Twist And Shout

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Twist And Shout is a 1961 song written by Bert Russell and Phil Medley. It was covered by The Beatles for their 1963 album Please Please Me.

Contents

[edit] Original Version

Originally, Twist And Shout was written by Bert Russell and Phil Medley and was first recorded by The Top Notes in 1961. However, a 1962 cover by The Isley Brothers became much more popular than the Top Notes' version.

[edit] Live Performances

The Beatles, influenced by The Isley Brothers' version, started performing the song live in 1962. After the Beatles version of the song had been recorded and released, Twist And Shout continued to be part of The Beatles' live set. It was the final song played at their October 13, 1963 Saturday Night at The London Palladium performance, believed to be the start of Beatlemania. They also performed it during the Royal Command Performance on November 4, 1963. During that performance, John Lennon introduced the song as this: "For our last number I'd like to ask your help. The people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you'd just rattle your jewellery. We'd like to sing a song called Twist And Shout." They also performed it during their February 1964 performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Twist And Shout remained part of the live set until August 1965, when the 1965 US tour ended at Cow Palace in California on August 31. An incomplete recording of this song, which was taken from a radio broadcast, is available on bootleg.

[edit] Recording

The earliest recorded Beatles version of Twist And Shout was recorded on November 27, 1962 for the BBC Radio program The Talent Spot at Paris Studio in London. Unfortunately, this recording no longer exists. The Beatles recordede Twist And Shout nine times for the BBC, none of which appeared on the 1994 compilation Live at the BBC. A live version, recorded in late December 1962 at the Star-Club in Hamburg, exists and is available on bootleg. The best-known version was recorded on February 11, 1963, the date that most of the album Please Please Me was recorded. On that date, Twist And Shout was recorded after 10:00 PM, the scheduled end of the session. Producer George Martin wanted a show-stopper to end the album with, and he knew which song to use. Martin recalls, "I knew that Twist And Shout was a real larynx-tearer and I said, 'We're not going record that until the very end of the day, because if we record it early on, you're not going to have any voice left.' So that was the last thing we did that night. We did two takes, and after that John didn't have any voice left at all. It was good enough for the record, and it needed that linen-ripping sound." The Beatles and production staff agreed that Twist And Shout, a big crowd-pleaser for the band, was the only option for the last song. Because they already were running past the scheduled end time and John's voice was fading, they had to get the song right the first time. Engineer Norman Smith recalls, "By this time all their throats were tired and sore - it was 12 hours since we had started working. John's, in particular, was almost completely gone so we really had to get it right first time, The Beatles on the studio floor and us in the control room. John sucked on a couple more Zubes [throat sweets], had a bit of a gargle with milk and away we went." Another engineer, Cris Neal, recalls, "John was stripped to the waist to do this most amazingly raucous vocal. The next morning Norman Smith and I took a tape around all the studio copying rooms saying to everybody: 'What the hell do you think of this!'" John Lennon recalled in 1976, "The last song nearly killed me. My voice wasn't the same for a long time after; every time I swallowed it was like sandpaper. I was always bitterly ashamed of it, because I could sing it better than that; but now it doesn't bother me. You can hear that I'm just a frantic guy doing his best." Two takes of it were recorded, but by the second John's voice had gone, putting an end to the session.

[edit] Recording Sessions

[edit] Chart Success

In the US, Twist And Shout was released as a single on March 2, 1964 on the Tollie label. It reached number two on the Billboard chart. Twist And Shout was the titled track of The Beatles' first EP in the UK, which topped the charts right after its July 12, 1963 release. The other songs on the EP were A Taste Of Honey, Do You Want To Know A Secret, and There's A Place. In Canada, Twist And Shout was the title track of The Beatles' second Canadian album released by Capitol. It was issued February 3, 1964.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Production

[edit] Available Versions

[edit] Known Unavailable Versions

[edit] Available On

[edit] Sources

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