diff --git a/swift/common/swob.py b/swift/common/swob.py
index 7a14d1cf10..4074328c28 100644
--- a/swift/common/swob.py
+++ b/swift/common/swob.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ from six.moves import urllib
 
 from swift.common.header_key_dict import HeaderKeyDict
 from swift.common.utils import UTC, reiterate, split_path, Timestamp, pairs, \
-    close_if_possible, closing_if_possible, config_true_value
+    close_if_possible, closing_if_possible, config_true_value, drain_and_close
 from swift.common.exceptions import InvalidTimestamp
 
 
@@ -1400,6 +1400,7 @@ class Response(object):
 
         if self.request and self.request.method == 'HEAD':
             # We explicitly do NOT want to set self.content_length to 0 here
+            drain_and_close(app_iter)  # be friendly to our app_iter
             return [b'']
 
         if self.conditional_response and self.request and \
diff --git a/test/unit/common/middleware/test_object_versioning.py b/test/unit/common/middleware/test_object_versioning.py
index cd2d27bf04..1e5496e5f2 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/middleware/test_object_versioning.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/middleware/test_object_versioning.py
@@ -552,6 +552,20 @@ class ObjectVersioningTestCase(ObjectVersioningBaseTestCase):
         self.assertIn(
             ('X-Symlink-Target', 'c/o?version-id=0000001234.00000'),
             headers)
+        self.assertEqual(body, b'')
+        # N.B. HEAD req already works with existing registered GET response
+        req = Request.blank(
+            '/v1/a/c/o?symlink=get', method='HEAD',
+            environ={'swift.cache': self.cache_version_on})
+        status, headers, body = self.call_ov(req)
+        self.assertEqual(status, '200 OK')
+        self.assertEqual(len(self.authorized), 1)
+        self.assertRequestEqual(req, self.authorized[0])
+        self.assertIn(('X-Object-Version-Id', '0000001234.00000'), headers)
+        self.assertIn(
+            ('X-Symlink-Target', 'c/o?version-id=0000001234.00000'),
+            headers)
+        self.assertEqual(body, b'')
 
     def test_put_object_no_versioning(self):
         self.app.register(
diff --git a/test/unit/common/test_swob.py b/test/unit/common/test_swob.py
index 2a8ed09c73..87cd43fdea 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/test_swob.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/test_swob.py
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ from six.moves.urllib.parse import quote
 import swift.common.swob as swob
 from swift.common import utils, exceptions
 
+from test.unit.common.middleware.helpers import LeakTrackingIter
+
 
 class TestHeaderEnvironProxy(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_proxy(self):
@@ -1232,16 +1234,34 @@ class TestResponse(unittest.TestCase):
         The Response object's __call__ method should be able to reify a
         Request object from the env it gets passed.
         """
+        tracking = {
+            'closed': 0,
+            'read': 0,
+        }
+
+        def mark_closed(*args):
+            tracking['closed'] += 1
+
+        def mark_read(*args):
+            tracking['read'] += 1
+
         def test_app(environ, start_response):
             start_response('200 OK', [])
-            return [b'hi']
+            body = [b'hi']
+            return LeakTrackingIter(body, mark_closed, mark_read, None)
         req = swob.Request.blank('/')
         req.method = 'HEAD'
         status, headers, app_iter = req.call_application(test_app)
         resp = swob.Response(status=status, headers=dict(headers),
                              app_iter=app_iter)
         output_iter = resp(req.environ, lambda *_: None)
-        self.assertEqual(list(output_iter), [b''])
+        with utils.closing_if_possible(output_iter):
+            body = b''.join(output_iter)
+        self.assertEqual(body, b'')
+        self.assertEqual(tracking, {
+            'closed': 1,
+            'read': 1,
+        })
 
     def test_call_preserves_closeability(self):
         def test_app(environ, start_response):