The Hippy Hippy Shake

“The Hippy Hippy Shake” is a song written and recorded by Chan Romero in 1959 when he was just 17 years old. That same year, the track reached #3 in Australia.

According to Mark Lewisohn in “The Complete Beatles Chronicle“, The Beatles regularly performed “The Hippy Hippy Shake” between 1961 and 1963, with Paul McCartney on lead vocals. A version, recorded in Hamburg in 1962, was released on “Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962.”

A live version of the song, recorded in July 1963 for “Pop Go The Beatles,” was later released on “Live at the BBC.” Another version, recorded on September 10, 1963, also for “Pop Go The Beatles“, appears on “On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2.”

On June 1, 2008, Paul McCartney opened his concert in Liverpool with “The Hippy Hippy Shake,” marking the only time he performed the song in a post-Beatles concert.

There were millions of groups around at that time – The Blue Angels, The Running Scareds – but they were mostly lookalike groups; The Shadows and Roy Orbison had a lot of followers. Then there were groups like us, more into the blues and slightly obscure material. And because we had the unusual songs, we became the act you had to see, to copy…

We had too much material anyway. We couldn’t record it all when we did get a deal, so other groups took songs from our act and made hits out of them – like The Swinging Blue Jeans with The Hippy Hippy Shake, which was one of my big numbers.

Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

Although not a hit, “The Hippy Hippy Shake” by Chan Romero became popular in Liverpool when DJ Bob Wooler played it at The Cavern Club. He recalled lending his copy of the UK Columbia single to Paul so the group could learn it. When The Beatles appeared on the BBC TV programme Juke Box Jury in December 1963, they reviewed “The Hippy Shake” by their Mersey mates The Swinging Blue Jeans. Their unanimous judgement that it would be a hit proved to be true, both in the UK and America. Chan Romero had recorded his song in 1959 at Gold Star studio in Los Angeles with the same musicians who played on “La Bamba” by his hero Ritchie Valens.

From the liner notes of On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2

Lyrics

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Live performances

“The Hippy Hippy Shake” has been played in 10 concerts.

Latest concerts where “The Hippy Hippy Shake” has been played

Cover versions played during the "Get Back" sessions

"The Hippy Hippy Shake" was covered during The Beatles' "Get Back" sessions in January 1969. Here is the complete list of covers recorded by Paul McCartney, either alone or with other Beatles, during these sessions:

Going further

Valdimir D'Angelo • 4 years ago

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