[Silverback John (Mendocino Bonobos), knowing that I am a particular aficionado of Del Shannon, sent me a clip of Bonnie Raitt’s version of Runaway, and we swapped notes (or, in the case of apes, grunts) on how the two compare. Bonnie’s, we both agreed, was bluesier, chunkier, and more-modern sounding. But my vote goes to Del’s, as the backstory is so much richer. His is the story of flash-in-the-pan, American-only success, followed by a torturously-long decline during which he had to re-tell the story of Runaway, and perform the song EVERY NIGHT OF HIS CAREER. His story ended tragically when he took his own life at age 55. SB SM]
Here’s Bonnie:
And Del’s story:
