Shake It Up

And now we get to the last song released on the debut LP. "Twist and Shout" was also the last song recorded on February 11 1963. There were actually two complete takes performed, but the released, official version is take one. This is probably the best known cover song The Beatles ever performed. A lot of people did (and still do) think that "Twist and Shout" was/is a Beatles original. Not so. This was a cover tune that was written by Bert Russell and Phil Medley. The energy in this song is "way beyone compare". It was sung by a very, very hoarse John Lennon who had come to the end of his rope with his voice. You can hear his voice being torn to shreds. The reason a second take wasn't used was simply because John's voice had vanished (according to George Martin).

"Twist and Shout" was performed live by the Beatles on a number of occasions and was also one of the staples of their shows. It usually opened the live performance and it was the first song sung in concert (although it was shortened in concert ). The song was also performed live during a number of important live televised or recorded broadcasts including "Sunday Night at the London Palladium" October 63, The "Royal Variety Performance" November 63, "The Ed Sullivan show" February 64. Both the 1964 and 1965 tours included this song in their respective repertoires.

Apart from the UK Parlophone debut LP/CD "Please Please Me", the song was also featured on the Capitol of Canada 6000 series LP "Twist and Shout", the US Vee Jay LP "Introducing The Beatles", the US Capitol LP/CD "The Early Beatles", the Capitol/EMI double LP "Rock and Roll Music", the Lingasong double LP "The Beatles Live at the Star Club"(European version), a live snippet can be heard on the Capitol double LP "The Beatles Story" and finally the song is also available on the Capitol /EMI LP "The Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl". The song was also so very popular that a UK EP (extended play) was named after this song.

The Beatles performed "Twist and Shout" ten times on BBC radio - It was performed on "Talent Spot", "Swinging Sound 63" in front of a live audience, "Pop Go the Beatles" edition 4, "Beat Show", "Saturday Club", "Pop Go the Beatles" editions 11 and 15, and also during the Variety performance with the famous "rattle your jewellery" comment.