B-side "Mary's Rainbow" Format 7" single Genre Pop | Released 1968 Recorded August 1958 Length 2:37 | |
"Put Your Head on My Shoulder" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Paul Anka. Anka's version was recorded in August 1958 and released as a single by ABC-Paramount in 1959 as catalog number 4510040. It was arranged and conducted by Don Costa. The B-side was "Don't Ever Leave Me". "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" became very successful, reaching number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song was repopularized when released as a single by The Lettermen in 1968. This version peaked just outside the top forty of the Hot 100, but continued their streak of top forty adult contemporary hits.
This song is not to be confused with the Beach Boys' "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" (Brian Wilson/Tony Asher) from Pet Sounds (1966), with which it has much in common musically.
Covers
Enrique Guzmán (Mexican singer) recorded a Spanish version in the 1960s titled "Tu cabeza en mi hombro". In Latin America, that cover is even more popular than the original one.
Leif Garrett (American singer) also recorded a version in 1978, which reached #58 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Chilean pop singer Myriam Hernández, together with Anka, recorded a Spanglish version for his duets album Amigos. Canadian crooner and Paul Anka protégé Michael Bublé also recorded a lushly arranged version of it on his eponymously titled 2003 debut album. The Punk Rock band Good Charlotte also did a version of the song in the movie Not Another Teen Movie entitled "Put Your Heads on My Shoulder," which originally aired in 2001. The song is also featured in the video game Hitman: Contracts.
Nancy Sinatra also covered the song.