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The Top Ten Del Shannon Covers
Del Shannon was awesome at writing moody teenage ballads full of angst and minor chords, but he also did a ton of covers, often times imitating the original artists spectacularly. If you’re interested in hearing any of these, most if not all can be found on Spotify
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons – “Rag Doll”
This one seems destined to be. Perhaps, no one has ever had a better falsetto than Del Shannon and Frankie Valli. Here, Shannon perfectly copies the original, almost making it impossible to distinguish between the two.
Roy Orbison – “Running Scared”
It’s a gutsy move on its own to cover Orbison, but to cover the first song he decided to sing with his full voice? Crazy. Sure, Shannon comes off a little flat at the big moment, and his imitation seems a little more comically intended than serious, but he’s not a bad choice to tackle covering a song by the greatest voice in pop music history.
Dion – “Runaround Sue”
Another example of two artists having a lot in similar musicially: both were perfect in being able to capture heart-wrenching teenage angst, and this is a natural fit for Shannon to cover.
Peter & Gordon – “A World Without Love”
This one is really interesting, not because it’s amazing. No, it’s not that great of a cover, but it’s worth noting because Shannon actually wrote a hit for them himself: “I Go To Pieces.” So, it’s just a little interesting that he ends up covering them as well.
Chuck Berry – “Memphis”
I always find it worth listening whenever anybody covers this song, because it’s surprisingly even sparer than usual for Chuck Berry, and there’s a lot of potential to do something new with it. This isn’t fantastic, and it doesn’t add a lot to the original, but at least it’s better than that cover by Johnny Rivers. Yuck.
The Everly Brothers – “Maybe Tomorrow”
I really like this one. Shannon recorded this on his penultimate album, which also has the distinction of being produced by Tom Petty.
Hank Williams – “Ramblin Man”
Shannon recorded an entire album of Hank Williams recordings, and even though this is kind of a typical misogynistic dude song, his vocal treatment is absolutely gorgeous.
The Monkees– “She”
This is a really obscure one, I’m not even sure it was ever released, but I love the Monkees.
Del Shannon – “Runaway”
I know, this sounds crazy, but he did in a way cover himself. In ’67 he went to London to record what was supposed to be the British Pet Sounds, his album Home and Away, but it was never released at the time. This remake of his biggest hit “Runaway ’67” is a beautiful re-imagining of the original.
The Beatles– “From Me To You”
Sorry, I didn’t save the best for the last. This isn't really that good at all, but it at least has the honor of being the first ever American cover of a Beatles song. He recorded this after he toured with them in the UK.
