The Twist

Written by Hank Ballard

Trivia (From Wikipedia.org)

The Twist was a rock and roll dance popular in the early 1960s and also the name of the song that originated it. It was the first major international rock and roll dance style in which the couples did not touch each other while dancing.

The song was written and originally released in 1959 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a B-side but was a minor hit. The dance was first popularized by Chubby Checker in 1960 with a hit cover of "The Twist". His single became a smash hit, reaching #1 on the US charts. It also set another record, being the only single to reach #1 in two different chart runs (as it reached #1 in 1960, and then resurfaced, reaching #1 again in 1962).

Faced with explaining to the youthful audience how to do the dance, a member of Checker's entourage came up with the following description: "It's like putting out a cigarette with both feet, and wiping your bottom with a towel, to the beat of the music."

In 1961, at the height of the Twist craze, patrons at New York's hot Peppermint Lounge on West 45th Street were twisting to the music of the house band, a local group from Jersey, Joey Dee & the Starliters. Their house song "Peppermint Twist (Part 1)," became the number one song in the United States for three weeks in January 1962. Sailors and hookers, hipsters and weekending Yalies danced alongside New York's social elite, including the Duke of Windsor, at the legendary Peppermint Lounge.

In Latin America, the Twist craze was sparked in the 1960-62 period not by recordings by Checker or Ballard, but by Bill Haley & His Comets. Their recordings of "The Spanish Twist" and "Florida Twist" were major successes, particularly in Mexico, and the band were given the credit for starting the dance craze. Haley, in interviews at the time, was always quick to give credit to Checker and Ballard. Coincidentally, Checker appeared in two musicals that took their titles from the two films Haley made in the 1950s (the Checker films had the same producer): Twist Around the Clock (after Rock Around the Clock) and Don't Knock the Twist (after Don't Knock the Rock).

Recorded in RCA Victor's Studios in Hollywood, Studio 1, probably around February 19, 1962

Produced by Hugo Peretta and Luigi Creatore, Recording Engineer Al Schmitt

Orchestra Conducted by Rene Hall

Albums    Twistin' The Night Away

Lyrics

come on baby, let's try that twist
come on baby, let's try that twist
let me take you by the hand honey
and it goes like this

all you got to do is, go round
everybody's doing it, baby, go round

mother's just sleeping
daddy ain't around
mother's upstairs sleeping
daddy ain't around
we're gonna twist, that's twistin
till we tear the house down

one more time
go round, 
oh you're looking good to me
go round
everybody twistin'
don't be ashamed
go round
one more time

you should see my little miss
you should see my little sis
she ain't very old
but she's trying to do that twist
look at her trying to go around
she's going around
everybody's goind around and around

round and round

around and around