The Twist (song)
"The Twist" is a song that gave birth to the Twist dance craze. The song was written and originally released in early 1959 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a B-side (to "Teardrops on Your Letter") but his version was only a moderate 1960 hit, peaking at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song, and the dance the Twist, was popularized in 1960 when the song was covered by Chubby Checker. His single became a hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 19, 1960 (one week) and then setting a record by being the only single to reach #1 in two different chart runs when it resurfaced and topped the chart again on January 13, 1962 (two weeks).
In 1988, "The Twist" became popular once again, due to a new recording of the song by The Fat Boys featuring Chubby Checker. This version reached #2 in the United Kingdom and #1 in Germany.
Read more about The Twist (song): History, Chubby Checker Version, Accolades, Quotations, Editions, See Also, References
Famous quotes containing the word twist:
“When we were at school we were taught to sing the songs of the Europeans. How many of us were taught the songs of the Wanyamwezi or of the Wahehe? Many of us have learnt to dance the rumba, or the cha cha, to rock and roll and to twist and even to dance the waltz and foxtrot. But how many of us can dance, or have even heard of the gombe sugu, the mangala, nyang’umumi, kiduo, or lele mama?”
—Julius K. Nyerere (b. 1922)