"Runaway" is a number-one Billboard Hot 100 song made famous by Del Shannon in 1961. It was written by Shannon and keyboardist Max Crook, and became a major international hit. It topped the Billboard charts for four consecutive weeks, and Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1961.[3] It was No. 472 on the 2010 version of Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and No. 466 on the 2004 version.
Original recording
Singer-guitarist Charles Westover and keyboard player Max Crook performed together as members of "Charlie Johnson and the Big Little Show Band" in Battle Creek, Michigan, before their group won a recording contract in 1960. Westover took the new stage name "Del Shannon", and Crook, who had invented his own clavioline-based electric keyboard called a Musitron, became "Maximilian".
After 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 unusual instrumental sound. On January 21, 1961, they recorded "Runaway" at Bell Sound Studios in New York City, 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 Al Casamenti and Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar, Milt Hinton on bass, and Joe Marshall on drums. Bill Ramall, who was the arranger for the session, also played baritone sax.[4] After recording in A minor, producer Balk sped up the recording to pitch just below a B-flat minor.[5] "Runaway" was released in February 1961 and was immediately successful. On April 10 of that year, Shannon appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, helping to catapult it to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for four weeks.[6] Two months later, it reached number one on the UK's Record Retailer chart, spending three weeks in that position.[7] On Billboard's Hot R&B Sides, "Runaway" peaked at number three.[8][9]
Shannon re-recorded the song a second time in 1986, this time as the theme music for the NBC television series Crime Story, which starred Dennis Farina and was set in the early 1960s.[31][32] This version featured new lyrics to make the song more fitting for a crime drama.
The best-known original version is in mono. However, in subsequent compilations a different take from the same recording sessions is available in stereo. [citation needed]
Lyrics
The song is sung from the point of view of a man whose girlfriend has left him. She is mostly referred to in the third person, but she is briefly addressed in the second person in the lyric "wishin' you were here by me".
In 1974, Dave, a Dutch singer who sings in French, covered the song under the title "Vanina", the song having been adapted by Patrick Loiseau [fr].[41] "Vanina" reached No. 1 in France[42] and No. 27 in Flanders.[41] Dave also covered the song in German in 1975 ("Mein Mädchen Monika")[43] and Spanish ("Vanesa").[44] In 2011, he released a soul version of "Vanina" on the album Blue Eyed Soul,[45] along with a music video, that reached No. 90 in France.[46]
In 1975, Charlie Kulis, a schoolteacher from New York, released a cover version on Playboy Records. Promotion for the single included an appearance on American Bandstand. Kulis's version spent eight weeks on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 46,[47] while reaching No. 40 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart.[48]
In 1977, Bonnie Raitt included a bluesy version of the song on her album Sweet Forgiveness. Also released as a single, it reached No. 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.[49]
In 1986, Shannon was asked if the song could be used for Crime Story, an NBC TV series set in early-1960s Chicago and Las Vegas. Shannon agreed, re-recording it with slightly different lyrics.[51]
In 1986, Luis Cardenas, lead singer of the rock band Renegade, reached No. 83 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with his cover version,[52] which is best remembered for its live action/animated video that features cameo appearances by Del Shannon and Donny Osmond.
In 1987, Swedish pop legend Fredrik Willstrand recorded a cover version for his eponymous album.[53]
Genesis included the lyric "my little runaway", sung to the same melody as in Shannon's song, in their song "In the Cage", from the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. It is one of many references to hit songs from the 1960s on the album.
Echo & the Bunnymen quote the lyrics "I'm walking in the rain, to end this misery", sung to the same melody as in Shannon's song, in their song "Over The Wall", from the album Heaven Up Here.
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