Manchester Soul Jukebox
Sugar, Let's Shing-A-Ling
by Shirley Ellis
227
It’s not the only representative song from Shirley included in our Top 500. Shirley had numerous hits and her misses were probably the best known on Manchester’s soul music scene in the 1960’s. Soul Time was massive and only equaled by her follow up to that great Soul hit (it reached the top 30 in the USA, was this: ‘Sugar, Lets Shing-A-Ling’. Which was just as big at the Manchester ‘ Wheel’. Shirley was famous for having tongue twisting recordings - "The Name Game" and "The Clapping Song" both made the USA Top Ten in 1965 and ‘The Puzzle Song’ almost did it too. Previously Shirley’s "The Nitty Gritty" got to number 8 on the USA Billboard chart. ‘The Clapping Song’ was a dance craze at the first Twisted Wheel all the dance floor(s) would be following Shirley’s instructions – clapping and dancing – A gong bangs out the introduction then….Shirley comes in with …Three, Six, Nine, the goose drank wine, Monkey chewed tobacco on the street car line…the line broke, the monkey got chocked and they all went to heaven in a little row boat. But in spite of all her popularity she completely gave up the music business in 1968!
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