THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

749-Chubby Checker-The Twist.

1960-Number 44 single. When reissued in 1962 it reached Number 14, and when reissued as a double ‘A’ side with ‘Let’s Twist Again’ in 1975, it peaked at Number 5.

Best Bit-At 1.26. Check out the video for the possible visual explanation as to why Catherine Lodders, a Dutch 21 model, and Miss World in 1962 agreed to be his wife.

Chubby Checker was born Earnest Evans on October 3rd, 1941, in Spring Gully, South Carolina, United States. As a youngster he acquired the nickname ‘Chubby’ because of his weight, and the ‘Checker’ was added as his stage name, as a nod to the then current star Fats Domino. Chubby Checker would go on to have a further 19 top 40 singles on Billboard, through until 1965, many with the theme of dance moves, such as ‘The Hucklebuck,”The Fly,’ and ‘Pony Time.’ In 1988 Checker reached Number 16 on Billboard, and Number 2 in the UK, with a new version of ‘The Twist,’ recorded with the Hip-Hop trio The Fat Boys.

‘The Twist’ was written by Hank Ballard (1927-2003) of Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, they were an American R&B group who had 10 top 40 hits on Billboard in the 1950’s, and 1960’s. Cal Green of the Midnighters, and Ballard already had a song written called ‘Is Your Love For Real,’ which was based on The Drifters 1955 song ‘What’cha Gonna Do,’ and what they did was change the words to a song about doing the ‘twist’ dance. Ballard got the idea for the song when watching the ‘Midnighters,’To Hank the group often moved like they were ‘trying to put a cigarette out, in a sense they were twisting.’thus, the title of the song.

The Twist is the only song to reach Number 1 on Billboard twice by the same artist, in the summer of 1960, and again when re-released in the winter of 1961.

My daddy is sleepin’ and mama ain’t around, we’re gonna twisty twisty twisty till we tear the house down.’