Le Freak

"Le Freak" is a song by the band Chic. It was the band's third single and first Billboard Hot 100 and soul music number-one 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 seven million and also scored number seven in the UK singles chart.

Billboard ranked it as the No. 3 song for 1979. The song was ranked number 21 on Billboard magazine's top 100 songs of the first 55 years of the "Hot 100" chart.

Lyrics

Part of the lyrics mention "Stompin' at the Savoy", which is an actual song composed by Edgar Sampson. They also invite the listener to "Come on down to the 54", which is a reference to a popular nightclub at that time.

History

This song commemorates Studio 54 for its notoriously long customer waiting lines, exclusive clientele, and discourteous doormen. According to guitarist Nile Rodgers, the song was devised during New Year's Eve of 1977, as a result of his and bassist Bernard Edwards' being refused entrance to Studio 54, where they had been invited by Grace Jones, 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!"

Freak

In current usage, the word "freak" is commonly used to refer to a person with something strikingly unusual about their appearance or behaviour. This usage dates from the so-called freak scene of the 1960s and 1970s.

An older usage refers to the physically deformed, or having extraordinary diseases and conditions, such as sideshow performers. This has fallen into disuse, except as a pejorative, and (among the performers of such shows) as jargon. "Freaks" of this kind can be classified into two groups: natural freaks and made freaks. A natural freak would usually refer to a genetic abnormality, while a made freak is a once normal person who experienced or initiated an alteration at some point in life (such as receiving surgical implants).

"Freak" continues to be used to describe genetic mutations in plants and animals, i.e. "freaks of nature." "Freak" can also be used in a verb form, and can mean: "to become stressed and upset". Usually, in this form, the word is followed by "out" to complete the phrase, "freaking out". However, this meaning and usage is usually considered slang. Adjectival forms include "freakish" as well as "freaky." The verb "freaking" (or, "freaking out") means "engaging in panicked or uncontrolled behavior"—for example, as the result of psychedelic drug use. "Freaking" may also be a minced oath used in place of "fucking," e.g. "Oh my freaking God!" The word is a homophone of "phreak" (referring to the illegal hacking of telephone systems), which it probably inspired.

Nile Rodgers

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Nile Gregory Rodgers (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, producer, and guitarist. He is the lead guitarist and co-founding member with Bernard Edwards of the band Chic, which has been active since 1976 and was one of the most successful groups of the disco era.

Although he recorded three solo albums during the 1980s and 1990s, and one as part of the short-lived group Outloud, Rodgers has found more success in collaboration as producer and performer with many artists including Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, Tina Arena, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Madonna, INXS, Britney Spears and more recently, Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, Avicii, Disclosure, Sam Smith, Pitbull, Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, Nervo and Laura Mvula.

Life and career

Early life

His mother became pregnant at age 13, and gave birth to him in New York City. His parents and soon Jewish step-father were all Beat-niks, and heavy heroin users throughout his childhood. With music all around him in his childhood, he tried out all of his school's band instruments, before a love of the Beatles and John Lennon drew him towards the electric guitar, and especially the Fender Stratocaster.

Eden Project

The Eden Project (Cornish: Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Inside the two biomes are plants that are collected from many diverse climates and environments. The project is located in a reclaimed Kaolinite pit, located 2 km (1.2 mi) from the town of St Blazey and 5 kilometres (3 mi) from the larger town of St Austell, Cornwall.

The complex is dominated by two huge enclosures consisting of adjoining domes that house thousands of plant species, and each enclosure emulates a natural biome. The biomes consist of hundreds of hexagonal and pentagonal, inflated, plastic cells supported by steel frames. The largest of the two biomes simulates a Rainforest environment and the second, a Mediterranean environment. The attraction also has an outside botanical garden which is home to many plants and wildlife native to Cornwall and the UK in general; it also has many plants that provide an important and interesting backstory, for example, those with a prehistoric heritage.

Chic

Chic /ˈʃiːk/, meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion.

Etymology

Chic is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictionaries classified it as slang and New Zealand-born lexicographer Eric Partridge noted, with reference to its colloquial meaning, that it was "not so used in Fr[ench]."Gustave Flaubert notes in Madame Bovary (published in 1856) that "chicard" (one who is chic) is then Parisian very current slang for "classy" noting, perhaps derisively, perhaps not, that it was bourgeoisie. There is a similar word in German, schick, with a meaning similar to chic, which may be the origin of the word in French; another theory links chic to the word chicane. Although the French pronunciation (shēk or "sheek") is now virtually standard and was that given by Fowler,chic was often rendered in the anglicised form of "chick".

In a fictional vignette for Punch (c. 1932) Mrs F. A. Kilpatrick attributed to a young woman who 70 years later would have been called a "chavette" the following assertion: "It 'asn't go no buttons neither ... That's the latest ideer. If you want to be chick you just 'ang on to it, it seems".