Jackie DeShannon: When You Walk in the Room

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Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers in 1941) wrote this brilliant song and released it in 1963 as the B-side of another of her compositions, the vastly inferior Till You Say You’ll Be Mine (which became Olivia Newton-John’s first single in 1966). It was re-released as an A-side in 1964 and scraped into the US top 100 at 99.

The Searchers did much better with their 1964 version, reaching 35 in the US and 3 in Britain. This was their first single after Tony Jackson was replaced as lead vocalist by Frank Allen.

There are umpteen other covers (Springsteen, Del Shannon, Paul Carrack) but I still think the original is the best.

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