B-side "Hold Me, Squeeze Me" Recorded 1954 Length 3:07 | Released 1955 (1955) Genre Rhythm and blues | |
Format 10-inch 78 rpm & 7-inch 45 rpm | ||
"The Wallflower" (also known as "Roll with Me, Henry" and "Dance with Me, Henry") is a 1955 popular song. It was one of several answer songs to "Work with Me, Annie" and has the same 12-bar blues melody.
It was written by Johnny Otis, Hank Ballard, and Etta James. Etta James recorded it for Modern Records, with uncredited vocal responses from Richard Berry, under the title "The Wallflower" and it became a rhythm and blues hit, topping the U.S. R&B chart for 4 weeks. It was popularly known as "Roll with Me Henry". This original version was considered too risque to play on pop radio stations.
The song is a dialogue between "Henry" and the singer:
The context is the dance floor. The Midnighters also recorded an "answer to the answer": "Henry's Got Flat Feet (Can't Dance No More)".
In 1955, the song was covered for the pop market by Georgia Gibbs, with uncredited vocal responses from Thurl Ravenscroft, under the title "Dance with Me Henry". That version charted, hitting the top five of several pop charts, including number one on the Most Played In Juke Boxes chart on May 14, 1955, spending three weeks on top of that chart. In 1958, Etta James made her own cover version of "Dance with Me Henry".
It was also covered as "Dance with Me Henry" by Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan as the characters Henry Crun and Minnie Bannister from the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show in 1955.
The song inspired the title of the Abbott and Costello film Dance With Me Henry (1956), although the film's plot was unrelated to the song. It was also included in the films Sister Act and Back to the Future.
In 2008, Etta James received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for her 1955 recording.