The song was written and performed by Gary U.S. Bonds as part of the Twist dance craze that was sweeping the nation. It’s meant to get up from your chair! In 1961, the song went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the R&B Chart.
Gary U.S. Bonds was born Gary Levone Anderson in Jacksonville, Florida. The stage name, evidently, was a marketing choice to tell folks to “Buy U.S. Bonds.” Bonds is a songwriter as well as a singer and continues to tour and perform live.
Here are the lyrics:
Get up from your chair
Darling, may I have
(Get up from your chair)
The pleasure of having
(Get up from your chair)
This next twist with you
(Get up from your chair)
I don’t know how to twist
(Get up from your chair)
You don’t know how to twist
(Get up from your chair)
Well, let me tell you
(Get up from your chair)
Well, now, there’s a new dance
That’s known as the twist
It’s really not new
It’s something you`ve missed
But there’s a new dance
That’s known as the twist
It’s really not new
It’s something you’ve missed
Dear lady
(Get up from your chair)
Dear, dear lady
(Get up from your chair)
Well, now, doctors agree
So I’ve been told
Do the twist and
You’ll never grow old
Well, one night I happened
On a go-go dance
Believing I’d find
Me some romance
And this old lady
I happened to see
I said, come on, baby
Do the twist with me
Dear lady
(Get up from your chair)
Oh, dear lady
(Get up from your chair)
Well, now, doctors agree
So I’ve been told
Do the twist and
You’ll never grow old
—- Instrumental Interlude —-
Get up and do the twist now
Yeah, oh, yeah
Well, I said
I’d love to dance
From now until dawn
She said, crazy, baby
But I’m almost gone
I said, now the rhythm
Is getting real sweet
This is no time
To slow up your feet
Dear lady
(Get up from your chair)
Dear, dear lady
(Get up from your chair)
Well, now, doctors agree
So I’ve been told
Do the twist and
You’ll never grow old
You gotta do the twist
You gotta do the twist
Come on, get up
Get up
Come on, come on
Get up and do the twist…
For other songs by Gary U.S. Bonds: “School is Out” and “Quarter to Three.”
For More Golden Oldies Music
The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop music, rock and roll hits, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.
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