"Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out)" is a song written by

Ernie Maresca Ernest Peter Maresca (August 21, 1938 – July 8, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter and record company executive, best known for writing or co-writing some of Dion's biggest hits, including " Runaround Sue" and " The Wanderer". Biog ...

and Thomas F. Bogdany, and originally recorded by Maresca in 1962. The single was released on Edward Kassner's fledgling Seville Records

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

. It also appeared on Maresca's similarly titled album which was issued the same year.

History

In 1961, Maresca was offered a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with Seville, a small New York based label. His protestations that he was not much of a singer were brushed aside, and he co-wrote "Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out)" while sitting in a

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

bar with his friend Tom Bogdany. Maresca's recording reached number 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in early 1962. Backing vocals on the record were by

The Del-Satins The Del-Satins were an American vocal group, most active in the early 1960s, who recorded on their own but are best remembered for their harmonies on hit records for Dion and others. They have been described as having "few peers as practitioners ...

, who also sang on many of Dion's records, several of which were written or co-written by Maresca. The song's lyrics referred to one of Maresca's earlier compositions, " Runaround Sue", which was recorded in 1961 by Dion, in the lines, ''"Hey, play another song like 'Runaround Sue', let's do a dance that we all can do"''.

Cover versions

The song has been covered by several other popular singers and bands, including

Rocky Sharpe and the Replays Rocky Sharpe and the Replays is an English doo-wop/ rock and roll revival group who first found fame in the late 1970s. The usual line-up of the group was Rocky Sharpe (born Robert Podsiadły, 26 November 1952 – 5 December 2019), Helen Highwa ...

. Recordings have also been made in French, by

Les Chaussettes Noires Les Chaussettes Noires () were a French rock and roll band founded in 1960, that was among the pioneer of rock music in France, together with Les Chats sauvages. It was originally composed of Claude Moine, a.k.a. Eddy Mitchell (vocals), William B ...

and Les Forbans, and in Dutch, by Wim Leys. The Australian band Ol' 55 included it on their album, '' Fiveslivejive'' (1977). The

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

used a version for a brief period in 1993 as its team

fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand, these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

, during a dispute with the

Polaroid Corporation Polaroid Corporation was an American company that made instant film and cameras, which survives as a brand for consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit his Polaroid (polarizer), Polaroid polarizing polyme ...

over the rights to "Shout" by

The Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American soul group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of the brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decades, ...

, which the team had used for that purpose since 1987. Poor response to the change led the Bills to resolve the dispute and return to their custom version of the Isley Brothers song.

Chart positions

Ernie Maresca

Rocky Sharpe and the Replays

References

{{Reflist

External links

Lyrics @ Lyricsfreak.com
1962 songs 1962 singles 1982 singles Songs written by Ernie Maresca Seville Records singles