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Saturday 3 September 2016

Namechecked - Del Shannon


Me and Del were singing Little Runaway

Another series which is getting put to the side for a while as I am finding it becoming  a bit of a chore which tells me it is time to stop.
It will be revisited at some stage when I can be bothered. as I'm sure that there is plenty of material out there

We end with a song that is even older than me (on not on a 78 before you ask) namely Runaway by Del  Shannon.
The lyric line above features in Runnin' Down a Dream by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
His first hit and an absolute belter and probably somewhat of a millstone round his neck as it must have been pretty hard to follow.
Certainly none of his other songs have lingered long in my memory.
Tom Petty on the other hand has produced a number of corkers.


5 comments:

  1. You are being a little hard on Del there, Chic. "Runaway" dwarfed everything else, as you say, but he did a fair few decent tunes - "Move It On Over", "Little Town Flirt" etc.

    Being a man of immense erudition you probably know this already, but Tom and Jeff Lynne (another fan) wanted to get Del into the Travelling Wilburys after Roy Orbison died. Sadly Del himself promptly keeled over, so it didn't happen

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    1. I didn't know that Ernie.Every day's school day

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  2. Sorry to see this feature shelved as obviously it was a favourite of mine.

    Can't bear Tom Petty, though I will offer as a runner-up When You Dream by Barenaked Ladies...

    Do you hear noises just
    Loud enough to be perceived?
    Do you hear Del Shannon's "Runaway" playing
    On transistor radio waves?

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  3. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers were the backing band on Del's final LP 'Rock On', which was produced by Jeff Lynne and was a pretty good effort by my recollection. Sadly Del had suffered from depression for many years and committed suicide before the album's release.

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