"Twist and Shout," the Beatles
It was in June 1976, fifty years ago, that EMI, having regained complete control of the Beatles' catalog once the group's Apple label went into hibernation when the nine-year contract the Beatles signed in January 1967 (which thus covered their solo careers up to and including January 1976) expired, released the first non-Apple Beatles compilation since their breakup.
Rock 'n' Roll Music was a two-disc compilation of the Beatles' fifties and early-sixties rock and roll and R&B covers and their heavier rock originals. It was a huge hit for Capitol in the U.S. and Parlophone in the U.K., though it was deleted four years later. "Twist and Shout," one of those songs you think is on the Red or Blue Album but isn't, kicked off the anthology.
The Isley Brothers had originally recorded "Twist and Shout," and it was both the last song to be recorded for the Beatles's debut album Please Please Me and the last song to appear on that album. At ten o'clock at night on February 11, 1963, the EMI recording studio at Abbey Road was to close for the night, and the Beatles needed one more song to fill out the LP. Someone suggested "Twist and Shout," and John Lennon, worn down by a cold and exhaustion, agreed to lead the group in a cover of it. After sucking on a couple of cough drops and gargling with milk, he delivered the most larynx-tearing vocal imaginable on the first take. Though that first take of "Twist and Shout" became the master, producer George Martin did try a second take but John's voice had completely gone.
One year later, with the Beatles' recorded output up to that point being released in different configurations in America, "Twist and Shout" was issued as a single by Vee Jay Records, a Chicago label, despite the rule back home in Britain that only original songs would be put out as singles. Nevertheless, "Twist and Shout" peaked at number two on the Billboard singles chart. It was not the only cover the Beatles recorded that was released as a single in the U.S., but it was their highest-charting cover single in the States.
My Music Video Of the Week is the official music video for "Twist and Shout," taken from a 1963 Beatles appearance on British television. Enjoy.
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