Twisted (Annie Ross song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Twisted" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| Released | 1952 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Composer(s) | Wardell Gray |
| Lyricist(s) | Annie Ross |
"Twisted" is a 1952 vocalese song with lyrics by Annie Ross, set to a tenor saxophone solo of the same title by Wardell Gray that was recorded in 1949. It has been covered by Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, and many others.
"Twisted" is a whimsical account of the protagonist's insanity that satirises psychoanalysis.[1][2] In 1952, Ross met Prestige Records owner Bob Weinstock, who asked her to write lyrics to a jazz solo, in a similar way to King Pleasure, a practice that would later be known as vocalese. The next day, she presented him with "Twisted", a treatment of saxophonist Wardell Gray's 1949 composition of that name, a classic example of the genre.[3][4][5] She later said of the inspiration for the song:
The title was infinite possibilities. You could marry anything to it and it was the name signified, "Twisted." And it just occurred to me that it would be good as a kind of song about an analyst.[3]
The song, first released in 1952 and later collected on the album King Pleasure Sings/Annie Ross Sings, was an underground hit, and resulted in her winning DownBeat's New Star award.[4][6][7] Writing for the magazine in a column devoted to analysing the song, Leonard Feather wrote: "To perform it, you need more qualifications than most singers today possess: a range as broad as that of the tenor sax itself, a natural feeling for chord changes, surety of pitch, and a beat. Annie Ross has 'em all."[8] Ross released a second version with the vocalese trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross on their 1960 album The Hottest New Group in Jazz. Gramophone described that recording as "more lighthearted, perhaps a little more individual" than Ross' first release of the song.[9]
