It's a dance song meant for energetic expression. Then many years later, I recall it was recorded by The Mamas & Papas in a much slicker ballad style. Sharp's label, Cameo-Parkway Records, gave the song an even better production quality. I recall that "Twist & Shout" was also on Dee Dee Sharp's summer 1962 album "All The Hits by Dee Dee Sharp" too. I was 11 yrs old when it got into the Top Ten in my region (#17 on Billboard pop charts) and did some serious twisting to this record, even though I was forbidden to attend any teen dance parties of the times. Elmer H from Westville, OkBack in 1962, this was one of the better Twist-craze records to climb the charts.The week "It's Your Thing" was at #2, the #1 record was "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by the 5th Dimension. It reached #2 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart.īetween 19 the brothers had thirty-eight Top 100 hits with four making the Top 10, "It's Your Thing" in 1969 was their biggest hit, it peaked at #2 for one week. Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn May 27th 1962, "Twist and Shout" by the Isley Brothers entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #84 and on August 5th, 1962 it peaked at #17 (for 1 week) and spent 16 weeks on the Top 100.Chubby even had the Isley's "Shout!" on that LP too. The Twist King, Chubby Checker, even recorded this on his '62 LP "Your Dancing Party" and I loved it. It was like a stoned-out version! Still, the Isley's and the Beatle's versions are great to dance to. At first, I didn't like it, but it grew on me. Later in the Sixties, my oldest brother bought The Mamas & The Papas LP "Deliver" and whaddayaknow, "Twist and Shout" is on it, but done in slow tempo. Babbling Babette from Tulsa OkI had the 45 rpm single of the Isleys & the Beatles versions of "Twist & Shout." I think they were released about 2 years apart like '62 and '64.
The result was a #1 R&B hit and a #17 pop hit for Wand Records in the summer of 1962 (the Isley's second release for the label) and it was also this version that was copied by The Beatles. Did he say anything afterward? Yeah, he said 'Man, you f-ked it up.'"īerns took the song to the Isley Brothers and convinced them to record it with the energy they were famous for, this time producing it himself. Phil changed the middle around, we had the wrong tempo, the wrong feel, but we didn't realize that Bert could've produced it. Bert (Berns) was such a newcomer, he was sitting in the spectator's booth, watching Phil and I butcher this song. Atlantic Records co-founder Jerry Wexler said: "It was when (Phil) Spector was working with us, and he and I produced the record and it was horrible. This original version was produced by Phil Spector, who within the next three years became the most famous producer in the record business, but his work on this track didn't go over well. It wasn't released until that September as Atlantic single 2115, and then as the B-Side of "Always Late (Why Lead Me On)." The song was first recorded by the Atlantic Records vocal group The Top Notes on February 23, 1961. This was written by up-and-coming songwriter Bert Berns (under the pseudonym Bert Russell) along with Phil Medley, a songwriter whose credits include "A Million To One" by Jimmy Charles and "If I Didn't Have A Dime (To Play The Jukebox)" by Gene Pitney (also written with Berns).