Song of the Day: A Little "Runaway"

Del Shannon's classic plus covers by Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Presley and...Lawrence Welk?

Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books and now writer/director of award-winning films. He was also a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy.

Keeping it simple (for a change) today, with merely one of the greatest singles of all time, Del Shannon’s “Runaway,” plus several covers from various notables. Plus the usual political cartooning. Enjoy, then subscribe if you have not, it’s still free.

Del Shannon, real name Charles Westover back in Battle Creek, Michigan, wrote the song with his keyboard player, Max Crook. It was a huge hit in 1961—the fifth biggest of the year, as per Billboard—and re-recorded at least twice more in later years by Del. The odd solo sound on the record is courtesy of Crook’s invention of the clavioline-based electric keyboard called a Musitron. (It’s still little known that noted NYC jazzy session men appear on the record, such as Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar and Milt Hinton on bass.) Del went on to record enough other hits such as “Hats Off to Larry” and “Keep Searchin” to earn his spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He also recorded the first demo for Bob Seger in 1964 and passed it on to Dick Clark. More trivia: He wrote the British Invasion classic “I Fall to Pieces” for Peter & Gordon. Del drank his way through most of the 1970s but Dave Edmunds produced a single for him and Tom Petty an album in 1982. He later sang on a Smithereens track and with Jeff Lynne and there were rumors that he would replace Roy Orbison in the Wilburys after Roy died. Del committed suicide in 1990 in California, using a .22 rifle. He was 55.

Del, live (though lip-synced) in 1961.

First major cover? From none other than….Lawrence Welk, which sold enough to make the top 60. Dig it when the vocals kick in….

Best and favorite cover ever, sez me, by Bonnie Raitt in 1977, here live. Norton Buffalo on four harmonicas!

Elvis did it just once, at a midnight show in Vegas in 1969, with Del in the audience (it is said).

Del doing it live in 1987 on Letterman.

I always loved Del’s 1964 “Keep Searchin’.”

Cartoon of the Day

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Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books, including the bestseller The Tunnels (on escapes under the Berlin Wall), the current The Beginning or the End (on MGM’s wild atomic bomb movie), and The Campaign of the Century (on Upton Sinclair’s left-wing race for governor of California), which was recently picked by the Wall St. Journal as one of five greatest books ever about an election. His new film, Atomic Cover-up, just had its world premiere and is drawing extraordinary acclaim. For nearly all of the 1970s he was the #2 editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. Later he served as longtime editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. He recently co-produced a film about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.