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Written by: Dave Williams, Roy Hall
Produced by: Jack Clement
Released: June '57 on Sun
Charts: 29 weeks
Top spot: No. 3
When Lewis decided to record what would be his breakthrough, it had already been cut four times and gone nowhere. Lewis filled it with frantic piano and filthy instructions ("All you got to do, honey, is kinda stand in one spot/Wiggle around just a little bit"). But what really made it work was producer Cowboy Jack Clement's decision to turn the session over to the manic energy of Lewis' live shows. "I just simply turned on the machine, mixed it on the fly," he said. After Lewis tore it up on Steve Allen's TV show, "Shakin' " went on to sell more than 6 million copies.
Appears on: Original Sun Greatest Hits (Rhino)