DEL SHANNON’S Fugitive Kind of Love
“There was a girl I thought was really in love with me. I mean, my heart would pound when she came around. She gave me her bracelet to wear. Most likely I begged to wear it. I probably pestered her so much she let me wear it...The next day, she was out with this other guy.
DEL SHANNON'S Fugitive Kind of Love
FEATURES
by
Mitch Cohen
“There was a girl I thought was really in love with me. I mean, my heart would pound when she came around. She gave me her bracelet to wear. Most likely I begged to wear it. I probably pestered her so much she let me wear it...The next day, she was out with this other guy. I took her bracelet off and put it on a railroad track.”
This probably took place a quarter of a century ago, but when Del Shannon tells it, the anguish is right there in his eyes. His songs are made of this stuff, and it’s the ‘ reason why his songs sock you in the solar plexus when they come on the radio. He explains about chord changes and country influences, about the clang of his guitar. But the real thread that goes from “Runaway” (1961) to “Sucker For Your Love” (1981) is Del Shannon standing in a hallway and having the most popular girl in school break a date that was made two weeks before.