Rock Music

Del  Shannon was born Charles Weedon Westover in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He started out playing the ukulele, which he soon swapped for a guitar. In 1959, he hooked up with keyboardist Max Crook who played the Musitron (a very early synthesizer),  and they were signed to the Big Top label in Detroit.

In 1961, they recorded “Runaway,” which reached #1 in the Billboard Hot 100. Shannon followed with “Hats Off to Larry,” which peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 later that year.

Here are the lyrics to “Hats Off to Larry” by Del Shannon:

“Once I had a pretty girl
Her name it doesn’t matter
She went away with another guy
Now he won’t even look at her

Hats off to Larry
He broke your heart
Just like you broke mine when you
Said we must part

He told you lies
Now it’s
Your turn to cry, cry, cry
Now that Larry said goodbye to you

I know this may sound strange
I want you back
I think you’ll change
But there’s one more thing I gotta say

Hats off to Larry
It may sound cruel
But you laughed at me when you
Said we were through

You told me lies
Now it’s
Your turn to cry, cry, cry
Now that Larry said goodbye to you

Hats off to Larry
It may sound cruel
But you laughed at me when you
Said we were through

You told me lies
Now it’s
Your turn to cry, cry, cry
Now that Larry said goodbye to you
To you, to you”

For other songs by Del Shannon: “Runaway” and “Little Town Flirt.”

For More Golden Oldies Music                                

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop music, rock and roll hits, R&B, or rockabilly songs that werewere hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

Please click here for the Daily Doo Wop YouTube channel, to which you can subscribe. Thank you for stopping by The Daily Doo Wop. Hope you enjoyed “Hats Off to Larry” by Del Shannon.