I like to see if there were prior versions of the hits used for illustration here. The Champs hit the charts first in 1961 w/ a monotonous instrumental version,
Chubby Checker did the first vocal in '62. And there's a later version w/ Inner Circle.
In 1960, session guitarist Billy Strange and a friend were listening to a song on the radio. Strange sneered that he could write a better song in five minutes. His friend produced a hundred-dollar bill from his wallet and bet him he could not. Strange pulled out a notepad and came up with the tune in under five minutes, with the only lyrics being "What a monotonous melody" for every line, and pocketed the money. Whilst later doing a recording session for Ricky Nelson, Strange was asked if he had a song for recording. As a joke he sang the "What a monotonous melody" song. A few months later Chubby Checker's manager Kal Mann asked Strange if he could record the song with different lyrics that became "Limbo Rock". Some months later, Strange was amazed to receive a royalty check from Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) for $63,000. Thinking it was a mistake, he telephoned BMI to ask about it and was told that the check was indeed his money, earned from the Champs' and Chubby Checker's renditions of "Monotonous Melody" under the title "Limbo Rock".
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