He was born in Spring Gulley, SC, USA, and raised in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended South Philadelphia High School with Frankie Avalon and Fabian. The wife of American Bandstand's host Dick Clark suggested the name "Chubby Checker" to Evans as a take-off on then-popular singer Fats Domino. In 1964, he married Catharina Lodders, a Dutch girl who had been Miss World in 1962.
His material during his 1960s heyday was recorded for Cameo-Parkway Records and along with the label's other material, became unavailable after the early 1970s because of the company's internal legal disputes. For decades, almost all compilations of Checker's hits consisted of re-recordings.
At The Discotheque
Chubby Checker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Baby dig what I'm puttin' down
You can Pony with Tony
Twist with Mr. Lee
But if you're gonna Mess Around
Mess Around with me
Hucklebuck with Dee
But if you're gonna Mess Around
You better Mess Around with me
All the other dances you are free
But you better save the last dance for me
You can Cha Cha with Charlie
Stroll with Stagger Lee
But if you're gonna Mess Around
Mess Around with me
You can Pony with Tony
Come on now
***Break***
Hey the Twist with Mr. Lee
Hey one more time
Round and round and around Hey
***Break***
But if you're gonna Mess Around
You better Mess Around with me
All the other dances you are free
But you better save the last dance for me
A Hully Gully with Harry
Slop with [ ]
But if you're gonna Mess Around
Hear me Mess Around with me
Do the Birdland with Furdie
Do the Chicken with [ ]
Watusi with Susie
Twist with my little sis...fade
[ ] Uncertain of lyric
In "At The Discotheque," Chubby Checker introduces a new dance called "the Mess Around" and encourages his love interest to dance it with only him. He boasts that other dances, such as the Pony, Twist, Shimmy, Hucklebuck, Cha Cha, Stroll, Hully Gully, and Slop, can be done with anyone else, but the Mess Around should be reserved for him alone. Checker calls out to various people in the club who are performing these dances with partners, asking them to do the Mess Around instead. He also gives a nod to popular dance spots like Birdland and mentions his little sister in the final verse.
The message of the song seems to be that there is a specific dance that is unique and special and should only be shared with someone who is equally unique and special. Checker's intention is to convince his love interest to choose him as her designated partner for the Mess Around, as if he is the only one capable of understanding and executing it properly. The lyrics are infused with Checker's signature charm and confidence, showcasing his ability to hype up a new dance craze.
Line by Line Meaning
Bout this dance called the mess around
Let me introduce you to a dance called the mess around
Baby dig what I'm puttin' down
Hope you understand what I am trying to say
You can Pony with Tony
You can Pony dance with Tony
Twist with Mr. Lee
You can Twist dance with Mr. Lee
But if you're gonna Mess Around
But if you're going to dance the mess around
Mess Around with me
Let's dance the mess around together
Do the Shimmy with Henry
You can Shimmy dance with Henry
Hucklebuck with Dee
You can Hucklebuck dance with Dee
All the other dances you are free
You are free to dance any other dance you want
But you better save the last dance for me
But save the last dance for me
You can Cha Cha with Charlie
You can Cha Cha dance with Charlie
Stroll with Stagger Lee
You can Stroll dance with Stagger Lee
Hey the Twist with Mr. Lee
Hey, let's Twist dance with Mr. Lee one more time
But if you're gonna Mess Around
But if you're going to dance the mess around
You better Mess Around with me
Let's dance the mess around together
A Hully Gully with Harry
You can Hully Gully dance with Harry
Slop with [ ]
You can Slop dance with someone (uncertain of the name)
Hear me Mess Around with me
Listen to me and let's dance the mess around together
Do the Birdland with Furdie
You can Birdland dance with Furdie
Do the Chicken with [ ]
You can Chicken dance with someone (uncertain of the name)
Watusi with Susie
You can Watusi dance with Susie
Twist with my little sis...fade
You can Twist dance with my little sister
Contributed by Joseph H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
SoulSmiggy 51
One of the most in demand singles on the Mod scene in 67.One copy on UK Cameo Parkway was sold for £25 (about 4 weeks wages at the time).An absolute CLASSIC.Great memories of the Beachcomber,Lace Market,Nottingham.Still Keeping the Faith !!
CLARKEa100
One of the wheels classics a great sound
Philip Mitchell
Twisted wheel classic where my journey into northern soul began
Loved it ever since 😃
LFC050
Fantastic. The first time I've heard this in 40 years!!! Thanks for posting it. I looked for it a few years back on You Tube but to no avail. Believe it or not, just like Dave in the comment below, my copy got stolen at my engagement party at home in Jan 1971 ! My wife and I used to dance to this at the Mardi Gras club in Liverpool before we moved to Australia in 1972. I'll bet Liverpool Mod Lee remembers the Mardi Gras and the Victoriana, hey??!! Cheers, Phil
Sirpaulconway Sirpaulconway
Bloody classic
Michael Slater
Just a top tune!!.
ekimtep
This was a favourite at soul nights at Burnley Mecca in the 60s. Happy carefree days!
Michael Stocks
Great tune from Chubby - first heard this 50 years ago - King Mojo Club - Sheffield
John Fisher
Interesting. I was a fan of the Cameo/Parkway acts like Chubby Checker/Orlons/Dee Dee Sharp/Bobby Rydell/Dovells in the early 1960's while in junior high school. However, I never heard this at all in Los Angeles on KRLA or KFWB. In fact, I didn't hear the term, "discotheque", until years later. Switch to 1978, where I'm taking New York hustle lessons at one of the many discotheques sprouting up all over, listening to Lipstique doing their 15 minute version of this song. Until today, I didn't know that it had Chubby Checker roots.
indy 56
Nice track The pioneers covered this later with their reggae version which was also very good,