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LET’S TWIST AGAIN, LIKE WE DID LAST SUMMER – CHUBBY CHECKERJul 27 '03 (Updated Aug 28 '03) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line “Chubby Checker” was born “Ernest Evans” on 3 October 1941 in Andrews, SC
Some sources have Chubby being bon in Philadelphia, PA incorrectly. The truth is he was born in Andrews, SC and his family moved to Philadelphia when he was 10 years old. In 1951 he begins studying under “Dr. Purcheck” at the Settlement Music School. While in the 10th grade he formed his first group called “The Quantrells”. While he was going to high school he was also working Part Time in a poultry market in south Philadelphia and would often entertain the customers by singing or telling jokes. In the evenings he and his group would sing harmony songs on the local street corners. In his early days he was called “Earnest Chubby Evans” because if his weight and chubby cheeks. His boss of the poultry market “Henry Colt” brought Chubby to the attention of the President of Cameo records “Kal Mann”. In late 1958 he received an audition with “Cameo-Parkway” records in Philadelphia and was signed to a contract under his real name of “Ernest Evans”. One day “Dick Clark” who is the host of local TV show “American Bandstand” drops by the recording studio and is impressed with the way Chubby can imitate many other artists and styles of music. He records his first record titled “The Class” which is written by Mann and he changes his name after it is noted that he resembles “Fats Domino” and he officially becomes “Chubby Checker”. His debut record “The Class” which is a novelty song debuts on the national pop singles charts on 18 May 1959 and later peaks at #38. The song features Chubby imitating “Fats Domino”, “Elvis Presley”, “The Coasters” and “The Chipmunks”. In late 1958 “Hank Ballard & The Midnighters” recorded 2 songs with the “A” side being “Teardrops On Your Letter” and the “B” side being “The Twist”. The single debuted on the national pop charts on 9 March 1959 but only wet to #87. The following year they decided to re-release the single but this time “The Twist” was the “A” side and it debuted on the charts on 18 July 1960 later peaking for them at #28. Chubby releases his own version of “The Twist” and it debuts nationally on the pop charts on 1 August and would go all the way to #1 for him. It would eventually sell over a million copies and on 19 September it peaked at #44 in the UK. His next release is a remake of a #5 hit in 1949 by “Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra” titled “The Hucklebuck” that debuts on 10 October and eventually peaks at #14 for him. The flip side of this single also debuts on the charts the same day which is a remake of a #3 hit in 1957 by “Jerry Lee Lewis” titled “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” that would later peak for Chubby at #42 on the pop charts. On 31 October his first album “Twist With Chubby Checker” debuts on the charts and peaks at #3 and stays on the charts for 42 weeks. He December he appears in “Christmas Rock ‘N’ Roll Show” at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York along with “Neil Sedaka”, “Bobby Vee”, “The Drifters”, “Dion” and “Bo Diddley”. In January 1961 the New York Safety Council releases a statement that of 54 cases of back trouble reported in just a single week a total of 49 of those were due to too much “twisting”. On 23 January his 3rd consecutive dance song titled “Pony Time” debuts on the singles charts later peaking at #1 where it stays for 3 consecutive weeks. “Pony Time” sets off a new dance craze called “The Pony”. The song debuted the same week on the charts by “Don Covay & The Goodtimers” but only peaked at #60 for them. The song is a rewritten version of “Boogie Woogie” that was written and recorded originally by “Clarence Pinetop Smith” in 1928. “Dance The Mess Around” a remake of a non-charting “Richard Berry” song debuts on 24 April and later going to #24 on the charts. The previous week the “B” side of this hit single titled “Good, Good Lovin” debuted and later peaked at #43. On 19 June “Let’ Twist Again” makes it debut on the charts going all the way to #8 and becoming his second gold selling single. In July he becomes a part of “Dick Clark’s Caravan Of Stars” for the summer along with “Duane Eddy”, “Fabian”, “Freddy Boom Boom Cannon”, “Bobby Rydell” and many others. His second album “It’s Pony Time” stops at #110. “The Fly” debuts on the singles pop charts on 25 September and later peaks at #7. Another dance craze where it’s similar in style to “The Twist” adding in a lot of arm movements to imitate a buzzing fly. On 13 November “The Twist” is re-released and later becomes the first and only single to go to #1 by the same artist after leaving the charts in one year and returning the next when it tops the charts on 13 January 1962. The flip side titled “Twistin’ U.S.A” makes it debut on the charts on 11 December later peaking at #68. On the same date Chubby & “Bobby Rydell” would team for a duet version of a #6 hit by “Bobby Helms” in 1957 titled “Jingle Bell Rock” that enters the charts and later peaks at #21 for them. Their version would be released the following year and only peak at #92 on the charts. Bobby’s version would be re-released and make the charts by him 5 more times in 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1997. On 4 December “Let’s Twist Again” makes it debut on the album charts and later makes it to #11. Two weeks later “Your Twist Party” makes it debut on the album charts later going all the way to #2 where it stays for 6 consecutive weeks. A 3rd album this month debuts on the charts on Christmas day titled “Bobby Rydell/Chubby Checker” that would go all the way to #7. In 1961 Chubby appeared in 2 Movies the first was “Twist Around The Clock” with “John Cronin”, “Mary Mitchell”, “The Marcels”, “Dion” and many more. He next appeared in the Movie titled “Teenage Millionaire” with “Jimmy Clanton”, “Rocky Graziano”, “Zasu Pitts”, “Jackie Wilson”, “Dion” and others. He also appeared in 2 movies in 1962 the first was “Ring-A-Ding-Rhythm” along with “Helen Shapiro”, “Craig Douglas”, “Gary U.S. Bonds”, “Gene McDaniels”, “Alan Freeman”, “Gene Vincent”, “Acker Bilk”, “Del Shannon” and others. This was followed up by “Don’t Knock The Twist” with “Gene Chandler”, “Barbara Morrison”, “Linda Scott”, “Frank Albertson”, “Vic Dana” and others. On 20 January 1962 “For Twisters Only” debuts on the album charts and would later peak at #8. In February “The Twist” and “Let’s Twist Again” are both re-released in the UK only as the dance craze his their for the first time. “The Twist” would eventually peak at #14 there and “Let’s Twist Again” would go all the way to #2 and become the UK’s official twist anthem. On 3 March “Slow Twistin” a duet with “Dee Dee Sharp” debuts on the US singles pop charts and later goes to #3. Two weeks later the flip side titled “La Paloma Twist” makes its debut on the charts finally stopping at #72 on the charts. On 14 April “For Teen Twisters Only” debuts on the album charts and later peaks at #17. He wins the Best Rock ‘N Roll Recording in 1961 for “Let’s Twist Again” at the 4th annual Grammy Awards on 29 May. The soundtrack album from the Movie of the same name “Don’t Knock The Twist” debuts on the album charts with 6 songs from the Movie performed by Chubby on it on 21 July later peaking at #29. On 23 June “Dancin’ Party” debuts on the pop singles charts eventually peaking at #12. In July “Gary U.S. Bonds” sues Chubby for plagiarism because the song sounds too much like his #1 hit in 1961 titled “Quarter To Three”. The case is settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. His next release titled “Limbo Rock” debuts on the charts on 8 September. It later peaks at #2 for 2 weeks in the US and peaks at #32 in the UK and becomes his 3rd and final gold selling single. It had been a #40 instrumental hit earlier in the year for “The Champs”. The following week the flip side titled “Popeye The Hitchhiker” debuts and later peaks at #10 on the singles charts. Also in September Chubby begins a 14-day twice-nightly tour of UK with “The Brook Brothers” and “The Kestrels”. He releases his first official compilation album titled “All The Hits (For Your Dancin’ Party)” that debuts on the charts on 10 November and later peaks at #23. On 29 December “Limbo Party” debuts on the album charts finally peaking at #11 the following year. In December the re-issue of “Jingle Bell Rock” by Chubby and “Bobby Rydell” goes to #40 in the UK and stops this time in the US at #92. Also in December his newest album “Down To Earth” that has duets with “Dee Dee Sharp” that was released in October stops at #117 on the charts in December. In 1963 he has 8 top 100 charting singles in the US two of which peak at #12 “Birdland” and “Loddy Lo”. His final top 40-charting album titled “Chubby Checker’s Biggest Hits” debuts on the charts on 9 February and later peaks at #27. He has 3 other charting albums this year the biggest selling of these was “Let’s Limbo Some More” that stopped at #87 on the charts. On 2 March he hosts “The Limbo Party” stage show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, CA with guests “Marvin Gaye”, “The Crystals”, “Lou Christie” and “The Four Seasons”. From 1964 through 1972 he had no albums make the Top 200 album charts in the US. On 12 April 1964 he marries a Dutch girl who was a beauty queen and Miss World 1962 “Catharina Lodders”. Chubby had a string of 32 consecutive chart hits until the bubble burst in 1966 and his popularity declined. He decided to change his style and sing Folk music and was a regular on the club circuit. From 1964 through 1968 he has only 6 songs make the US pop singles charts the biggest of these was titled “Hey, Bobba Needle” that debuted on 14 March 1964 and later peaked at #23. In 1969 he signs a new contract with “Buddah” records and has one charting record with them titled “Back In The U.S.S.R.” that debuted on the singles charts on 5 April but would only go to #82. The song was written by “John Lennon” and “Paul McCartney” and would later appear on “The Beatles (The White Album)” on 25 October 1990. On 23 June 1970 he is arrested with three others in Niagara Falls, NY when police discover them with Marijuana and other drugs in their car. Starting in 1970 he began touring the world with the oldies Rock ‘N Roll Road Show up until 1982 when he signed a contract with “MCA Records”. In 1973 he had his first charting album in 10 years with “Chubby Checker’s Greatest Hits” that only made it to #152 on the charts. In 1975 there was an unexpected revival of the Twist craze in local discos in the UK and “Let’s Twist Again” with “The Twist” on the flip side is re-issued and peaks at #5 there. A new version of “Let’s Twist Again” by “John Asher” peaks at #14 in the UK. In 1973 he appeared in the Movie “Let the Good Times Roll” with “Chuck Berry”, “Little Richard”, “Fats Domino”, “Bo Diddley”, “The Shirelles”, “The Coasters”, “Danny & The Juniors”, “Bill Haley & The Comets” and others. In 1982 he released a disco inspired album titled “The Change Has Come” on his new label “MCA” that peaked at #186 and had one minor hit released from it. That song was called “Running” and that debuted on 20 February but stopped at #92. In 1988 he returned to the Top 40 for the first time in 25 years when he performed on a single release by “The Fat Boys” which was a Rap version of his 60’s #1 hit “The Twist” this time titled “The Twist (Yo, Twist)” that would peak at #16 on the singles charts. They perform the song live for “Nelson Mandela’s” 70th Birthday tribute on 11 June at Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England. Also in 1988 he appeared in the Movie “Purple People Eater” with “Ned Beatty”, “Neil Patrick Harris”, “Shelley Winters”, “Peggy Lipton”, Little Richard”, “Sheb Wooley”, “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar” and others. On 16 December 1991 Chubby sues McDonald’s in Canada for 14.8 million dollars for the alleged use of an imitation of his voice on “The Twist” in it’s French Fries Commercials. In 1993 he appeared in the Movie “Calendar Girl” with “Jason Priestley”, “Gabriel Olds”, “Joe Pantoliano”, “Jerry O’Connell” and others. In 1994 he was the musical score composer of a French Film titled “Wild Reeds”. He has since returned to the touring circuit with the Rock ‘N Roll Oldies Show once again touring the world. The CD by Chubby I am reviewing today is called “THE BEST OF CHUBBY CHECKER”which was never released on an album but was released on CD on the “Madacy” record label on 3 June 1997. They would release another CD with the same name on 9 February 199 but with only 10 hits on this one. The songs on this CD are listed below in the order as they appear, followed by the length of each song then by my rating of each and finally by my overall rating of this CD: 1. The Twist – 2:36 - 5 2. The Hucklebuck – 2:28 – 5 3. Pony Time – 2:28 – 5 4. The Fly – 2:20 – 5 5. Let’s Twist Again – 2:22 – 5 6. Dance The Mess Around – 2:22 – 4 7. Limbo Rock – 2:22 – 5 8. Slow Twistin’ – 2:41 – 5 9. Popeye The Hitchhiker – 2:32 – 5 10. Dancin’ Party – 2:28 -4 11. Loddy Lo – 2:11 - 4 12. Birdland - 2:33 – 3 13. Twenty Miles – 2:11 – 3 14. Hooka Tooka – 3 15. Let’s Limbo Some More – 2:13 – 3 16. Twist It Up – 3:48 – 3 17. Mary Ann Limbo – 2:50 - 4 18. Hey, Bobba Needle – 2:22 – 4 19. Rosie – 2:23 – 3 (Label shows Limbo Rock extended version incorrectly) 20. Do The Freddy – 2:21 – 3 21. The Twist (extended version) 5:01 – 5 TOTAL POINTS: 86 POINTS DIVIDED BY 21 SONGS = 4.09 OR 4 STARS Rating Key: 5 –Great 4 – Very Good 3 – Good 2 – Fair 1 – Poor 0 – This song does not belong here! Billboard US Top 50 Pop Singles for “Chubby Checker” 1. The Class – Debut on 05/18/59 peaked at #38 2. THE TWIST – Debut on 08/01/60 peaked at #1 (Gold) 3. The Hucklebuck – Debut on 10/10/60 peaked at #14 4. Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On – Debut on 10/10/60 peaked at #42 5. PONY TIME - Debut on 01/23/61 peaked at #1 for 3 weeks 6. Good, Good Lovin’ – Debut on 04/17/61 peaked at #43 7. Dance The Mess Around – Debut on 04/24/61 peaked at #24 8. Let’s Twist Again – Debut on 06/19/61 peaked at #8 9. The Fly – Debut on 09/25/61 peaked at #7 10. THE TWIST - Debut a second time on 11/13/61 peaked at #1 for 2 weeks 11. Jingle Bell Rock – Debut on 12/11/61 peaked at #21 (with “Bobby Rydell”) 12. Slow Twistin’ – Debut on 03/03/62 peaked at #3 13. Dancin’ Party – Debut on 06/23/63 peaked at #12 14. Limbo Rock – Debut on 09/08/62 peaked at #2 for 2 weeks 15. Popeye The Hitchhiker – Debut on 09/15/62 peaked at #10 16. Let’s Limbo Some More – Debut on 02/16/63 peaked at #20 17. Twenty Miles – Debut on 02/23/63 peaked at #15 18. Birdland – Debut on 05/18/63 peaked at #12 19. Twist it Up – Debut on 07/20/63 peaked at #25 20. Loddy Lo – Debut on 11/02/63 peaked at #12 21. Hooka Tooka – Debut on 12/07/63 peaked at #17 22. Hey, Bobba Needle – Debut on 03/14/64 peaked at #23 23. Lazy Elsie Molly – Debut on 06/06/64 peaked at #40 24. She Wants T’ Swim – Debut on 08/29/54 peaked at #50 25. Let’s Do The Freddy – Debut on 04/03/65 peaked at #40 26. The Twist (Yo, Twist!) – Debut on 06/18/88 peaked at #16 (with “The Fat Boys”) Billboard US Top 40 Pop Albums for “Chubby Checker” 1. Twist With Chubby Checker – Debut on 10/31/60 peaked at #3 2. Let’s Twist Again – Debut on 12/04/61 peaked at #11 3. Your Twistin’ Party – Debut on 12/18/61 peaked at #2 for 6 weeks 4. Bobby Rydell/Chubby Checker – Debut on 12/25/61 peaked at #7 5. For Twisters Only – Debut on 01/20/62 peaked at #8 6. For Teen Twisters Only – Debut on 04/14/62 peaked at #17 7. Don’t Knock The Twist (Movie Soundtrack) – Debut on 07/21/62 peaked at #29 8. All The Hits (For Your Dancin’ Party) – Debut on 11/10/62 peaked at #23 9. Limbo Party – Debut on 12/29/62 peaked at #11 10. Chubby Checker’s Biggest Hits – Debut on 02/09/63 peaked at #27 SOME SONG LYRICS Pony Time It's pony time, Boogety, boogety, boogety shoo Hey now let's party with the union hall, It's pony time when ya hear this call, So get with it, Don't quit it, Get up. Do the pony with your partner, With a big boss line, Well anyway ya do it, You're gonna look real fine, So get with it, Don't quit it, Get up. Now ya turn to the left when I say gee, You turn to the right when I say haw, Now gee, ya ya baby, Now haw, ya oh baby, oh baby, pretty baby, Do it baby, oh baby, oh baby, Boogety, boogety, boogety, boogety shoo. Gonna see little Suzie, who lives next door, She's doin' the pony, she's takin' the floor, Eeea ah, so get with it, don't quit it, come on, Boogety, boogety, boogety, boogety shoo. Do the pony with your pardner, Oh in a big boss line, But anyway you do it, You're gonna look just fine, So get with, Don't quit it, Come on. Eeeaaah Now you turn to the left when I say gee, You turn to the right when I say haw, Now gee, ya ya little baby, Now haw, ya oh baby, oh baby, pretty baby, Do it baby, oh baby, oh baby, Boogety, boogety, boogety, boogety shoo. Let’s Twist Again Come on everybody clap your hands Now you're looking good I'm gonna sing my song and you won't take long We gotta do the twist and it goes like this Come on let's twist again like we did last summer Yea, let's twist again like we did last year Do you remember when things were really hummin' Yea, let's twist again, twistin' time is here Yeah round 'n around 'n up 'n down we go again Oh baby make me know you love me so then Come on let's twist again like we did last summer Yea, let's twist again, twistin' time is here Come on let's twist again like we did last summer Yea, let's twist again like we did last year Do you remember when things were really hummin' Yea, let's twist again, twistin' time is here Yeah round 'n around 'n up 'n down we go again Oh baby make me know you love me so then Come on let's twist again like we did last summer Yea, let's twist again, twistin' time is here Limbo Rock Every limbo boy and girl All around the limbo world Gonna do the limbo rock All around the limbo clock Jack be limbo, Jack be quick Jack go unda limbo stick All around the limbo clock Hey, let's do the limbo rock Limbo lower now Limbo lower now How low can you go First you spread your limbo feet Then you move to limbo beat Limbo ankolimboneee, Bend back like a limbo tree Jack be limbo, Jack be quick Jack go unda limbo stick All around the limbo clock Hey, let's do the limbo rock la la la Get yourself a limbo girl Give that chic a limbo whirl There's a limbo moon above You will fall in limbo love Jack be limbo, Jack be quick Jack go unda limbo stick All around the limbo clock Hey, let's do the limbo rock Don't move that limbo bar You'll be a limbo star How low can you go The Twist Come on baby let's do the twist Come on baby let's do the twist Take me by my little hand and go like this Eeoh twist baby baby twist Oooh yeah just like this Come on little miss and do the twist My daddy is sleepin' and mama ain't around Yeah daddy is sleepin' and mama ain't around We're gonna twisty twisty twisty 'Til we turn the house down Come on and twist yeah baby twist Oooh yeah just like this Come on little miss and do the twist Yeah you should see my little Sis You should see my my litlle Sis She really knows how to rock She knows how to twist Come on and twist yeah baby twist Oooh yeah just like this Come on little miss and do the twist Yeah rock on now Yeah twist on now Twist JAGUARDOG’S FINAL THOUGHTS Chubby Checker is and always has been considered the King of the Dance songs. Most of his early hits ended up being big dances for a period of time until a new dance craze replaced it. The biggest and longest dance craze in the 60’s and 70’s was “The Twist”. Other big hits that also became names of dances were “The Limbo Rock”, “The Hucklebuck”, “The Fly” and “The Limbo” just to name a few. His music was listed in the Rock ‘N Roll and Rhythm & Blues categories. His music was not only always very danceable but was fun, fast, playful, rollicking, rousing, joyous, happy, cheerful, good natured, exuberant, silly, carefree, innocent and party like. I must admit he was probably one of the first solo artists I ever followed religiously as far as enjoying his music and collecting all his singles. I had an original copy of “The Twist” when I was only 10 years old. I wish I still had that single and in mint condition as I hear it is worth a pretty penny. No drugs, guns, sex, violence or booze and except for rumors of some of his stuff having sexual connotations (which I never believed) this CD and anything by him is in my opinion rated “G”. Good stuff, Good music and Good clean fun to be had by all. Well that ends another part of my music history lesson for today Ladies and Gentlemen and I hope your learned something today and maybe were entertained just a little? . Up next will be the very beautiful, sexy, vivacious and fantastic voiced singer “Cher”. I hope everyone has a Great evening, thanks for dropping by and taking the time to read and maybe leave a comment and as always God Bless You All, Ron.  |
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