The Twist

This was written by Hank Ballard, who originally recorded it in 1959 with his group The Midnighters. Ballard, who died in 2003, was an influential R&B musician who blended rock, country and gospel in the '50s and '60s. Ballard got the idea for the song by watching The Midnighters on stage. To Hank, 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.

Hank Ballard & The Midnighters tried to get a Twist craze going with their original version of the song, doing the dance at their shows as they toured America (their dance was a little different, with band members lifting a leg to twist). It caught on in Philadelphia and in Baltimore, but was far from the national craze Chubby Checker created when he covered the song.

Ballard's original version was the B-side to "Teardrops On Your Letter," a song that was covered by many country musicians. "The Twist" went over very well live and Ballard thought it was a hit, but his record company (King Records) thought "Teardrops On My Letter" would do better (it made #87). In Baltimore a deejay named Buddy Deane had a TV dance party show (The Buddy Deane Show) and played the song. The kids' reaction was excellent and Buddy recommended the song to Dick Clark, who had his own show in Philadelphia, American Bandstand. Clark loved the song but was wary of Ballard, who was known for raunchy songs like "Sexy Ways" and "Work With Me Annie." Clark, who was a media mogul with interests in record labels and artists, went looking for his own artist to break the song. He held auditions, and found a young man named Earnest Evans, a chicken plucker who liked to sing on the job. He was a great impersonator and kept everyone at the chicken plant laughing as he'd do his impersonations of the popular stars of that time like Fats Domino, Elvis, The Coasters and the Chipmunks. Because of payola laws, Clark was technically prohibited from having financial dealings with record companies, but he had a good relationship with the Philly label Cameo-Parkway, which took care of recording and releasing the new version. Studio musicians at Cameo-Parkway, along with Evans on vocals, duplicated the Ballard version of "The Twist," which they did almost exactly: Same key, same tempo, and Evans sounded just like Hank Ballard. Clark was going to release the record but wanted Ernest to think up a stage name. Clark's wife suggested that he use a take off on Fats Domino: Fats=Chubby Domino=Checker. Ernest Evans became Chubby Checker, and after performing the song on American Bandstand, it was his version that raced up the charts. The cover was so convincing that when Hank Ballard first heard the song on the radio he thought it was him - "They cloned it" were Hank's words. Ballard was not bitter toward Checker or Clark when his version was left behind, especially since Ballard's record company had no faith in the song. Since he was the songwriter, Ballard earned massive royalties when Checker's version became a huge hit. Clark also helped out Ballard by promoting his song "Finger Poppin' Time," which rose to #7 around the same time "The Twist" was happening.