[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im9XuJJXylw]
Believe it or not, the song that people know Checker for was not his song. It was a cover. Originally recorded by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, the song that gave birth to the dance craze of the twist wasn't made a number one until recorded by Checker. It's his signature song, and it's not even his.
Being a wedding DJ, this is a song I fall back on quite often. It and other dance tunes from the fifties and sixties are a good way to bridge the gap between quiet dinner music and modern dance music. Recently, I was at a wedding where I played this song, and several of the younger crowd - late teens - had never heard it...or so they claimed. Maybe they just didn't want to admit to knowing it, but when you live in a society where people honestly don't know who Elvis or Sir Paul are, you really begin to wonder. Regardless, the odl crowd at the wedding showed them the right way to twist.
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