That’s A Cover? explores cover songs that you may have thought were originals.
You all know the scene: a teenager who took the day off with a couple of his friends somehow ends up on a float in downtown Chicago, lip-synching The Beatles‘ “Twist and Shout” for the masses. And whenever the song comes up, someone inevitably says, “Actually, the Isley Brothers did it first.”
Except they didn’t.
That honor belongs to an almost-forgotten vocal group called The Top Notes.
Before I continue, I have to give a shout-out to our fearless leader here at Cover Me, Ray Padgett. About ten years ago, he wrote a fantastic book about covers. (Of course he did!) In the book, he wrote about this song, though he focused primarily on the Isley Brothers’ and Beatles’ versions. However, he did mention the Top Notes, but I just wanted to give a little more history to their story.
The Top Notes centered around lead singers Derek Martin and Howard “Howie” Guyton. Martin, born in Detroit in 1938, launched his career at just 17 as a vocalist with Duke Ellington. Guyton, who was also born around 1938, was a cousin of Dave “Baby” Cortez and had previously performed with both Cortez and Martin in The Pearls. (Like many R&B groups of the era, they performed under several different names, including The Five Pearls, The Sheiks, and Howie and the Sapphires.)
The group’s lineup changed over the years. Early members included George Wilson Torrence Jr., who later became a pastor in Duncan, Oklahoma, along with singers known as Roy and Johnny. By 1961, however, The Top Notes had essentially become a duo featuring Martin and Guyton, who rounded out the group with Barbara Wells, future superstar Dionne Warwick, and bass singer Rosco King.
The Top Notes recorded the song at Atlantic Studios on February 23, 1961. A young Phil Spector “supervised” the session, shortly before he created his revolutionary “Wall of Sound.”
The session featured an incredible lineup of musicians. Guyton sang lead and was backed by legendary saxophonist King Curtis, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, drummer Panama Francis, percussionist Gary Chester, and a ten-piece string section arranged by Teddy Randazzo. The second lineup of The Cookies sang background vocals. (The group’s original lineup had already left to become Ray Charles‘ backing vocalists, the Raelettes.)
Despite all that talent, the record barely resembles the “Twist and Shout” we know today. Clocking in at just under two minutes, it features an arrangement that lacks the raw energy that would later define the song. The performance feels hurried, and some of the lyrics differ from the familiar version. If you didn’t know what you were listening to, you might not even realize it was the same song. It’s not a bad record by any means. It’s simply not “Twist and Shout” as history remembers it.
The record’s biggest critics were the very people who made it. Atlantic Records co-founder Jerry Wexler later called it “horrible.” He recalled, “Bert was such a newcomer, he was sitting in the spectator’s booth, watching Phil and me butcher this song. Phil changed the middle around, we had the wrong tempo, the wrong feel, but we didn’t realize that Bert could’ve produced it.”
Bert Berns agreed. The co-writer (with Phil Medley) of “Twist and Shout” later said Spector had simply “messed up the song.” The single went nowhere. The Top Notes never recorded for Atlantic again. For all practical purposes, the song died in 1961.
Except Bert Berns refused to let it die.
He believed the song deserved better. He also wanted to show Phil Spector “how it should be done.” So when the Isley Brothers reluctantly agreed to record it in 1962, Berns took over the producer’s chair himself.
The timing worked in his favor. The Isley Brothers has scored a hit with “Shout” in 1959, but they had struggled ever since. They weren’t convinced this song would change anything. Berns, however, knew he had a hit.
And he was right.
The Isley Brothers attacked the song with gospel energy and pure conviction. Their version reached number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving the group its first Top 20 pop hit. It also peaked at number 2 on the R&B chart. More importantly, it finally gave Berns the hit he knew he had written.
About a year later, another young band heard that record and decided to make it their own.
The Beatles recorded “Twist and Shout” for their debut album, Please Please Me, in February 1963. Their arrangement closely followed the Isley Brothers’ version, but John Lennon’s raw, desperate vocal took it to another level. Producer George Martin saved it for the end of a marathon recording session because Lennon’s voice was already fading. Lennon stepped up to the microphone and gave everything he had. He was already sick, and had been recording all day, so that first take shredded his voice. They tried a second take, but there was simply nothing left. The first take stayed on the album. Many critics still call it the greatest single-take performance in rock history.
The Isley Brothers turned “Twist and Shout” into a hit. The Beatles turned it into a classic. But neither version exists without the Top Notes, the forgotten group that recorded the song first and unknowingly started one of rock and roll’s greatest success stories.
