“Needles and Pins” is today’s classic song of the day. It was first recorded by Jackie DeShannon, with producers Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono creating a Phil Spector-like Wall of Sound backing. Released as a single in April of 1963, Jackie’s version of “Needles and Pins” only made it to #83 on the Billboard Hot 100, although it went all the way to #1 in Canada.
Why didn’t Jackie’s version chart higher? She blames a lack of coordination across regions by her record company (Liberty Records):
“I did have some chart records but there were a lot of issues with the record company, a lot of marketing things I wasn’t happy with. For instance, ‘Needles And Pins’ was top 5 in Detroit, top 5 in Chicago, and top 5 in every city it was played in. However, unless you’re coordinated across the country and the song hits the charts at the same time, you can’t get the big leaps. My record didn’t have that, because it would be going down in Chicago while it was going up in some other city. So that was a problem.”
That kind of coordination wasn’t a problem when the British group the Searchers released their version of the tune, produced by Tony Hatch (of Petula Clark fame) on Pye Records in the UK and Kapp Records in the U.S. The labels released the Searchers’ single in January of 1964 and that’s the one you probably remember, because it went to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and to #1 on the UK charts. (It also went to #14 in Canada; Canadians obviously love this song.)
“Needles and Pins” was officially written by Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono. Sonny said that Nitzsche played the chords on a guitar and he (Sonny) sang along, thus creating both the melody and the lyrics. That is disputed by Jackie DeShannon, a noted songwriter herself, who claims that she helped write the song (on piano) but didn’t receive proper credit. (In her retelling, Sonny didn’t contribute much, which wouldn’t be surprising.) To my ears, the song’s melody does sound a little like something Ms. DeShannon would write, the chords sound like a mix of Jackie and Jack, and the lyrics sound a little Sonny-like soporific—especially the dumb line-ending “uhs” that help create the rhyme scheme.
Whoever wrote it or performed it, “Needles and Pins” is a pretty good little song. I’m partial to Jackie DeShannon’s version, but the Searchers version is also a keeper. And that’s not even mentioning notable covers in later years by the Ramones and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (with Stevie Nicks!). Which version is your favorite?
[…] (with Jackie DeShannon and fellow Spector acolyte Sonny Bono) the Searchers’ 1964 hit, “Needles and Pins,” organized the music for that year’s legendary T.A.M.I. show, and played keyboards on […]