Fact #15112
When:
Short story:
Del Shannon drives from Battle Creek, Michigan, USA, in his battered old
1957 Plymouth, heading for New York City, USA, where he has a
date to record his latest composition, Runaway.
Full article:
Dick Parker (drummer on Runaway) : Del came out to my house one day, and parked this ugly Saab across my lawn! He told me he needed a drummer for a new band he was putting together, and asked if I could help him out for a few nights a week. I was currently unemployed, so I said 'yes.' That solved my problem.
Forget everything you ever heard about Runaway. It was this simple. Max (Crook, organist) sat down and began tinkling on the piano. When I saw that the two weren't going to stop, I jumped in with the drums.
Shirley Westover (wife of Del Shannon] : When he was writing Runaway, I honestly didn't think that it was going to make it because it sounded so 'busy'. I actually preferred the B-side, Jody, over Runaway. I love slow ballads and country music. Jody was so good that we decided to name our third child after the song.
Del Shannon : I learned falsetto from The Ink Spots We Three. I eventually got hooked on Jimmy Jones' Handy Man in '59 and would sing that at the Hi-Lo Club. I always had the idea of 'running away' somewhere in the back of my mind.
'I wa-wa-wa-wa-wonder, why...' I borrowed from Dion And The Belmonts' I Wonder Why. The beats you hear in there, '...I wonder, bam-bam-bam, I wa-wa...' I stole from Bobby Darin's Dream Lover.
Wes Kilbourne (friend of Del Shannon] : I recall Del's original title of the song was Little Runaway. He was working out lyrics like 'I'm a-walkin' in the storm' and 'I'm a-walkin' beneath the clouds.' Things like that. In fact, he had an entire second verse that he wrote but totally scrapped it off because it didn't fit in as well as the first verse. 'Something something something, I see the image of my love, I'm a-walkin' in the rain...'
Joann Crook (wife of organist Max Crook) : The Plymouth was old. The heater broke, the windows didn't all roll up, the brakes were going, and you could see through the floorboards. The hard Michigan winters with salt on the road ate up the bottom of Del's car. Del smoked a cigar and Max was allergic to smoke, so Del had to put his head out the window. It was in the dead of winter so it was very cold outside. Shirley and I had to wrap blankets around ourselves to keep warm. And the funny thing is, looking back on the experience, we used their car because it was better than ours!
(Source : not known)
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Forget everything you ever heard about Runaway. It was this simple. Max (Crook, organist) sat down and began tinkling on the piano. When I saw that the two weren't going to stop, I jumped in with the drums.
Shirley Westover (wife of Del Shannon] : When he was writing Runaway, I honestly didn't think that it was going to make it because it sounded so 'busy'. I actually preferred the B-side, Jody, over Runaway. I love slow ballads and country music. Jody was so good that we decided to name our third child after the song.
Del Shannon : I learned falsetto from The Ink Spots We Three. I eventually got hooked on Jimmy Jones' Handy Man in '59 and would sing that at the Hi-Lo Club. I always had the idea of 'running away' somewhere in the back of my mind.
'I wa-wa-wa-wa-wonder, why...' I borrowed from Dion And The Belmonts' I Wonder Why. The beats you hear in there, '...I wonder, bam-bam-bam, I wa-wa...' I stole from Bobby Darin's Dream Lover.
Wes Kilbourne (friend of Del Shannon] : I recall Del's original title of the song was Little Runaway. He was working out lyrics like 'I'm a-walkin' in the storm' and 'I'm a-walkin' beneath the clouds.' Things like that. In fact, he had an entire second verse that he wrote but totally scrapped it off because it didn't fit in as well as the first verse. 'Something something something, I see the image of my love, I'm a-walkin' in the rain...'
Joann Crook (wife of organist Max Crook) : The Plymouth was old. The heater broke, the windows didn't all roll up, the brakes were going, and you could see through the floorboards. The hard Michigan winters with salt on the road ate up the bottom of Del's car. Del smoked a cigar and Max was allergic to smoke, so Del had to put his head out the window. It was in the dead of winter so it was very cold outside. Shirley and I had to wrap blankets around ourselves to keep warm. And the funny thing is, looking back on the experience, we used their car because it was better than ours!
(Source : not known)