B-side "Pokey" Format 7" Label Lifesong Records | Released February 1976 Genre Pop "One More Tomorrow"
(1975) "Shannon"
(1976) | |
"Shannon" is a 1976 song by Henry Gross. It became an international hit, reaching number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Cash Box Top 100. Although it was a much smaller hit in the UK and Australia, the song reached number one in Canada and New Zealand.
"Shannon" was written about the death of Beach Boys member Carl Wilson's Irish Setter of the same name. The single went gold in the U.S. and became a worldwide hit, reaching #6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Cash Box Top 100 in 1976. In Canada it reached #1. "Shannon" also reached #1 in New Zealand, but peaked only at #32 in the UK.
The Casey Kasem incident
"Shannon" is remembered for being the subject of a profanity-laced tirade by American Top 40 host Casey Kasem, while recording the September 14, 1985 show. A listener from Cincinnati, Ohio had requested "Shannon" as a 'Long-Distance Dedication' (a regular feature of the show) to his own recently deceased dog, named Snuggles. Kasem was upset that the show's producers had placed the dedication immediately following the Pointer Sisters' hit "Dare Me", an uptempo song that he considered a poor lead-in to a sad song such as "Shannon". This did not originally air in the broadcast. The outtakes were distributed years later and wound up on Negativland's U2.
The audio was occasionally played on The Howard Stern Show, The Don and Mike Show and The Neil Rogers Show. The September 14, 1985 episode, as originally aired, has been rebroadcast in recent years as part of Premiere Radio Networks' American Top 40: The '80s series.