Stranger in Town (Del Shannon song)
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"Stranger in Town" is a 1965 song by Del Shannon. Written by Shannon, it is the opening track on the album 1,661 Seconds with Del Shannon.[1] It was released as a single, a follow-up (both chronologically and thematically) to Shannon's top-10 hit "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun)",[2] but was not as successful, reaching number four in Canada, number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the USA, and number 40 on the UK's Record Retailer chart.[3][4][2][5] "Stranger in Town" was Shannon's last top-40 hit in the US of the 1960s.[2]
"Stranger in Town"... it's one long bleat of terror, the singer and his lover pursued by some unnamable person for reasons just beyond the fringe of rational understanding.
— Dave Marsh, The Heart of Rock & Soul[4]
Dave Marsh, in his 1989 book The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, ranked "Stranger in Town"' as the 327th best rock or soul single to that date,[4] ahead of Shannon's bigger hits "Keep Searching" (371st in Marsh's book)[6] and "Runaway" (534th).[7]
Howard DeWitt's biography of Shannon is titled Stranger in Town after the song.[8]