“Twistin' The Night Away” by Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke wrote "Twistin' the Night Away" and cut it in December 1961, and RCA had it out as a single in 1962, the same year an album of the same name collected it. It's party music, sleek and swinging, and it did the business: number one on Billboard's R&B chart, number nine on the Hot 100 and number six in Britain.

The band behind him came from the Wrecking Crew session ranks, with Rene Hall leading, Earl Palmer on drums, Red Callender on bass, Tommy Tedesco and Clifton White on guitars, Ed Beal on piano, John Kelson, John Ewing and Jewell Grant on saxophones and Stuart Williamson on trumpet. Cooke rides over all that muscle like he's barely breaking a sweat.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.