G major · Camelot 9B · 117 BPM
Le Freak
by Chic
- 117
- BPM
- G major
- Key
- 9B
- Camelot
- 87
- Danceability
- 5
- Acousticness
The recording session grew out of a slammed door. On New Year's Eve 1977, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic were refused entrance to Studio 54, despite having been invited there by Grace Jones, whose failure to notify the club's staff left the pair stranded outside. The doorman's parting words, according to Rodgers, were "fuck off", and that phrase became the original refrain as the two turned their frustration into a song.
Released by Atlantic Records in September 1978 as the first single from the album C'est Chic, "Le Freak" was written and produced by Edwards and Rodgers. Radio forced a rewrite, since the original chorus could never be broadcast; "freak off" sounded terrible, so Rodgers settled on "freak out". The lyrics also namecheck "Stompin' at the Savoy", the 1933 Edgar Sampson composition, and invite listeners down to 54.
The single sold seven million copies and became the band's first number one on the Billboard Hot 100, topping the chart three separate times for six non-consecutive weeks. It also spent seven weeks at number one on the disco charts.
Le Freak runs at 117 BPM, the tempo of pop, funk and disco-leaning dance. In classical terms it sits in moderato territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.05 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 513 ms. It is in G major, Camelot 9B, which shares its notes with E minor and mixes cleanly with C major and D major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.