Today's Double Shuffle no 11 begins with a track that can be found on my favourite compilation LP of the moment it's the very scary 'Bug Out Volume 1' on Candy Records. The Peridots track sounds very similar to my second track by the Ray Bryant Combo. 
If you were a teenager in the late 50's or early 60's, you know that the Madison was a line dance that was the biggest dance craze of the era, not just in the USA, but around the world. The Madison is a basic back-and-forth shuffle done in a line, with a variety of 'call outs' for various steps, such as the Double Cross, the Cleveland Box, The Basketball (with Wilt Chamberlain), the Big 'M', The 'T' Time, The Jackie Gleason and The Birdland.
The craze spawned Madison dance teams across the nation and intense competitions from city to city, much like the Twist in the 50's and 60's, Disco in the 70's. The Madison also spawned intense competition within the record industry many versions of the Madison were frantically recorded and released. Two versions hit nationally, Ray Bryant Trio's Madison Time Part 1 (Columbia 41628) and Al Brown and His Tunetoppers - The Madison b/w Mo' Madison (Amy 804). Even Bill Doggett had a version.
Al Brown's release on 4/4/1960 took off first, quickly skyrocketing up the charts to eventually peak at #23 on Billboard, however, Ray Bryant's version was rush-released one week later on 4/11/1960 and climbed to #30 on Billboard. in 1988 Ray Bryant's version saw new life as a key part of the soundtrack for the John Waters movie 'Hairspray'.
It's madison time hit it
You're lookin' good -
A big strong line
When I say hit it,
I want you to go two up and two
back with a big strong turn
and back to the madison
1 comment:
thanks for your good music!
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