit with John singing lead. This led to to some ill feelings between John and Jeff that were apparently never resolved.

But again, with all the offensive language, it was never going to be a big hit.

So the producers released a CLEAN version...but it was too late. The soundtrack as a whole was already a hit, and the original single had pretty much been banned in most places.

Note: The clean version has long been an option for theatre groups (especially in high schools) and was used in the 2016 live TV version (as sung by Aaron Tveit). And let's not forget the 2012 clean version by the kids from "Glee!"

Trivia: in 1972, long before the film was ever released, a British group called The Wild Angels recorded a track based on the original Broadway version. I found a link, and you can check it out below.

"Greased Lightnin:'" A "Great &@#$% Song of the 70s!" (And there are still a few more we'll be highlighting in the future)!

Original soundtrack/single version (1978):