Author’s Note: When I originally wrote this list, this next song was ranked 5th. I decided to knock it down several spots because as I will explain, I enjoy this song in spite of its flaws, rather than consider it a nearly perfect song. As a result, I had to end up re-writing much of this entry to reflect this.

Guilty pleasure songs. Everyone has them.

Admit it. You secretly love songs that, from a critical standpoint, are really hard to defend. Maybe it’s because the melodies are so perfect that you don’t care about the fact that this amazingly catchy song is about blowing up nuclear weapons for fun. Or maybe it’s because the hook about sleeping in a sleeping bag is just so much fun to sing along to that you don’t care how stupid it is. Everyone has a guilty pleasure song, and that includes me. In fact, I have several favorite songs where I am embarrassed by the lyrical content or the lousy production choices.

1963, and the early sixties in particular, provides ample ground for us to find a song that many would consider a guilty pleasure. I may have been complaining about tons of relationship songs on the worst list, but even I have to admit I sneak in plays of Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party” and “Judy’s Turn To Cry,” two songs about whiny relationship melodrama, every so often because they’re so damn catchy. I ranted about “My Boyfriend’s Back” by The Angels on my dishonorable mentions for being about a drama between a no-good cheater and a no-good bully, but I understand if people like that song if only because of the hook. Related to the songs about melodramatic relationships are the songs about cartoonish heartbreak, where the man who got spurned, or is related to someone who got spurned, does everything he can to list the heartbreaker as the feminine equivalent of Satan. Factor in that this was the early 1960’s, where pop culture remained primarily run by men, and this topic was pretty common. Dion made a career off of songs like these, most famously with “Runaround Sue,” but also with 1963’s “Donna The Prima Donna.” On the other side of the coin, of course, is “I Wanna Be Around” by Tony Bennett. And then, at the #100 slot on the year-end list, is another song with this topic that I can’t get offended at one bit because every other part of the song is so perfect.

“Little Town Flirt” – Del Shannon

#12 peak
#100 year-end

Del Shannon was a truly underrated artist.  He is best known for his 1961 #1 smash hit “Runaway,” one of the best breakup songs in rock and roll.  While he never reached the top ten again after 1961, he reached the year-end list this year with “Little Town Flirt.”  While “Runaway” admittedly felt a bit like a pity party about Del’s own personal heartbreak, “Little Town Flirt” cranks up the meter to discuss the seemingly cute and adorable woman who breaks everyone’s hearts. Del was not only finding a niche with catchy rock and roll songs with big hooks, he was quickly becoming a master at guilty pleasures.

Part of me feels like a ignorant hack for loving this song, in large part due to the subject matter.  There really isn’t much here that explains why the “Little Town Flirt” is such a devil.  The one horrible trait mentioned about this woman is that… she has affairs.  Of course she does, it’s 1963 and every bad person in a relationship song had an affair.  Honestly, was cheating the only bad relationship trait people knew about in 1963?

Here she comes with that look in her eye
She plays around with every guy that goes by

And it wasn’t just this song where Del opened fire on whichever poor woman broke his heart, or someone else’s as implied in this song. After “Runaway,” his other top ten hit in 1961 was “Hats Off To Larry,” which is a song celebrating the titular Larry… for breaking Del’s ex-girlfriend’s heart. Because why not take joy in someone else’s suffering? Oh, and if you thought Del was at least wise enough to avoid the early 1960’s pervert sweepstakes that Steve Lawrence won this year, think again. His repertoire included the song “Hey Little Girl,” and of course… yet another cover of “Go Away Little Girl.” Both of these songs are on Little Town Flirt, the album. Del was 28 when the album was released in June 1963. Um….

We already know that “Go Away Little Girl” is absolute trash. So how is “Little Town Flirt” so great, while “Hats Off To Larry” is crap? Well, to start, the one piece of evidence that the “Little Town Flirt” is having affairs provides us with evidence that you could, as Del sings, get hurt. While the evidence is small, unlike on some of the songs we went through on the worst list, at least we have a reason that allows us to side with the protagonist. And at least unlike “Hats Off To Larry,” we’re not celebrating someone experiencing heartbreak. Del is merely telling us a story. But let’s be honest: the lyrical content had virtually nothing to do with this song being on the list. “Little Town Flirt” is here entirely because of the music and Del’s vocal performance.

For a simple rock and roll song, “Little Town Flirt” sounds massive.  Unlike “Hats Off To Larry,” which was just a rewrite of “Runaway” by using the same A#m tonic and a nearly identical tempo, Del’s gleaming guitar just glides through the song with its D-Bm-G-A chord progression, and the call-and-response female backing vocals are on point, adding the necessary drama this conflict will cause.  But that is all just a setup for Del’s vocals.  Unlike “Surfer Girl,” which reached an early high point within the verses, Del’s voice just slowly rises throughout the song, going over two octaves from his lowest note (at the “Here she comes” opening line of each verse) to his high point at the chorus, where we get to hear Del’s amazing falsetto.

I’ve thought about doing both a best and worst five seconds or musical moments thing for each year I do.  If I were doing this for 1963, Del’s falsetto “you could get h-h-h-h-hurt” would be on the best list.  Everything about it is great.  It’s the moment that ties everything together, showing the power Del’s vocals were capable of.  It’s embarrassingly catchy, but in a good way: it’s the type of catchy you could listen to over and over again and never get tired of.  

And that pretty much sums up “Little Town Flirt.”  It’s the guilty pleasure song you can’t get enough of.  In the years following “Little Town Flirt,” Del would get weeded out of the mainstream by the oncoming onslaught of the British Invasion, and his story ended tragically when he took his own life in 1990.  While his frequent use of covers and melodramatic subject matter limited what he would be able to do once the Beatles came along, “Little Town Flirt” showed he was more than “Runaway.”

UP NEXT: One of the most beautiful songs of the year at #8.

IMAGE SOURCES

Single cover from uDiscoverMusic

Image of Del Shannon from Spotify