Blogocentric Formulations

Twist and Shout

** Image ID #2009874 Unavailable **

Song: "Twist and Shout"
Original: The Isley Brothers
Cover: The Beatles


Having grown up on John Hughes movies, this song holds a special place in my heart thanks to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It's such a great movie for so many reasons, but the parade at the end set to this song was just the icing on the cake. I'm not a huge fan of the Beatles (at least not by comparison to most of their fans, my wife included), but even I have to admit that this song gets me tapping my feet every time.

Originally written in 1961 by Phil Medley and Bert Berns, the song was first recorded for the Isley Brothers in 1962. It was then covered for the Beatles' debut album Please Please Me in 1963 and covered by a variety of artists over the years since (including The Who, who covered it on two separate occasions). I also wanted to include this song because it's a case where the band covering the song is defunct (and half of them are dead at this point), but the original artist (the Isley Brothers) are still alive and kicking. Although they're a few members short and have undergone some lineup changes over the years, the band still performs on the road and put out a studio album as recently as 2007. Not too shabby for an act that's been performing since the late 1950s!