THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

749-Chubby Checker-The Twist.

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

Best Bit-At 0.06. Only two songs have reached the Number 1 spot on Billboard, with the same singer, with the same song, in the ‘Rock ‘N Roll’ era. Chubby Checker with ‘The Twist,’ in 1960, and 1962, and Mariah Carey with ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You,’ (see also best songs 822 ) in 2019-2020-2021, and 2022.

Chubby Checker was born Ernest Evans on October 3rd, 1941, in Spring Gully, South Carolina, United States. A a child he entertained his school classmates by performing vocal impressions of popular entertainers of the day, such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Fats Domino. This eventually led to him being signed by ‘Cameo-Parkway Records,’ who released his first single ‘The Class,’ in 1959, which was a novelty song of Chubby Checker doing impressions of various musicians, the song reached Number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was as a youngster that 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 ‘Rock ‘N Roll’ star Fats Domino (see also best songs 617 and 272.)

Chubby Checker has had many hit singles whose subject has been about performing dance moves, these include ‘The Hucklebuck,’ (1960) ‘Pony Time.’ (1961) ‘The Fly,’ (1961) and ‘Limbo Rock’ (1963.) The discography of Chubby Checker includes 16 studio Albums released between 1960-2001, and 51 singles issued between 1959-2013, there are also three official compilation Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 he has had 23 top 40 hits, (including re-issues) with two of those songs reaching Number 1, the other being ‘Pony Time,’ in 1961. In the UK Chubby Checker has had 10 top 40 hits, with two of his tracks peaking at Number 2, ‘Let’s Twist Again,’ in 1961, and also his final chart entry to date ‘The Twist’ (“Yo, Twist!” version) with the ‘Fat Boys’ in 1988.

The original version of ‘The Twist’ was written by Hank Ballard, and first recorded by ‘Hank Ballard and the Midnighters,’ as the ‘B’ side to their 1958 single ‘Teardrops on Your Letter,’ which stalled at Number 87 on Billboard. When it was re-issued as the ‘A’ side in 1960 on the back of the success of the Chubby Checker version, it made Number 28 on Billboard. Hank Ballard was born John Henry Kendricks, on November 18th, 1927, in Detroit, Michigan, United States, he died of throat cancer on March 2nd, 2003, at the age of 75. Hank Ballard is remembered as playing a leading role in the development of ‘Rock ‘N Roll,’ with songs such as ‘Work With Me, Annie,’ (1954) and it’s answer song Annie Had a Baby’ (1954.) Hank Ballard who was the cousin of Florence Ballard (1943-1976) of the ‘Supremes,’ had nine top 40 hit singles on Billboard, with ”Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go,’ charting the highest at Number 6 in 1960.

Hank Ballard got the idea for ‘The Twist’ when watching his group the ‘Midnighters’ perform, Ballard has said,’The group often moved onstage like they were trying to put a cigarette out. In a sense, they were twisting. Thus, the title of the song.’ ‘The Twist’ developed from a previous song written by Hank Ballard, and his fellow band member Cal Green (1937-2004) called ‘Is Your Love for Real.’ which was based on Clyde McPhatter and The Drifters 1955 song ‘What’cha Gonna Do.’ Ballard wrote new lyrics, and ‘Is Your Love for Real,’ became ‘The Twist.’

‘Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, performed ‘The Twist’ on a Baltimore television dance show hosted by local DJ Buddy Deane (1924-2003.) Deane then recommended the song to Dick Clark, (1929-2012) host of the national ‘American Bandstand’ television show. Clark attempted to book Ballard to perform, but he was unavailable, which led to Clark searching for someone else. He settled on Chubby Checker whose voice was very similar to Hank Ballard’s, and after Checker’s appearance on ‘American Bandstand,’ ‘The Twist’ became a national hit.

When Hank Ballard first heard Chubby Checker’s version of ‘The Twist’ on the radio he thought it was himself, saying,’They cloned it.’ Hank Ballard was not bitter towards Chubby Checker, or Dick Clark, as he earned massive royalties from the song. Chubby Checker has explained how to dance ‘The Twist,’ ‘It’s like putting out a cigarette with both feet, and coming out of a shower and wiping your bottom with a towel to the beat.’

When the song first got to Number 1 in 1960, it was the youth who bought the song, but after the dance moves became more and more popular, and with celebrities also latching on to the fad, the older generation also grew to love it, leading to it’s re-release, and it once again made Number 1 in 1962. ‘The Twist’ was a dance where the participants didn’t touch each other, which was unusual at the time, becoming a new trend, peaking with ‘Disco Dancing’ over a decade later.

‘Yeah, you should see my little sis, you should see my, my little sis. She really knows how to rock, she knows how to twist. Come on and twist, yeah, baby twist, ooh yeah, just like this. Come on, little miss, and do the twist.’