Runaway

Buy the Album at Rhino.com

Written by: Shannon, Max Crook
Produced by: Harry Balk, Irving Micahnik
Released: March '61 on Big Top
Charts: 17 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

As a kid growing up in Michigan, Shannon got his first guitar for five dollars. His truck-driver dad wasn't too happy about it. " 'You get that goddamn guitar outta here' -- that's the exact words my father used," Shannon recalled. "However, my ma said, 'It's OK, son. You can sing for me.' " Shannon sang with raw emotion in this hit, as co-writer Crook played the historic solo on an early electronic keyboard called the Musitron.

Appears on: Greatest Hits (Rhino)

Next: Welcome to the Jungle

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