Limbo Rock
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"Limbo Rock" is a popular song about limbo dancing written by Kal Mann (under the pseudonym Jan Sheldon) and
Billy Strange William Everett Strange (September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, guitarist, and actor. He began as a session musician with The Wrecking Crew, a famous session band of the 1960s and 1970s, and was i ...
. An instrumental version was first recorded by
The Champs The Champs are an American rock and roll band, most famous for their Latin-tinged 1958 instrumental single "Tequila (The Champs song), Tequila". The group took their name from that of Gene Autry's horse, Champion, and was formed by recording s ...
in 1961. The first vocal version was recorded in 1962 by
Chubby Checker Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including the Twist, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B song " The Twis ...
(on Parkway Records): it peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks (held out by "
Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...
" by
The Tornados The Tornados were an English instrumental rock group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including ...
) and at number one on the ''
Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' charts. The Chubby Checker recording also made it to number three on the R&B charts. In
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it reached number 7 for 2 weeks co-charting with the B-side. Checker then released a sequel, " Let's Limbo Some More", in 1963, which peaked at #20 in the ''Billboard'' chart and #16 in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
.


Background and composition

In 1960, session guitarist
Billy Strange William Everett Strange (September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, guitarist, and actor. He began as a session musician with The Wrecking Crew, a famous session band of the 1960s and 1970s, and was i ...
and a friend were listening to a song on the radio. Strange sneered that he could write a better song in five minutes. His friend produced a hundred-dollar bill from his wallet and bet him he could not. Strange pulled out a notepad and came up with the tune in under five minutes, with the only lyrics being "What a monotonous melody" for every line, and pocketed the money. Whilst later doing a recording session for
Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician and actor. From age eight, he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he began a ...
, Strange was asked if he had a song for recording. As a joke he sang the "What a monotonous melody" song. A few months later Chubby Checker's manager Kal Mann asked Strange if he could record the song with different lyrics that became "Limbo Rock". Some months later, Strange was amazed to receive a royalty check from
Broadcast Music, Inc. Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 22.4 milli ...
(BMI) for $63,000. Thinking it was a mistake, he telephoned BMI to ask about it and was told that the check was indeed his money, earned from the Champs' and Chubby Checker's renditions of "Monotonous Melody" under the title "Limbo Rock". The song is noted for Checker's high-pitched witchy laugh, which is heard between most of the choruses of the song. Checker does a couple of monologues between the first and second verses, as well as the third verse and the final whistling chorus. They are: "Limbo lower now (2x) / How low can you go", and "Don't move that limbo bar / You'll be a limbo star / How low can you go." A male chorus sings the "La la" chorus between the second and third verses. There is also a drum riff between some of the verses and choruses, including the one that ends the song, too. Checker's witchy laugh is heard a few times in the sequel " Let's Limbo Some More," the nursery rhyme "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over the candlestick," is altered with the line: "Jack go under Limbo stick." In a performance on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...
'', Checker danced the Limbo on stage.


Chart performance


All-time charts


2003 remix

Chubby Checker released a remix of the song in 2003, titled "Limbo Rock (Remixes)", produced by Mike Rogers and Gary Lefkowith and featuring Inner Circle. Phil Sweetland, writing for the ''New York Times'' stated that at "age 62 and 43 years after 'The Twist,' Chubby Checker has once again comes up with a top-five single: a hip-hop-flavored version of another of his 1960's hits, 'Limbo Rock.'" Sweetland also states that "the Dec. 20 issue of Billboard listed the song at No. 3 on its hot dance singles sales chart, making it Mr. Checker's first top-five hit since the original 'Limbo Rock' in 1962."


Soundtrack

*The 1962 Chubby Checker recording was featured in the 1988 film ''
Hairspray Hairspray may refer to: * Hair spray, a personal grooming product that keeps hair protected from humidity and wind * Hairspray (1988 film), ''Hairspray'' (1988 film), a film by John Waters ** Hairspray (1988 soundtrack), ''Hairspray'' (1988 soundt ...
''. *This song also appeared on the soundtrack for the ABC television series '' Moonlighting'', released in 1987. It was featured in the episode "My Fair David" with the David Addison character instigating a limbo contest in the office of Blue Moon Investigations in an attempt to boost employee morale.


Cover versions

*In 1962, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass included it on The Lonely Bull album. *In 1991, Joanie Bartels covered the song, releasing it as a single from the album ''Dancin' Magic''. It also appeared on the compilation album ''The Stars of Discovery Music'' and in the 1993 video ''The Rainy Day Adventure.'' *In 1995, the song was covered by the cast of ''Mickey's Fun Songs'' in the episode ''Beach Party at Walt Disney World.'' *A parody cover called ''Lindows Rock'' was released by Lindows, Inc. (later known as Linspire, Inc.), to promote their
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
of the same name.


References

{{authority control Chubby Checker songs Herb Alpert songs Songs with lyrics by Kal Mann 1962 singles Songs written by Billy Strange The Champs songs 1962 songs Songs about dancing Cashbox number-one singles Cameo-Parkway Records singles