"Finger Poppin' Time" (Hank Ballard) - Hank Ballard & The Midnighters; King Records label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100, # 2 Billboard R&B - 1960.
Ballard got the idea for his hit song in a New York City bar. While there, he noticed a young lady who walked in and asked a patron what time it was. The guy replied, “Oh baby, it’s finger poppin’ time”. Ballard went straight to his hotel and wrote the tune that would become his first Top Ten single on Billboard’s Hot 100.
It only happened because Hank Ballard & The Midnighters 1959 recording of “The Twist” was very popular at high school sock hops and in dance clubs in Philadelphia, and it eventually came to the attention of Dick Clark.
According to Jim Dawson's book, The Twist, Dave Appell of Cameo-Parkway Records wanted to make a new recording of the song. Clark was part owner of the label at that time and made a deal with Syd Nathan of King Records to promote Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' next single, “Finger Poppin' Time," on American Bandstand in exchange for obtaining the licensing rights for "The Twist" for Chubby Checker, one of his Cameo-Parkway artists.
Hank Ballard & The Midnighters made their first appearance on American Bandstand on June 22, 1960, to lip-synch the hit that ended up spending an impressive total of 28 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.
