Needles and Pins

I always loved this song by The Searchers until I found a version by throwaway Rod Stewart ripoff Smokie, which was oddly satisfying.

I love it enough that I hate to share it for fear that others won't appreciate the awkward hairspray 70s pop, because I was once someone who wouldn't either.  

This song would have enraged me once.  Not only because the version by the Searchers is better, but because everything about Smokie would have pissed me off.  His face, his hair, he's like a caricature of a 70s pop star.  But now I love it!  And why?  Who knows, but he gives it his everything, and succeeds.  He knows how to sing it, and so does his band.  

The barrier is that I was historically disgusted by men my mom would have been attracted to in the 70s.  It's a form of rebellion, an onslaught I'm still taking against. In the 90s, she was buying ELO tapes for funsies to listen to on our home stereo, while I lurked in the dark corners of the house like GOD, MOM.  Knowing I'd love them later was too much for my childish soul to bear at the time.  

We could fast-forward past the part where my mom bought Black Sabbath - Paranoid on cassette in the mid-90s, because it reminded her of her old friends and teen moments, but I won't.  I took that tape.  I also took her Bowie: The Singles double album on tape for myself and I'm low-level mad today realizing that that's how I found both bands.  Through my mom: the least cool person alive!  

But the Sabbath and Bowie tapes both changed my life.  I went crazy for both of them, walking to school listening to War Pigs and Boys Keep Swinging.  That was when I stopped actively seeking contemporary music.  I didn't need it anymore.  Yanno, "because of all my pride!"

After actually looking into the song, I see it was written by Sonny Bono in the early 60s.  Cher's version was fine.  It was covered by a diverse group of greats, from Jackie DeShannon, decent but unremarkable, to Petula Clark in French to my favorite guy, Gene Clark!  All of their versions were just ok.  I look forward to finding the random French ye-ye versions as I have time.  Those covers are a whole other post because there are so many greats.

A later cover that did actually deserve mention was the Ramones, 1977.  I'll put that here because you can tell they actually loved the song.  Among the above, it best captures the sound and the vibe of the song.  

But this is the best version (1964) of all time, by far:

And then Tom Petty covered it with Stevie Nicks in '81.  It's cool that they did it, and I would have died to have seen it in person, but it ain't gonna change your life.  

Honorable mentions:  

The Turtles live: it's fun and fast. Why are all the comments on this version in Spanish?

The Spongetones with a strong version in 1980. That hair.  Do we want it back, or not?

Del Shannon: Squaresville, USA, but still cute.

It's an essential classic.