Finally Heard "The Twist"

[jon]

Well, it only took me 51 years, but I've finally heard the original version of "The Twist". By Hank Ballard. This morning on Sirius/XM 50s on 5.

I think this is the correct version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPjxoy7lsE8 Sorry for the ad, but it is the only version that I could find.

Since I started listening to Top 40 Radio (CFUN, in my case) in early 1962, Chubby Checker's version had already hit #1 twice, so nobody was playing Hank's version as an Oldie.

For those unfamiliar with the story, Hank wrote the song, and it was the B-side of a minor Top 40 hit in early 1959. In 1960, Dick Clark, while doing American Bandstand, asked a Detroit teen what the hot new dance was in Detroit, and the teen replied "The Twist". "You mean that old Hank Ballard song". "That's the one".

Dick was not willing to have Hank on his show, because so many of his songs were considered "dirty", so Dick's wife Bobbi suggested a local Philly singer Chubby Checker because he was so good at impressions of other singers. Chubby had had one small hit previously, "The Class", where he does some of those impressions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJN8KTeOh34

Dick got Chubby to do a pretty close clone of Hank's original version, and the rest is history.

[glaherty]

Maybe part of the reason Chubby isn't in the Rock N' Roll HOF is that there wasn't anything overly original about him.He could cover
Hank Ballard and the Midniters like nobody's business though. Actually, Ballard's versions have a more soulful, bluesy quality to them. Kinda prefer
them, but record sales say otherwise.

[Neumann Sennheiser]

Another original that is criminally under-played is the 1952 recording of "Hound Dog" by Willie Mae Thornton.
I'll admit, it was one of Elvis' very best but pales in comparison to Big Mama's rendition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XUAg1_A7IE

[jon]

Another original that is criminally under-played is the 1952 recording of "Hound Dog" by Willie Mae Thornton.

I don't recall ever having heard it played on air (since I started listening in 1962), other than during the first hour of the History of Rock and Roll. Thankfully, I found it on a $2.50 Sears CD a few years back: "Good Rockin' Tonight" on Prism Leisure has 28 cuts, with Big Mama Thornton as Cut 2. ("60 Minute Man" is cut 3)

The correct cut list is here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Rockin-Ton ... 228&sr=8-5
And you can listen to samples here (with the artist names messed up):
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Rockin-Tonig ... 228&sr=8-5