Twist and Shout: The Biggest Song The Beatles Didn’t Write

You know the opening riff. You know the shout. You’ve probably assumed, like most people, that The Beatles wrote “Twist and Shout.” They didn’t. It’s a cover, like many others they did back in the day.

In this episode of Uncovering the Cover, host Diego Pinzón traces the complete and extraordinary journey of one of rock and roll’s most beloved songs — from the Afro-Cuban dance halls of Havana to the streets of Liverpool, from a tiny Cincinnati R&B label to the top five on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Twist and Shout” was written by Bert Berns — a dying man from the Bronx who absorbed the rhythms of Cuban mambo, blended them with rock and roll, and handed the world a song that Phil Spector first ruined, that the Isley Brothers first made great, and that The Beatles recorded in one single take, sick and exhausted at the end of a 13-hour studio marathon.

Along the way, we’ll meet the man who turned The Beatles down and said “groups with guitars are on their way out,” hear the story of how JFK’s assassination accidentally launched Beatlemania, and witness the most extraordinary chart achievement in music history — a week in April 1964 that will never, ever be repeated.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Cold Open & Introduction

• Why most people still believe The Beatles wrote ‘Twist and Shout’ — and who actually did
• Why the song’s raspy, broken vocal quality isn’t a studio effect

Act I: The Man Who Was Supposed to Die Young

• The biography of Bert Berns: childhood illness, Havana mambo, Brill Building beginnings
• The role of Afro-Cuban music — mambo, clave rhythms — in the creation of ‘Twist and Shout’
• Why Phil Spector’s original 1961 production of the song flopped — and why Berns was furious about it
• The cultural explosion of mambo in 1950s New York: Tito Puente, Pérez Prado, and the Havana connection

Act II: From Cincinnati to Liverpool

• How the Isley Brothers rescued the song and gave it its definitive sound
• The infamous Decca Records audition: how one executive’s rejection of The Beatles accidentally set up everything that followed
• The 13-hour Abbey Road session: how and why George Martin saved ‘Twist and Shout’ for last
• What John Lennon’s voice actually sounds like — and why he could barely speak the next day
• Why ‘Twist and Shout’ was never released as a UK single

Act III: The Week No One Will Ever Repeat

• How JFK’s assassination and a grieving nation accidentally created Beatlemania
• The story of Marsha Albert, the 15-year-old whose letter to a radio station changed music history
• The legal battle between Vee-Jay Records and EMI over the US release of The Beatles
• April 4, 1964: The week The Beatles held all five top positions on the Billboard Hot 100 — a record that still stands
• The deaths of John Lennon and Bert Berns — and the legacy they left behind

Resources & Further Reading

• Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues — Joel Selvin (2014)
• BANG! The Bert Berns Story — documentary directed by Brett Berns and Bob Sarles (2016, SXSW)
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Bert Berns — inducted 2016
• Grammy Hall of Fame: ‘Twist and Shout’ — inducted 2010

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CREDITS: Host, Producer, Editor: Diego Pinzón

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DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any artist, label, or organization mentioned. All music samples are used for educational and commentary purposes under fair use doctrine.