Twisting in China
When I was a kid I didn’t see people dance very much. But sometimes my parents had black tie parties and I would creep downstairs and observe thoroughly martini-infused revelers shaking it down. Big Jim Kneubuhl..... a giant Hawaiian doing the knee jive to the Hawaiian War Chant (written in 1863 by Hawaiian Prince Leleiohoku/member of the reigning house of Kalakaua). And Jimmy Mills at the barely in tune Sargent upright piano.....handsome Jimmy...he played standards for the decked out damsels. And in evening gowns they poured out like liquid around his magic fingers. Occasionally a duo took to the floor and danced a samba....or the cha, cha, cha.... or even the Bossa Nova. As Time Goes By and Witchcraft.
I sat on the staircase sneeking sidelong glances at the winning crowd. We had won the war and those who had made it back alive were exalting in the ether of victory. The victors and their wives enjoying their time alive. Grateful and guilty at the same time. Multitasking all....for everyone (man and woman) in addition to singing and dancing and laughing was holding a lit cigarette and martini glass. What a balancing act. I loved watching the dancing...to see my parents and friends so free and uninhibited and happy. Man it was noisy and so much laughter. The fact that I could observe was a huge treat and privilege. It was like a big billboard saying, “here we are”... “this is us”. This crowd had been through the Depression and WW 2....and damn if they didn’t deserve a fucking party. And that’s what they did. That must have been around 1957...1958.
My sister Hilary was a great dancer and she taught me some moves. The Bump. The Swim. My other sister taught me to Frug. Wow. The Mashed Potatoes. And Boogaloo. They both probably taught me to Twist. Hilary tried to teach me the Madison. I learned the Cha Cha from Mrs. Johnson, my white-haired, white gloved dance teacher. We danced at the country club. The Foxtrot. She always chose me to dance with her. I was so clean and cute in my blue suit.
But for me to become a dance sensation....It took the song...THE TWIST. The song that fueled a dance craze.... it was a pop dance that white people could do without a lot of thought and effort. Like using a Hula Hoop. Your dad could try it like the Limbo. It was very safe. It was so great it was released twice. Once in 1960 to be followed in 1961 by a sequel LET’S TWIST AGAIN also performed by Chubby Checker/ then reprised unabashedly in the summer of ‘62. Awesome. I had 2 glorious years of being the Twist King. I was in Saxe Junior High, there were dances held every Friday. Every dance had a Twist contest. And I would Twist my ass off. It was one of the things that I was just naturally good at. I know that sounds worrisome. My twist partner through this was Mardi Adams. She was also an awesome twister. One of the winning moves involved rocking back on the back foot and continuing to twist with one foot in the air. The other foot crushed out an imaginary cigarette.
“Who’s that flyin’ up there? Is it a bird?”
”No”
”Is it a plane?”
”No”
”Is it the Twister?”
”Yeah!!!”
-Chubby Checker
I don’t know how many silver dollars we cornered in numerous and heated Twist offs. We would be drenched in sweat as we went up to the chaperones....Mr. Powers and Ms. Heatman to receive our prizes. Easy money. Instant fame. It was a two year window and we basked in our undisputed mastery. We weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. We were twist partners. And Twist Champions. You may ask what happened to those silver dollars. It was a pretty impressive stash I will say that. And being a Twist Champion was demanding. And painful too. Cramping was the most common issue and you had to work on relief moves that could save the day. But to that point in my life I never really had a dance for me. If white people could have an aboriginal dance then twisting was mine. Twisting was a blessing. It was also really good for you and it was not suggestive...that is the pelvis was not really in play. A dance coming into the same climate that kept Ed Sullivan shooting Elvis from the waist up. There was no hippy, hippy shake. And you didn’t touch your partner. Respectful social distancing was applied. Remember Kennedy was president. The Hula Hoop invented. There was a lot of optimism. Come to think of it Twisting could make a bold come back in the Age of Covid.
It would of course be fun to linger here. But we have to write the song. Twisting In China. And tell its story. Songwriters have their ear to the ground. Hoping, praying and wishing for the line, the hook....the move and more than anything something that is fun to say. Singing about a dance you can actually do...now that is lucky. The mission of this blog is to chronicle how songs arrive. It’s like answering the question: how did your kids get born? And servicing these songs is rather like choosing favorites. They are all standing in line. And let me say a lot of these songs are getting restless. They want their stories told. NOW. Like all the eulogies that need to be written and all the dead that need to be honored. All I can say is I’m working on it. It crosses my mind that I might die before all these songs get the consideration they crave and deserve. That you can know their mysteries. And I can revisit. I’m trying to muster the discipline for this review.
Twisting students - China 1984 - - photo by Stuart Leigh
So TWISTING was a good time. For those of us who lived it....well it’s a profane moment frozen in time. So I was perusing the New York Times in 1983. Tuesdays edition. Has the Science Times... my favorite...discoveries, bright moments for humanity. In the Arts section was an article penned by the immortal Robert Palmer. Music critic for Rolling Stone and the New York Times and also played clarinet in the 60’s band Insect Trust. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1945. He died in 1997. They released a psychedelic album on Capitol in 1968. One of the members of that band was Nancy Jeffries. She was one of the A&R people I wooed in 1979. Small world.
Anyhow this guy was a great chronicler of pop culture and he wrote an article called Twisting in China. I turned his article into a song by that title. It seems in 83 that China, whose pop culture growth was delayed by the Cultural Revolution was starting to experience a kind of Renaissance. It was the admitting the possibility of fun. That we can have it/ has been the envy of every nation with limited freedom on earth. As a part of this “coming out” the Chinese started seriously “twisting”. Embracing the dance as something “fun.” “Something inside that was always denied for so many years.” - the Beatles. So I ran with it, copping a Chuck Berry framework and a rather stereotypical tonal tag line to set the scene. It all comes down to that people get happy when they move their bodies and get to say funny things. Then added a little American pride....”They’re twisting in China but they’re listening to the USA.” You got an appealing track. If a bit Jingoistic. But what the Fuch......we be Amuricans.
It helped that my friend was Peter Vaeth. Superlative photographer. His studio was on Park and 41st. The whole top of a building. He decided to digress into film and wanted Twisting in China to be on the soundtrack. It was a movie about the re-tasking of an old paper mill in Vermont to become a chopstick factory. There was Knots Landing shenanigans between two good looking couples spicing up the story board. And so it was that magic time. Studio time. We recorded at John Kings Chung King studio proximus to the Bowery I think. We had Billy Ward on drums, John Kay on bass, Jeff Golub on guitars....I sang the vocal. Dave Achelis produced. There was a funny moment when John Kay came in. I looked at him in disbelief.
“You look just like John Kumnick the bass player. Are you two guys related?” says I.
“That’s because I am John Kumnick. I changed my name to John Kay.”
I was so relieved. I really thought I was going out of my mind. To prove it, he got out his bass and hung it off his body.
“You see— it’s me.” It was really early in the morning and we both had a great laugh.
I said, “I can relate”. I once changed my first name from Compton to Tab on a ski trip with my sister. I was tired of repeating Compton all the time.”
John is up in Maine now and changed his name back to Kumnick. He assured me he was the same person. How about Tab Kay as the president of a soda company? John likes it.
The upshot. So we recorded the tune. It is rockin’ but Peter died before the movie could be wrapped. So I have been playing it live all over the world including in China on the Great Wall with the Troubadours. Also, it is a great encore for the Outerspace Band. It’s really easy to play but the lyrics are demanding. Chuck Berry meets Chubby Checker. I am going to do a sequel. Let’s Twist Again in China. Honorable Reprise.
Troubadours on the Great Wall - 1984 - photo by Stuart Leigh
(L-R) Eliot Osborn, Beth Bergeroff, John Moses, Compton Maddux, (front) Rick Davis (clown), and assorted Chinese twisters
“Come on
everybody, clap your hands
Are you lookin’ good?
I’m gonna sing my song
It won’t take long
We’re gonna do the twist and it goes like this”
-Chubby Checker, 1962
TWISTING IN CHINA 🇨🇳
© Compton Maddux 1983. All rights reserved.
Rice is rotting in the fields
The fruit is on the vine
The sons of Mao are never home
They haven’t got the time...
Their dancing shoes
are off the wall
The revolutions here
On any quiet Beijing night
The dancing’s very near
They’re twisting. Twisting in China
The Commissariat is stumped
Can’t ban the shake roll thing
Just be in by ten o’clock
It happens every spring
Party guidelines aren’t too clear
When to dance and sing
That’s okay when in doubt
Twist to everything
Twisting. They’re twisting in China
Twisting. They’re twisting in China
Twistin’, twisting in China
They’re twistin’ in China but they’re listening to the USA
Little Chang lost his marbles
Having crazy dreams
He thinks he’s twisting on the moon
A funky sex machine
Ma and Pa are drawing
Water from the well
We let Coca Cola in
The kids just go to hell
Twistin’. Twisting in China
Twistin’. Twisting in China
Twistin’, they’re twisting in China
Twistin’ in China but they’re listening to the USA
A hundred thousand million years
Listen for the drums
Tired of Confucius
Sitting on their thumbs
All the kids around
They welcome culture shock
Dancing by the China sea to
Rock Around the clock
Twistin’, twisting in China
Twisting. They’re twisting in China
Twistin’, they’re twisting in China
Twistin’ in China but they’re listening to the USA