The story had us gripped from the very first lyric. “As soon as I had a fairly lady, her title it doesn’t matter,” sang the good Del Shannon on his sophomore hit. “She went away with one other man, now he gained’t even take a look at her.”
The track, in fact, was “Hats Off To Larry,” the good follow-up to Del’s big debut hit “Runaway,“ which had hit No.1 in each the US and UK. In mid-September 1961, British report patrons proved it was no fluke, as “Hats Off” made its British chart debut.
The evocative and revolutionary “Runaway,” which featured a prototype synthesizer, the Musitron, had topped the American chart for 4 weeks in April and Could 1961. It had three weeks on the British summit in June and July. Certainly, the one was nonetheless within the UK High 50 checklist in its twenty first week, on that mid-September countdown by which “Hats Off To Larry” made a assured debut at No.20.
Del shares with Elvis
John Leyton was holding at No.1 with the equally melodramatic and romantic story “Johnny Keep in mind Me,” as Elvis Presley and Bobby Vee did High 10 battle with home-grown stars equivalent to Shirley Bassey, Helen Shapiro, Eden Kane, and Billy Fury. The Shadows had been additionally racing up the chart with their newest 45, “Kon-Tiki.”
Del’s new hit had one other reference to Vee: in accordance with Shannon’s web site, he wrote “Hats Off To Larry” within the dressing room of the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, the place he made his main stage debut on a invoice with Dion, quickly after “Runaway” was a success. Dion and Vee had been current backstage to witness the creation of the brand new track.
Take heed to uDiscover Music’s official Del Shannon Greatest Of playlist.
Shannon’s thrilling sound once more proved irresistible to British audiences. “Larry” climbed to No.13 and though it stalled there for per week, it went on to spend 4 weeks within the High 10, peaking at No.6. And the hits stored coming: no sooner had that London Information single completed its 12-week run than Del returned to make it three High 10 UK hits in a row for 1961 with “So Lengthy Child.”
Purchase or stream “Hats Off To Larry” on Runaway: The Very Better of Del Shannon.