"Put Your Head on My Shoulder"
Single by Paul Anka
B-side"Don't Ever Leave Me"
ReleasedAugust 17, 1959
RecordedAugust 7, 1958
StudioBell Sound (New York City)
GenrePop, doo-wop
Length2:37
LabelABC-Paramount
Songwriter(s)Paul Anka
Producer(s)Don Costa
Paul Anka singles chronology
"Lonely Boy"
(1959)		 "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"
(1959)		 "It's Time to Cry"
(1959)
Music video
"Put Your Head on My Shoulder" on YouTube

"Put Your Head on My Shoulder" is a song written by Canadian-born singer-songwriter Paul Anka. Anka's version was recorded in August 1958 at Bell Sound Studios in New York City, three weeks before he recorded his no. 1 hit "Lonely Boy", and was released as a single on August 17, 1959, by ABC-Paramount as catalog number 4510040. It was arranged and conducted by Don Costa. The B-side was "Don't Ever Leave Me".[1] "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" became very successful, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (kept out of the No. 1 spot by Bobby Darin's recording of "Mack the Knife").[2] It was his third top five hit of 1959. In Canada the song reached No. 4 on the CHUM Charts.[3]

Cover and foreign language versions

The song was again popular when it was covered and released as a single by The Lettermen in 1968. This version peaked at No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100; it was more successful on the Easy Listening chart, where it peaked at No. 8.[4][5]

Mexican singer Enrique Guzmán recorded a Spanish version in the 1960s titled "Tu cabeza en mi hombro". In Latin America, this cover is even more popular than the original one. Chilean singer Myriam Hernández recorded this version in a duet with Paul Anka himself in its original version.

Australian singer Derek Redfern covered the song, which peaked at number 71 on the Australian Kent Music Report in 1974.[6]

American singer Leif Garrett released a cover of the song in 1978, which eventually reached number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.[7]

American rapper and singer Doja Cat sampled it in her 2021 song "Freak." Freak's rhythm and tempo is similar to Anka's original version. [8]

Former-Menudo band Puerto Rican singer Robby Rosa and the Brazilian duo "Gabriela e Tatiana" recorded Portuguese versions in the 1980s, Robby's version being "Com você nos meus sonhos" and Gabriela and Tatiana's version being "Essa mão no meu ombro".

A mashed up version of Doja Cat's "Streets" containing the first 12 seconds of "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" became a TikTok challenge known as the "Silhouette Challenge".[9]

In the 2004 videogame Hitman: Contracts, the song is playing on a gramophone in one of the rooms during the second mission of the game.

Charts

Chart (1959–1960) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[10] 2
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[11] 11
Canada (CHUM Hit Parade)[12] 4
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[13] 13
UK Singles (OCC)[14] 7
US Billboard Hot 100[15] 2
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[16] 12
West Germany (Official German Charts)[17] 25

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[18] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "Paul Anka - Put Your Head On My Shoulder". 45cat.com. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  2. ↑ "The Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.com. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  3. ↑ "CHUM Top 20 Singles - October 12, 1959".
  4. ↑ "The Lettermen – Chart history | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  5. ↑ "The Lettermen – Chart history | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  6. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 248. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  7. ↑ "Leif Garrett, "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" Chart Position". Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  8. ↑ "FREAK by Doja Cat – Samples, Covers and Remixes ..." WhoSampled. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  9. ↑ "Best of the #SilhouetteChallenge on TikTok: WATCH - Vulture". Vulture. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  10. ↑ "Paul Anka – Put Your Head on My Shoulder" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  11. ↑ "Paul Anka – Put Your Head on My Shoulder" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  12. ↑ CHUM Hit Parade, October 12, 1959
  13. ↑ "Paul Anka – Put Your Head on My Shoulder" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  14. ↑ "Paul Anka: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  15. ↑ "Paul Anka Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  16. ↑ "Paul Anka Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  17. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Paul Anka – Put Your Head on My Shoulder" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 14 May 2018. To see peak chart position, click "TITEL VON Paul Anka"
  18. ↑ "British single certifications – Paul Anka – Put Your Head on My Shoulder". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
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