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photo by Styrous®
Today, December 30th is the birthday of Del Shannon who ran away with the Billboard Hot 100 song, Runaway, sixty years ago in 1961. It was written by Shannon and keyboardist Max Crook and became a major international hit. It was No. 472 on the 2010 version of the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
I
was snagged by the song from the first time I heard it. How could you
not? The great guitar, piano & bass intro and that squeaky synthesizer played durng the instrumental break by Crook, “The
Man From The Musitron", and Shannon's falsetto, totally weird and wonderful!
Del Shannon - 1963
photographer unknown
In 1957, Crook built a monophonic synthesizer, which he called the Musitron, out of a clavioline
heavily enhanced with additional resistors, television tubes, and parts
from household appliances, old amplifiers, and reel-to-reel tape
machines. He was unable to patent the Musitron because most of its
components were previously patented products.
date & photographer unknown
When their first recording session for Big Top Records in New York City
had ended in failure, their manager Ollie McLaughlin persuaded them to
rewrite and re-record an earlier song they had written, Little
Runaway, to highlight Crook's unique instrumental sound. On January 21,
1961, they recorded Runaway at the Bell Sound recording studios, with
Harry Balk as producer, Fred Weinberg as audio engineer and also session musicians on several sections: session musician Al Caiola
on guitar, Moe Wechsler on piano, and Crook playing the central
Musitron break. Other musicians on the record included Milt Hinton on bass, and Joe Marshall
on drums. Bill Ramall, who was the arranger for the session, also
played baritone sax. Al Casamenti and Bucky Pizzarelli were also on guitar (Pizzarelli died last year from COVID-19).
date & photographer unknown
After recording in A minor, producer Balk sped up
the recording to pitch just below a B-flat minor. Runaway was released in February 1961 and was immediately successful. On April 10 of that year, Shannon appeared on the Dick Clark American Bandstand, helping to catapult it to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for four weeks. Two months later, it reached number one on the UK's Record Retailer chart, spending three weeks in that position. On the Billboard Hot R&B Sides, Runaway peaked at number three.
Elvis Presley covered the song live at The International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, at Midnight on August 24, 1969. His version is not as interesting as Shannon's (link below)!
My favorite song by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers refers to Runaway in the 1989 tune Petty wrote with Jeff Lynne, Runnin' Down a Dream from his first solo album Full Moon Fever and featured in the 1998 film, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which starred Johnny Depp.
There are many songs by the title Runaway,
none of which have anything to do with the Shannon version but are
interesting in one way or another. Aurora has a "New Wave" treatment that is mellow and beautiful in spite of the rather downer lyrics but the one I have found
fascinating and quite well done is the rap song by Kanye West, but beware, the lyrics are a bit explicit (links below).
Del Shannon was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Art Alexakis, singer-songwriter and guitarist of the rock band Everclear in 1999.
Del Shannon was born in Coopersville, Michigan,
on Dec. 30, 1939. He began playing guitar as a teen-ager and took his
stage name from a friend, Mark Shannon. He learned to play the ukulele and guitar and listened to country-and-western music by artists such as Hank Williams, Hank Snow, and Lefty Frizzell. There are some great images of Shannon's life on the History of Rock website (link below).
Shannon committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his Santa Clarita, California, home on February 8, 1990 (link below).
A .22-caliber rifle with no note was found next to Shannon's body in the den. He was
50 years old. Shannon’s widow would later file a high-profile lawsuit
against Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of the antidepressant Prozac,
which Shannon had begun taking shortly before his suicide. That suit
was eventually dropped, but the case brought early attention to the
still-unresolved question of the possible connection between suicidal
ideation and SSRIs, the class of drugs to which Prozac belongs.
Del Shannon ~ Jody
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A - Runaway - 2:20
Side 2:
B - Jody - 2:20
Companies, etc.
Side 1:
A - Runaway - 2:20
Side 2:
B - Jody - 2:20
Companies, etc.
Published By – Vicki Music, Inc.
Published By – McLaughlin Publishing Co.
Record Company – EmBee (2)
Record Company – Bigtop Records, Inc.
Lacquer Cut at – Bell Sound Studios
Published By – McLaughlin Publishing Co.
Record Company – EmBee (2)
Record Company – Bigtop Records, Inc.
Lacquer Cut at – Bell Sound Studios
Credits:
Written-By Shannon*, Crook*
Notes:
Vicki Music, Inc. BMI
McLaughlin Pub. Co. - BMI
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Vicki Music, Inc. BMI
McLaughlin Pub. Co. - BMI
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Rights Society: BMI
Matrix / Runout (A-side label): BG-1181
Matrix / Runout (B-side label): BG-1182
Matrix / Runout (A-Side Runout Etching): BellSound 45-BG-1181-2 2 BT
Matrix / Runout (B-Side Runout Etching): BellSound 45-BG-1182-2 2 BT
Kanye West
Matrix / Runout (A-side label): BG-1181
Matrix / Runout (B-side label): BG-1182
Matrix / Runout (A-Side Runout Etching): BellSound 45-BG-1181-2 2 BT
Matrix / Runout (B-Side Runout Etching): BellSound 45-BG-1182-2 2 BT
Viewfinder links:
Hank Williams
Net links:
Net links:
History of Rock & Roll ~ Del Shannon
LA Times ~ Shannon Widow Alleges Drug Led to Suicide
NY Times ~ Del Shannon Dies at Home in Apparent Suicide
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ~ Del Shannon
Tulsa World ~ Shannon's Suicide Still Mystifies Friends, Family
Ultimate Classic Rock & Culture ~ The Life & Death of Del Shannon
Undiscover Music ~ Shannon Tribute
YouTube links:
Aurora - Runaway
Tom Petty ~
Runnin' Down a Dream (film version)
Runnin' Down a Dream (live) (1991)
Kanye West ~
Del Shannon - 1950
photographer unknown
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