"Limbo Rock" is a popular song about limbo dancing written by
Kal Mann
Kal Mann (born Kalman Cohen; May 6, 1917 – November 28, 2001) - accessed June 2010 was an American
Billy Strange
William Everett Strange (September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and an actor. He was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and M ...
. An instrumental version was first recorded by
The Champs
The Champs are an American rock band, most famous for their Latin-tinged rock and roll instrumental "Tequila". The group took their name from that of Gene Autry's horse, Champion, and was formed by studio executives at Autry's Challenge Recor ...
in 1961. The first vocal version was recorded in 1962 by
Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American rock and roll singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including The Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighte ...
(on
Parkway Records
Cameo-Parkway Records was the parent company of Cameo Records and Parkway Records, which were major American Philadelphia-based record labels from 1956 (for Cameo) and 1958 (for Parkway) to 1967. Among the types of music released were doo-wop, d ...
): it peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks (held out by "
Telstar
Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fi ...
" by
The Tornados
The Tornados (The Tornadoes in North America) 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 hi ...
) and at number one on the ''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was 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.
Checker then released a sequel, "Let's Limbo Some More", in 1963, which peaked at #20 in the ''Billboard'' chart.
Background and composition
In 1960, session guitarist
Billy Strange
William Everett Strange (September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and an actor. He was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and M ...
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 Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter 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 bega ...
, 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 20.6 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 program, 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 Septembe ...
, Checker danced the Limbo on stage.
In 1991,
Joanie Bartels
Joan Constance Bartels (born May 21, 1953) is a retired American children's singer-songwriter, recording artist, and occasional actress based in New Zealand. Her 1985 album, ''Lullaby Magic'', was certified gold by the Recording Industry Assoc ...
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."
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), a film by John Waters
** ''Hairspray'' (1988 soundtrack), the film's soundtrack album
** ''Hairspray ...
''.
This song also appeared on the soundtrack for the ABC television series ''
Moonlighting
Moonlighting may refer to:
* Side job
A side job, also informally called a side hustle or side gig, is an additional job that a person takes in addition to their primary job in order to supplement their income. Side jobs may be done out of nec ...
'', 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.