“The Name Game” Challenge: Jessica Lange VS. Shirley Ellis

It’s been about two weeks since American Horror Story: Asylum ended on FX, and for anyone who has seen the show, you will know that it is near impossible to get that rhythm and beat of Jessica Lange’s boppin’ rendition of the classic “The Name Game” which premiered in Episode 10 of the miniseries.

The scene, in which all the members of the cast work it out to the tune of Shirley Ellis’ 1964 hit is already sweeping the internet, and proves again that the show is there to push the boundaries of the genre, and take the story to the very outer limits of the audience’s expectation.

Surprising, Jessica Lange had never performed a sing and dance number throughout her expansive career, and so the scene was born, making everyone wonder why she hasn’t been shaking her thing and lip synching to herself before on screen. Absolutely electric, and ICONIC.

Shirley Ellis, on the other hand, found immense success with the song, making her way to the top 3rd spot on the Billboard 100 with the number in 1965, but failed to have any follow-up success after this crazy song. It’s kind of a dirty word, but – one-hit-wonder, is often used to describe the career of Ms. Ellis who would release it a second time in the 60s, and again in 1973.

Now we are often looking for those bridges that lead us from the {Past} to the {Present}, and what better example than this! What we couldn’t manage was which version we enjoyed better?!

We grabbed videos of both Jessica Lange and Shirley Ellis performing the song, and were hoping to have a little battle, of sorts. They both have their merits, but we wanted to see which version struck the chord most with our readers!

So sit back, enjoy “The Name Game”, and comment below which was your favourite!