#1 for weeks of October 23, and 30th, 1961.
Dion DiMucci is certainly an interesting and unique figure in late 50's/early 60's pop music. He was too mature to be considered a teen idol as he actually wrote his own material. Then again, his catalog also contains more soft-poppy songs such as "Where Or When". However it's songs like "The Wanderer" and of course "Runaround Sue" that Dion is remembered for today due to their irresistible catchy and hook-filled melodies.
When "Runaround Sue" starts off, one would assume that this song will be a quiet number due to its mellow introduction which includes the old doo-wop cliche of "Here's my story which now can be told". Then of course the song picks up into a more moderate snappy doo-wop shuffle. The instrumentation is very sparse and buried, with hand claps and lead/backing vocals being pushed up to the front of the mix. Only the saxophone seems to break this threshold.
Lyrically, Dion sings about a cheating girlfriend who goes out with every guy in town. It certainly is a bit cliche, although what I pay attention to more is the backing vocals and Dion's very unique sounding voice. That vocal refrain that goes throughout the song will get stuck in your head for sure, although it's so catchy that you won't want it to leave.
Dion would have mixed critical success after the early 1960's although he's certainly reinvented himself, both musically and spiritually. Today, his music is heavily blues inspired, to the point where you wouldn't believe the Dion of yesterday vs the Dion of today were the same person.
Final Verdict - A very catchy tune by an artist who's quite underrated in the grand scheme of 20th century music. Give it a listen and prepare to be snapping your fingers the whole time.
Coming Up Next - "Big Bad John" by Jimmy Dean.
Until Next Time - I'm Dr. Rock, and I runaround the internet searching for tunes.
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