"Da Doo Ron Ron" is a song written by

Jeff Barry Jeff Barry (born Joel Adelberg; April 3, 1938) is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer. Among the most successful songs that he has co-written in his career are " Do Wah Diddy Diddy", " Da Doo Ron Ron", " Then He Kiss ...

Ellie Greenwich Eleanor Louise Greenwich (October 23, 1940 – August 26, 2009) was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote " Da Doo Ron Ron", " Be My Baby", " Maybe I Know", " Then He Kissed Me", " Do Wah Diddy Di ...

and

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

. It first became a popular top five hit single for the American girl group

The Crystals The Crystals are an American vocal group that originated in New York City. Considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era in the first half of the 1960s, their 1961–1964 chart hits – including " There's No Other (Like My Baby)" ...

in 1963. American teen idol

Shaun Cassidy Shaun Paul Cassidy (born September 27, 1958) is an American singer, actor, writer, and producer. He has created and/or produced a number of television series including ''American Gothic'', '' Roar'' and ''Invasion''. Cassidy currently serves as ...

covered the song in 1977 and his version hit number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. There have also been many other cover versions of this song, including one by the songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich themselves, performing as The Raindrops.

Composition

The song is the first collaboration in songwriting by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector. The song was composed over two days in Spector's office in New York. The title "Da Doo Ron Ron" was initially just nonsense syllables used as dummy line to separate each stanza and chorus until proper lyrics could be written, but Spector liked it so much that he kept it. Phil Spector did not want lyrics that were too cerebral and would interfere with a simple boy-meets-girl story line. The rhymes of the opening lines, "I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still ... Somebody told me that his name was Bill" was inspired by Bill Walsh, a friend of Spector who happened to visit Spector while the three were writing the song.

The Crystals original version

Background

recorded "Da Doo Ron Ron" in March 1963 at Gold Star Studios in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. It was produced by

in his

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of sessio ...

style.

Jack Nitzsche Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche ( '; April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000) was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He first came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spec ...

was the arranger and

Larry Levine Larry Levine (May 8, 1928 – May 8, 2008) was an American audio engineer, known for his collaboration with Phil Spector on the Wall of Sound recording technique. Biography Levine received the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recordin ...

the engineer. The drummer was

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles ...

. Dolores "LaLa" Brooks was the lead vocalist. Brooks told the syndicated radio program ''Solid Gold Weekend'' that

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industr ...

was one of the singers backing her lead vocals. On June 8, 1963, it reached number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and on June 22, 1963, number four on the '' Cash Box'' chart. It also reached number five in the UK. '' Cash Box'' said that the song "relates the joy of a gal who has found THE guy, and it's done with appropriate good rock feeling," calling it a "solid follow-up to" the Crystals' previous hit " He's Sure the Boy I Love." In 2004, the Crystals' song was ranked number 114 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

''s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was, however, removed from the same list in the 2010 update, being the highest-ranked of the 26 songs that were removed. But it was reinstated at No. 366 in the 2021 update. It was listed at number 528 by ''

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ''Q ...

'' in their list of The 1001 Best Songs Ever, published in 2003. Berlin Media listed the song at number 43 on their list of The 100 Best Singles of All Time list published in 1998. It was also recognized by the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music an ...

as one of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock". ''Billboard'' named the song #55 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.

Chart performance

Shaun Cassidy version

Background

"Da Doo Ron Ron" was covered in 1977 by teen idol

on his first solo LP, ''

'', launching his career. His version was produced by Michael Lloyd and issued on Warner. It peaked at number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. (The words were changed slightly to make it a boy-girl song, after The Searchers' cover version.) The song was his first of three consecutive Top 10 U.S. hits. Cassidy's cover of "Da Doo Ron Ron" spent 22 weeks on the chart. It became a gold record, as did all of Cassidy's first three single releases.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Johnny Hallyday version (in French)

The song was covered in French by

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

. His version (titled "Da dou ron ron") was released in June 1963 and spent 12 weeks at no. 1 on the singles sales chart in France (from July 7 to September 13 and from September 21 to October 11). In Wallonia (French speaking Belgium) his single spent 24 weeks on the chart, peaking at number 2.

Charts

Other versions

* Swedish singer Claes Dieden recorded a version of the song and released in as a single in early 1969; it became a large hit in Sweden, reaching number #1 on '' Tio i Topp'' and number #2 on sales chart Kvällstoppen. * Ian Matthews recorded an a cappella version of the song for his 1971 album ''Tigers Will Survive'': issued as a single in January 1972 the track afforded Matthews his ''Billboard'' Hot 100 debut as a solo act albeit with a #96 peak, and #68 in Canada. *Australian Debbie Byrne released a single of "Da Doo Ron Ron" in 1974, which peaked at number 29 on the Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...

. The song is included on her debut studio album, '' She's a Rebel''.

References

External links

* * {{authority control 1963 songs 1963 singles 1972 singles 1977 singles 1996 singles The Crystals songs The Beach Boys songs Iain Matthews songs The Searchers (band) songs Shaun Cassidy songs Sylvie Vartan songs Johnny Hallyday songs Songs written by Ellie Greenwich Songs written by Jeff Barry Songs written by Phil Spector Song recordings produced by Phil Spector Song recordings produced by Michael Lloyd Song recordings with Wall of Sound arrangements Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Philles Records singles Warner Records singles Number-one singles in Sweden

Composition

The Crystals original version

Background

Chart performance

Shaun Cassidy version

Background

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Johnny Hallyday version (in French)

Charts

Other versions

See also

References

External links