At number 17, Twist & Shout by The Beatles... at least as performed by the Beatles - this is one of their few hits that was not a Lennon/McCartney composition. Seeing as this is case, it is a good excuse to put a bit of Ferris Bueller up on the Turkey... (Just in case you are wondering - it was John Lennon singing, not actually Matthew Broderick!):
"Twist and Shout" is a song written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns. It was originally recorded by the Top Notes and then covered by The Isley Brothers. It was covered by The Beatles, with John Lennon on the lead vocals, and originally released on their first album Please Please Me.
The recording session for that album was their first album session, and is notable for ten songs having been recorded in a mere 10 hours (the remaining four songs had previously been released as singles). "Twist and Shout" was the last song recorded; producer George Martin knew John Lennon's voice would suffer from the performance, so he left it until last, with only 15 minutes of scheduled recording time remaining for the album.
Lennon was suffering from a cold, and was drinking milk and sucking on cough drops to soothe his throat. His coughing is audible on the album, and the cold's effect on his voice is audible in this recording. Even so, he produced a memorable vocal performance, a raucous, dynamic rocker. He later said his voice was not the same for a long time afterward, and that "every time [he] swallowed, it felt like sandpaper."
The Beatles' version of the song enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in 1986 after Matthew Broderick lip synced it in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Coincidentally, the Rodney Dangerfield film Back to School (released two days after Ferris) also featured the song, this one sung by Dangerfield himself and patterned after the Beatles' arrangement. The use in the two films help propel the single up the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at #23 that summer, giving the group their second chart single of the 1980s (the other being "The Beatles' Movie Medley" in 1982).
Labels: James G, The Summer of Love Countdown