The Twist (song) number 1 in two different hit parade runs when it resurfaced and topped the popular hit parade again for two weeks starting on January 13, 1962. In 1988, "The Twist" again became popular due to a new recording of the song by The Fat Boys featuring Chubby Checker. This version reached number 2 in the United Kingdom and number 1 in Germany. In 2014, "Billboard" magazine declared the song the "biggest hit" of the 1960s. Songs about doing the Twist went back to nineteenth-century minstrelsy, including "Grape Vine Twist" from around 1844. In 1938 Jelly Roll Morton, in "Winin' Boy
The Ballad of the Brown King The Ballad of the Brown King The Ballad of the Brown King is a cantata composed by Margaret Bonds. It may be her most frequently performed work. It was written in honor of the African king, Balthazar, with text written by Langston Hughes for Bonds. The "Ballad" premiered in December 1954 in New York and was performed by the George McClain Choir. This was a shorter version of the piece, which was subsequently expanded by both Hughes and Bonds to include full orchestration. The longer version was performed on December 11, 1960 and televised in a CBS special called "Christmas