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Friday, 19 March 2021

Hank Ballard & the Midnighters




I was scrolling through the hard drive the other day (as you do) when I stumbled across a folder containing about half a dozen songs by Hank Ballard & the Midnighters.
It wasn't a name that initially struck many bells so further exploration was clearly required.Let's face it anyone called Hank is probably worth a listen.

It seems that he was an American R&B singers in the 50s who was one of the first rock'n'roll artists. He wrote and recorded The Twist  but as you all know it was Chubby Checker who became an international superstar on the back of that song.
Undeterred they went onto have a number of hit singles in 1962 including the first two featured below. I must admit I can't remember whether I ws bopping along to them in my pram.

Some good Friday Night music




5 comments:

  1. You have probably got his famous 50s song Work With Me Annie, as well as Etta James' response Roll With Me Henry.

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    Replies
    1. Apparantly there were follow ups called Annie Had a Baby and Annie's Aunt Fanny!

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    2. Note careful placement of apostrophe

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  2. "Kansas City" was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952. They were only 19 and had never been to Kansas City. There have been 300 versions of the song including one by The Beatles on their album "Beatles For Sale" which is where I first heard it.

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  3. I like those a lot. Well produced.

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