Released: July 26, 1988

Songwriter: Bert Berns Phil Medley

Producer: Herby “Luvbug” Azor Hurby Luv Bug and the Invincibles

[Intro]
Yo, Salt, your mic
Yo, Pepa, your mic
Yo, Spin, you hype
We're def, you're right
The bass shakin', dancin' all night
Booties shakin' from left to right
Salt and Pepa rockin' the mic
So that you might

[Chorus]
Shake it up, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
You gotta twist and shout (Twist and shout)
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, baby, now (Come on, baby)
Go ahead, and work it on out (Work it on out)
Oooo, work it on out now, baby (Work it on out now)
You know you look so good (Look so good)
You really got me going now, boy (Got me going)
Just like I knew you would (Like I knew you would)

[Verse]
Oooo, hey baby, listen, I think they're playin' our song
What up? You gonna get up? Well shut up and come on
I wanna feel your body close to me, lovin' and holdin' me
Tight like a vice grip squeezin' all over me
Yeah, that's the way, hey, don't get carried away
The other boy, do what the record say

[Chorus]
And shake it up, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
You make me twist and shout (Twist and shout)
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, baby, now (Come on, baby)
Work it, work it on out (Work it on out)
Work that bootie on out now, baby, ha (Work it on out now)
You know you look so good (Look so good)
You really got me going now (Got me going)
Just like I knew you would (Like I knew you would)

[Verse]
Yeah, gimme gimme gimme all you got boyfriend, you should be enjoyin'
A sexy girl might ease that antedote to poison
Boys in the jam ask me to dance, but I say no chance
I want a man who's advanced in the art of dance
So when we get on a floor, he can take me on a tour
And we can do it till the fluid or sweat starts to pour
Down like the rain and the thunderstorm hard and strong
Boy, come on, don't wait too long

[Chorus]
You better shake it up, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
Twist and shout (Twist and shout)
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, baby, now (Come on, baby)
Go ahead, and work it on out (Work it on out)
Yeah, work it on out now, boyfriend (Work it on out now)
You know you look so good (Look so good)
You really got me going now with that stuff (Got me going)
Like I knew you would (Like I knew you would)

[Bridge]
Oooo, (Ah) get higher, baby
(Ah) Higher, baby
(Ah) Oooo, get higher, baby
(Ow) Yeah, now break it down

[Verse]
One good twist deserves a better one, a deffer one
We're Salt and Pepa, together we'll have lots of fun
Do it again, babe, for the hit parade
Cuz Spinderella does a hell of a job keepin' the record playin'
Shout like ya just sold your soul to rock 'n roll
You lost control, go hit the floor

[Chorus]
And shake it up, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
Come on, twist and shout (Twist and shout)
Go 'head, go 'head, go 'head, go 'head, baby, now (Come on, baby)
Go ahead, and work it on out (Work it on out)
Oooo, work it on out now, baby (Work it on out now)
You know you look so good (Look so good)
You really got me going now, boy (Got me going)
Just like I knew you would (Like I knew you would)

[Outro]
Shake it up, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
Shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
Come on, shake it up, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
Sh-sh-sh-sh-shake it, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
Shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
Shake, shake, shake, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
Why don't you shake it up, baby, now? (Shake it up, baby)
Shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)
[Ad lib / fade]

Salt-N-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa is arguably the most successful female rap group of all time. The group began with Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton meeting while studying to be nurses. James got Denton a job at a Sears department store, where her boyfriend Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor also worked. Azor was studying music production and he asked them to help on a school project, an answer record to Doug E. Fresh’s “The Show” they named “The Showstopper” – recorded in 1985 under the name Supernature.

After the legendary Queens DJ Marley Marl played “The Showstopper” on his radio show, the group began getting booked for shows. One lyric in “The Showstopper” was ‘We the salt and pepper’, and people kept requesting ‘that salt and pepper song’, so they changed their name to Salt-N-Pepa. Deejay Deidra “Spinderella” Ropa was added soon after.

SNP’s debut album Hot, Cool, & Vicious originally spawned a minor hit in the UK with “My Mike Sounds Nice” in early 1987. But it was the re-release of a remix of “Push It”, originally a quickly-thrown together b-side for their fall ‘87 single “Tramp”, that shot the group into international stardom. The song reached the top 10 in eleven countries around the world in 1988.