The Making of Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You”

If you like dance music, you’ll enjoy DJ Magazine’s new-ish YouTube series, Game Changers, which takes a look at the creators and making of “the seminal tracks that changed dance music forever”. The latest installment in the series covers one Norman Cook — better known to the world as “big beat” DJ Fatboy Slim — and his 1999 hit Praise You:

Praise You is an important tune for me, as it’s one of the first songs I played on the very first day I took the accordion out onto the streets of Toronto. It’s also the song I played at the wedding where I met Julie and Amanda, who put out a call on Craigslist for witnesses at their wedding:

Word about the wedding got around, and the Toronto Star ended up covering the story, as did Mathew Ingram and MetaFilter.

I’m pleased to see Praise You — which I often slip in as an addendum to Happy Birthday when I play it — getting some love again after all these years.

Also worth watching on Game Changers: their piece on DJ Gerald “A Guy Called Gerald” Simpson and his creation, Voodoo Ray, one of my favourite tracks from the house music era: