The Beatles - Twist and Shout

Twist and Shout Lyric

Well, shake it up baby now shake it up baby
Twist and shout twist and shout
Come on, come on, come on, baby now come on, baby
Come on and work it on out work it on out

Ooooooooh

Well work it on out now work it on out
You know you look so good look so good
You know you got me goin' now got me goin
Just like I knew you would just like I knew you would

Oooooooh

Well, shake it shake it shake it baby now shake it up baby
Twist and shout twist and shout
Come on, come on, come on baby now come on, baby
Come on and work it on out work it on out
You know you twist little girl twist little girl
You know you twist so fine twist so fine
Come on and twist a little closer now twist a little closer
Let me know that you're mine let me know you're mine

Aaaaah, aaaaaah, aaaaaah, aaaaah

Yeah, shake it up baby now shake it up baby
Twist and shout twist and shout
Come on, come on, come on baby now come on baby
Come on and work it on out work it on out
Well shake it, shake it, shake it, baby yeah shake it, baby
Well shake it, shake it, shake it, baby yeah shake it, baby
Well shake it, shake it, shake it, baby yeah shake it, baby

Aaaaah, aaaaah, aaaaaah, aaaaah

Song Notes : "This was the first hit song written by Bert Berns. He went on to write songs for The Drifters, Ben E. King, and Van Morrison. He died of a heart attack in 1967"

A Philadelphia R&B group called The Top Notes originally recorded this in 1961. It was a hit for The Isley Brothers in 1962, which is the version The Beatles emulated. Engineer Norman Smith explained how The Beatles version came about: "Someone suggested they do 'Twist and Shout' with John taking the lead vocal. But by this time all their throats were sore; it was 12 hours since we had started working. John's, in particular, was almost completely gone so we really had to get it right the first time. The Beatles on the studio floor and us in the control room. John sucked a couple more Zubes (a brand of throat lozenges), had a bit of a gargle with milk and away we went."

"The Beatles recorded this in the last few minutes of the Please Please Me session. They had been recording all day, and Lennon's voice was shot. They got it right in the first take, which was fortunate because Lennon's voice probably couldn't have handled another"