The Beatles released the song on their first UK album, Please Please Me. The recording session for that album was their first album session, and is notable for eleven songs having been recorded in a mere 10 hours. Twist and Shout was the last song recorded; producer George Martin knew John Lennon's voice would suffer from the performance, so he left it until last, with only 15 minutes of scheduled recording time remaining for the album.

Lennon was suffering from a cold, and was drinking milk and sucking on cough drops to soothe his throat. Even so, he produced a memorable vocal performance, a raucous, dynamic rocker. He later said his voice was not the same for a long time afterward, and that "every time [he] swallowed, it felt like sandpaper."[2]

Two takes were recorded, and the first take is heard on the album. George Martin said, "I did try a second take ... but John's voice had gone."[3]

This is one of the Beatles first songs featuring the group singing "wooo" in harmony, which would become a cliché of the early Beatles and "Beatlemania".

The Beatles' cover was released on March 2, 1964[4] in the U.S. as a single by Vee-Jay Records on the Tollie label. It reached #2 on April 4th 1964, the week when the first five places on the chart were all Beatles singles. (In the Cashbox singles chart for the same week, "Twist and Shout" was #1.) In the United States, "Twist and Shout" was the only million-selling Beatles single that was a cover record, and the only Beatles cover single to reach the Top 10 on any national record chart.

In the UK, "Twist and Shout" was released on an EP with three other tracks from the Please Please Me album. Both the EP and Album reached #1 (see Twist and Shout (EP)). In Canada, it became the title track to the second album of Beatles material to be issued by Capitol Records of Canada on February 3, 1964.

It is regarded as one of the finest examples of British rock and roll for its vocal performance.[5] The song was used as a rousing closing number on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963 and at The Royal Variety Show in November 1963, the former signalling the start of "Beatlemania." They also performed it on their Ed Sullivan Show appearance in February 1964.