Da Doo Ron Ron
"Da Doo Ron Ron" is a song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector. It first became a popular top five hit single for the American girl group The Crystals in 1963. American teen idol Shaun Cassidy 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 that 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. It was produced by Phil Spector in his Wall of Sound style. Jack Nitzsche was the arranger and Larry Levine the engineer. The drummer was Hal Blaine. Dolores "LaLa" Brooks was the lead vocalist. La La Brooks told the syndicated radio program Solid Gold Weekend that Cher 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.
In 2004, the Crystals' song was ranked number 114 on Rolling Stones 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 27 songs that were removed. It was listed at number 528 by Q Magazine 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 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 Shaun Cassidy on his first solo LP, Shaun Cassidy, 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 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. His version was released in June 1963 and spent 12 weeks at no. 1 on the singles sales chart in France. In Wallonia his single spent 24 weeks on the chart, peaking at number 2.Charts
Other versions
- Jack Nitzsche recorded a slowed-down ballad-style instrumental version on his 1963 album The Lonely Surfer.
- The Searchers recorded it soon after an original release, on their debut album, Meet The Searchers, released in August 1963. They changed the words slightly to make it a boy-girl song, referring to a girl named Jill instead of a boy named Bill.
- Original songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, performing as The Raindrops, released it on their debut studio album on Jubilee Records towards the end of 1963.
- Dutch singer Anneke Grönloh recorded the song in 1963 in Dutch as Da Doe Ron Ron and in Malayan under its original title.
- The Ikettes released a version on their album Soul the Hits in 1966.
- Vilma Santos, a Filipino singer, recorded a cover version of this song in 1969 under the same title.
- Ted Herold recorded a German version in 1963.
- Anita Lindblom recorded a Swedish version called Tänk på det.
- 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.
- Bette Midler recorded an version of the song for her album Bette Midler. The song is performed as a medley with "Uptown" and "Don't Say Nothin' Bad ".
- 10cc released a cover version under an alternative band name, Grumble, in 1973.
- 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 song is included on her debut studio album, She's a Rebel.
- In 1977, Tina Arena and John Bowles recorded a version for their album "Tiny Tina and Little John".
- Pink Lady performed a Japanese-language version of the song in their 1978 live albums Bye Bye Carnival and America! America! America!.
- In 1983, Mike Love of The Beach Boys covered the song on Love's and Dean Torrence album Rock 'N' Roll City.
- Hungarian band Dolly Roll in 1989.
- In 1996, all-girl rock band The Donnas recorded a version of the song as a single, which was later placed on the 1998 re-release of their 1997 self-titled CD.
- The Beach Boys recorded a cover for their 1980 album Keepin' the Summer Alive, with Carl Wilson on lead vocals, but it was not released on that album. It was later released on their box set Made in California.
- Bootlegged studio recordings of the song are found by Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones.
- Other artists who have covered this song include Dave Edmunds, The Carpenters, and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes.
- It was used as the theme tune to Hale & Pace's one sitcom vehicle, The Management.
- In 1963, Johnny Hallyday sang a French version, written by Georges Aber, in his first film, D'où viens-tu Johnny ? Other French singers also covered the song, including Frank Alamo, and Sylvie Vartan, and Donald Lautrec in Quebec.
- The Belmonts also recorded this song on their album Cigars, Acappella, Candy.
- In the 1981 movie Stripes starring Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, Russell is an English as a second language instructor. In an early scene he is seen teaching his students the song.
- In 1984, singer Karen Kamon did a version of the song sounding similar to The Crystals version, and a music video was created for MTV. The video's premise was that of a guy going up to pick up his date and her taking much longer than expected while she finds out what to wear. While waiting, he ends up eating the chocolates he brought for her, and eventually his friends and their dates, who were all in the convertible he jumped out of at the beginning, show up at the apartment wondering what's taking so long and wait alongside him. By the third verse, she's down to needing to put on makeup, and goes through numerous exotic looks before finally coming out in a simple T-shirt and jeans, and they all leave for their night out.
- The song was used in Caryl Churchill's play Escaped Alone at the Royal Court Theatre.
Parodies
- The British comedy show Spitting Image parodied this song as "Da Do Run Ron", a spoof election campaign song for Ronald Reagan in 1984, just after the programme was launched.
- At least two parodies were made of this song revolving around the Enron scandal : one was a full recording of a song by political commentator and talk radio host, Dave Ross. The other was a quick singing of a verse by comedian Robin Williams on his Live on Broadway special.