When Del Shannon launched the only “So Long Baby” within the UK within the early winter of 1961, he was already assured of a yr that he would always remember. The distinctive “Runaway” had been one of many hits of the yr, reaching No.1 on either side of the Atlantic, in addition to in Australia, after which the nice follow-up “Hats Off To Larry” had reached No.6 in Britain, and one place increased in America, in addition to making No.2 in Australia.
It was at this level that Del began to note fairly a marked distinction between his fortunes at house, and people within the UK, the place he was growing a robust and constant following that gave him a number of extra main hits. The pugnacious “So Long Baby,” once more written by Shannon himself, was the story of a man who was eager to inform his now ex-girlfriend that she was not the one one who’d been seeing different folks. “I’ve got news for you,” he sings. “I was untrue too.”
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The track ran out of steam at No.28 within the US countdown, however within the UK, on the chart for December 7, 1961, it entered at No.37. It was the week that Elvis Presley’s double-sided “His Latest Flame” and “Little Sister’ was replaced at No.1 by Frankie Vaughan’s “Tower Of Strength.”
“So Long Baby” climbed effectively in its second week to No.20, the primary of seven consecutive weeks within the High 20. In mid-January, it spent its one week contained in the High 10, at No.10. Del Shannon had achieved three High 10 UK hits in a row — and by early 1963, he had made that seven prime tenners out of eight chart appearances.
Purchase or stream “So Long Baby” on Runaway: The Very Better of Del Shannon.
