The Beatles Song of the Day is “Twist And Shout” which is on The Beatles debut album “Please Please Me.” “Please Please Me” starts perfectly with “I Saw Her Standing There” and there couldn’t have been a  greater finish than “Twist and Shout.” “Twist and Shout” in my opinion is the best cover song that The Beatles ever recorded. John Lennon: vocal and rhythm guitar/ Paul McCartney: backing vocal and bass guitar/ George Harrision: backing vocal and lead guitar/ Ringo Starr: drums. Recorded at Abbey Road at the end of a long day of recording on February 11th, 1963. Producer: George Martin. “Twist and Shout” was written by Phil Medley and Bert Russell. The song was most famously covered [before The Beatles} by the Isley Brothers who took it to #17 on the charts in 1962.

Rating of “Twist and Shout” on a scale of 1 to 5 stars ***** a classic.

• The song did not appear on Rolling Stone Magazine’s The Beatles 100 Greatest Songs or Spignesi and Lewis’ “100 Best Beatles Songs” list -due to the fact that The Beatles didn’t write the song. They didn’t rank covers. This is a Beatle classic though.
• Length of “Twist and Shout” 2:35
• At 1opm on February 11th, 1963 The Beatles had been in the studio for 12 hours. John Lennon who had a bad cold coming into the session, his voice was about shot. George Martin and the boys had a coffee, John warm milk for his voice and they discussed what number to do to finish up. George Martin was wanting one more barnburner to end the record. They came up with their loudest, rowdiest number from their concerts, their cover of “Twist and Shout.” They knew John’s voice wasn’t going to hold up for more than a take or two. The boys nailed it on the first take. A second take was tried but abandoned. John’s voice had nothing left. Everyone was delighted with the results. John’s singing on this song is one of the greatest moments in the history of rock and roll.
• Released as a single in America in 1964 “Twist and Shout” went to #2 on the charts. The B-side was “There’s A Place.” The only reason it didn’t hit #1 is “Can’t Buy Me Love” was at #1.
• “Twist and Shout” is the only song that that The Beatles covered that hit the Top 10 in America and also the only cover to sell a million copies.
• The Beatles would play “Twist and Shout” on one of their February 1964 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and would continue to play the song in concert until August 1965.

TWIST AND SHOUT {Medley-Russell}