Music / ↳ Runaway

Runaway

Written by: Max Crook and Del Shannon (cover version) Performed by: The Traveling Wilburys Additional 2007 contribution: Jeff Lynne (Clayton Wilbury), new clavioline solo Length: 2:30 Album: Originally a UK B-side; bonus track on The Traveling Wilburys Collection (Vol. 3 disc)

A cover of Del Shannon's 1961 classic, "Runaway" had circulated for years as nothing more than a UK-only B-side before the 2007 reissue gave it proper billing as a bonus track. The choice of song makes sense on every level for this particular band: a slice of pure early-'60s rock and roll, the exact era all five original Wilburys had grown up idolizing, delivered here with genuine affection rather than ironic distance.

For the reissue, Jeff Lynne went back and added a fresh solo on the clavioline, the same distinctively reedy, early electronic keyboard instrument that gave Del Shannon's original its unmistakable, almost otherworldly hook. It's a small but telling detail: rather than simply remaster the old B-side and call it done, Lynne treated the bonus track with the same care he'd bring to any other Wilburys release, decades after the fact.

As the closing bonus track on the Vol. 3 disc, "Runaway" is a fitting way to send off the reissue: two and a half minutes of five guys covering a song they'd all grown up loving, decades after any of them needed the practice.

See the other Vol. 3 bonus track, Nobody's Child, or read more about the 2007 reissue.