Harold's Big Chance

It's the summer of 1960 and Harold goes to pick up his date, Jerry Sue.

Harold's a pretty hip guy with his own car and a ducktail hairdo.

When he goes to the front door, Jerry Sue's father answers and invites him in.

"Jerry Sue's not ready yet, so why don't you have a seat?" he says.

He asks Harold what they are planning to do.

Harold replies politely that they will probably just go to the malt shop or to a drive-in-movie. Jerry Sue's father responds, "Why don't you kids go out and screw? I hear all the kids are doing it."

Naturally this comes as quite a surprise to Harold and he says, "Whaaaat?"

"Yeah," says Jerry Sue's father, "We know Jerry Sue really likes to screw; why, she'd screw all night if we let her."

Harold's eyes light up and he smiles from ear to ear. Immediately, he has revised the plans for the evening. A few minutes later, Jerry Sue comes downstairs and announces that she's ready to go.

Almost breathless with anticipation, Harold escorts his date out the front door as her dad says, "Have a good evening kids," and gives the boy a small wink.

About 20 minutes later, a thoroughly disheveled Jerry Sue rushes back into the house, slams the door behind her and screams at her father, "Dammit, Daddy! The twist! It's called the TWIST!"

Blinky Notes

When I first saw this one, it was placed in 1957. Having been around back then, I knew that wasn't right - that was too early. While confirming this, I decided that the back story on the twist might interest others, so here's a bit of history on the origin of the tune, the craze and the star.

"In 1958, [Hank] Ballard wrote 'The Twist', an up tempo 12 bar blues that used a melody line he'd lifted from the group's flop of the previous year, 'Is Your Love For Real?' which he had in turn borrowed from McPhatter and the Drifter's 1955 hit 'What 'Cha Gonna Do?' Unhappy at Federal, Ballard took the new tune to Vee-Jay, which cut it but didn't release it. Then King, Federal's parent label, picked up the group's option and recorded 'The Twist', the first record to place Ballard's name on the label in front of the group's. It was issued, however, as the B side of the gospel-drenched Ballard ballad 'Teardrops On Your Letter'. While 'Teardrops' rose to number four on the R&B chart with minimal pop response, the flip also generated some action, peaking at number 16 R&B during its initial round on the charts. 'American Bandstand' host Dick Clark was so enamored of the tune that he had Ernest Evans re-recorded it. Dubbed 'Chubby Checker' by Clark's wife, the Philadelphia singer took 'The Twist' to the top of the pop chart twice, in 1960 and again two years later. Checker's version was so close to the original that Ballard, upon first hearing it on the radio, thought it was his own." Source: history-of-rock.com

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