Del Shannon - Runaway - Lyrics Meaning

Runaway was written and sung by Del Shannon who produced it in conjunction with his partner and keyboardist, Max Crook. The song was released in March 1961, and reached the number one spot on the US Billboard charts remaining there for four weeks as well as reaching the top spot in the UK charts a few weeks later.

The song features in the Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at number 466.

Apart from Shannon's driving lyrics, a major feature of the song is Crook's solo, played on the Musitron, which was his own invention and is generally regarded as the forerunner of the moog synthesizer.

The lyrics of the song are fairly straightforward. Del Shannon is wondering what went wrong with his the love that he had that was so strong. Of the things they had done together while their hearts were young.

While the lyrics are simple, the song has a message that can't be ignored, that of love that has gone. And the keyboard chorus says it all.

Connoisseurs of pop music say that Runaway was the forerunner of the electric sound that was to come more than ten years later.