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Tainted Love (WORD)
Tainted Love (PDF)
Note that there may be an aluminum cookie sheet involved in playing this song at the jam!
American artist Gloria Jones recorded the original version of "Tainted Love", which was written and produced by Ed Cobb. It was the B-side to the 1965 single "My Bad Boy's Comin' Home", which was a commercial flop, failing to chart in either the US or the UK. English vocal-and-synth duo Soft Cell became aware of the song through its status as a UK "Northern Soul" hit, and recorded a drastically different arrangement in 1981. "Tainted Love" rapidly reached #1 on the UK singles chart and was a best-selling single in Canada in 1981. In The USA the song reached #8 during the summer of 1982 and spent a then record-breaking 43 weeks on the Hot 100.