"Tossin' and Turnin'" is a song written by Ritchie Adams and Malou René, and originally recorded by

Bobby Lewis Robert Alan Lewis (February 17, 1933 – April 28, 2020) was an American rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer, best known for his 1961 hit singles "Tossin' and Turnin'" and "One Track Mind". Biography Lewis was born in Indianapolis, Indian ...

in the fall of 1960. The record was released on the Beltone label in December 1960. It reached number one on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on July 10, 1961, and R&B chart and has since become a standard on

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

compilations. It was named the number one single on the ''Billboard'' chart for 1961, after spending seven consecutive weeks at the top. It was also featured on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for the 1978 film ''

Animal House ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller (writer), Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Tom ...

''. The song is about a man who is having trouble sleeping due to thinking of his lover. On the original hit single version, the track begins with Lewis singing "I couldn't sleep at all last night", and it appears this way on most oldies compilations. However, on some releases the song has a prelude, where Lewis sings "Baby...Baby...you did something to me", followed by a musical cue into the first verse. Lewis usually included this prelude when he performed the song live. According to several sources, the personnel on the original hit recording included guitarist Wild Jimmy Spruill. Writing for ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'', Tom Breihan complimented the saxophone solo and called the song the "greatest insomnia-themed party anthem" in history. In 2008, ''Billboard'' magazine ranked the song as the 27th biggest song of all time that charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the chart.Bobby Lewis, "Tossin' and Turnin'" Chart Positions
Retrieved March 5, 2015 It is one of only six songs from the 1960s to spend at least seven weeks in the number one position on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Charts

Weekly charts

All-time charts

References

External links

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1961 songs 1961 singles 1965 singles Bobby Lewis songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Songs written by Ritchie Adams {{1960s-R&B-song-stub

Charts

Weekly charts

All-time charts

See also

References

External links