Twisted

Chubby Checker - The Twist



With a voice sharing the approximate tone and volume of a horn section and a name parodying Fats Domino, Ernest Evans, aka Chubby Checker, went from being a musical impersonator to the face of a global phenomenon (easily comparable with pet rocks and the hula-hoop) with the release of his cover of Hank Ballard's The Twist. The song actually has a number of relatively dubious accolades - it's the only song to have two identical versions hit US #1 and it's spawned a number of increasingly dire sequels - Let's Twist Again, Slow Twist and, worst of all, The Twist (Yo Twist!) with half-witted comic rap group The Fat Boys.

In addition, it's probably the only US #1 to be a direct copy of another song - as American Bandstand producer and presenter Dick Clark couldn't get Ballard to perform the song on his show, he merely hired Checker and a band and recreated the song in the same key and tempo, getting Checker to impersonate Ballard. The result was such that Ballard initially heard the song, he thought it was him and later complained that he had been "cloned".

Ethical issues aside, the song is a little twee. Fatty keeps singing about how his sister dances - while this would normally be pretty far over the weird/creepy line, the song's too geeky and innocent to be particularly twisted.

And I keep thinking he's singing "come on little bitch / and do the twist".

Verdict: Twisted sister

Tomorrow: Glen Campbell - By The Time I Get to Pheonix