Go Now and Shout

Tweet

Today was a day in a long line of days that made me want to shout. The weather though unusually warm for us in Riga, Latvia has offered gray and dreary days. So if, like today, I get up early at 8 PM the day is just dawning and then I worked on my PC till 10 AM and got sleepy and went back to sleep. Next thing I know it is 2 PM and I need to turn on the light just to work at the PC. Suddenly I almost felt like there was no actual day and I got feeling really crazy and at that moment the song “Shout” came to mind. I put the song on YouTube and by the time the song was done I felt so much better and my mood had greatly improved. In mid-1959 The Isley Brothers chose to write this song just on the spur of the moment at a concert they were doing in Washington, D.C. They were performing “Lonely Teardrops” originally by Jackie Wilson when Ronald Isley suddenly ad-libbed, “Wellll.. you know you make me want to shout” and the other Isley’s joined in on the improvisation. Well the audience just went wild so RCA records suggested that they record the song as their first RCA single. At first The Isley’s were not sure about recording this song but once they did the song wound up with its own dance which has people sort of jumping around and going crazy. This sort of dance which is like happy jubilation has become popular at weddings, proms and other events where everyone is joyful. The song was in the 1976 movie “Animal House” and was performed by a fictitious band called Otis Day and the Knights. The movie starred John Belushi and it revived great interest in this song. In the U.K. “Shout” was introduced by the singer Lulu at the age of 15. For her and The Luvvers it became their first hit. The song was never a chart success but it did go on to sell more than a million copies and became a rock and R&B classic. Unfortunately The Isley Brothers didn’t score another hit until 1962 when they recorded “Twist and Shout”. Besides Lulu who did quite a good well on this song, The Beatles also sang it and I thought I would share their version. Do you know this song and do you like it? http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=786