1001 Songs Challenge #121: Shakin’ All Over (1960)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenging of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post everyday (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be…

 

Johnny Kidd & the Pirates – Shakin’ All Over (1960)

 

We’re back in the UK today as we continue our journey through what has been a very busy 1960. Our featured artists have a bit of the shiver me timbers and buried gold about them, dressing as pirates on stage with the lead singer having an eye patch and a cutlass. Eat your heart out, Jack Sparrow. Today, we have Johnny Kidd & the Pirates and the song for selection is Shakin’ All Over.

Shakin’ All Over is all about what happens when you see someone very attractive and how it makes you feel throughout your body. Johnny Kidd sings of a woman who is standing close to him and how it gives him “quivers” in his backbone, “shakes” in the kneebone and “tremors” in his thighbones. It sounds like his legs are turning to jelly in the presence of this attractive woman and the sensations he is feeling are clearly nerves. Kidd finishes the song by insisting these shakes are all over his body now but worry not for he likes the feeling.

As soon as you hear the guitar intro to Shakin’ All Over you know that you are in for a treat. It doesn’t disappoint for one second. I particularly liked the changing tempo, assuming it was going to be fast-paced but then Kidd brings it down a notch, keeps things interesting. His group would be celebrated more as influencers than for their own work, possibly inspiring the likes of David Bowie with their stage appearance. Sadly, Johnny Kidd would not live to see the likes of Bowie rise to stardom in the 1970s. In 1966 Kidd was killed in a car crash. He was only 30 years old.

 

Favourite songs so far:

Elvis Presley – Heartbreak Hotel (1956)

Johnny Cash – I Walk the Line (1956)

Chuck Berry – Johnny B. Goode (1958)

Cliff Richard & The Drifters – Move It (1958)

Ritchie Valens – La Bamba (1958)

Eddie Cochran – Summertime Blues (1958)

Peggy Lee – Fever (1958)

The Everly Brothers – All I Have to Do Is Dream (1958)

The Shirelles – Will You Love Me Tomorrow (1960)

Johnny Kidd & the Pirates – Shakin’ All Over (1960)