A big thanks to good folks at Powerline blog for the reminder about just how good this classic was. Lots of people equate The Searchers with the original hit version, but what most people don’t know that Jackie DeShannon sang the first version (and, I must say, very awesomely) before The Searchers turned it into a hit.

Leaving The Searchers’ inferior (at least in my view) version aside, let’s talk Jackie DeShannon’s, shall we? And yes, even though I’m sure y’all will let out a huge sigh about this, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that here’s yet another song with some serious Phil Spector influence at work here. Spector’s legendary arranger Jack Nitzsche and his equally legendary go-fer Sonny Bono co-wrote the music and lyrics.

I should also mention that I always liked the sound of DeShannon’s voice – and the fact that she was wicked hot if you were a guy in his early teens didn’t hurt, either. DeShannon had a flurry of big hits in the mid-sixties (more about that in a planned later post); unfortunately, “Needles And Pins” wasn’t one of them.

Of course, as with any great pop tune, there are no shortages of remakes. Actually, Sonny and Cher had their own version – you really hear the Spector influence Sonny was trying to incorporate into the arrangement – but it’s not great. And Cher sounds like she’s always trying to catch up with a runaway tempo that’s always threatening to get away from her.

This live version by The Turtles (a great band, BTW, with hits like this, this, and my all-time Turtles fave) is pretty pedestrian. Hell, even Top Priority could have done a better job on that song than that!

The Ventures did their own instrumental version. As great a band as they were, this is a pretty plodding and uninspired version, I think.

Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks had this interesting version; it’s a little ragged, I think, but still pretty cool. Love the cheesy-sounding organ in the background at the start…

Without a doubt, however, the absolute best version of all-time has to be by none other than The Ramones. It’s not just faithful to the original version, but like the best rock n’ roll, it starts simple and gradually builds to a nice crescendo with Johnny’s punk swagger at its tongue-in-cheek best.