Chords for Del Shannon news report

_ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _
I've been wrong, I [G] wonder, I've been wrong with [F] our love, but that [E] was so strong.
60's rock star, Del Shannon.
[Am] Despite his fame and fortune, he was desperate to [G] run away.
What demon haunted this music [F] legend?
What made Del Shannon take his own life?
[G] _ _ _
God help us and this is Inside [N] Report.
Charles Westover was not really a popular guy.
He was picked on in high school.
He was always sort of an outcast.
But when Charles Westover became Del Shannon,
he rocketed from small town nobody to 60's rock and roll star.
His hit song, Runaway, launched a career that would put his life as Charles Westover behind him forever.
But when the fame and fortune finally ran its course and Del Shannon was forced to prove himself all over again,
Charles Westover came back to [Gm] haunt him.
Del's friends and family knew he wasn't happy,
but no one ever knew the depths of his desperation.
Gary Nelson has the inside story of a troubled rock and roll star who finally decided to run away for [F] good.
_ [A#] I'm a-walkin' in the [Gm] rain, you got what I feel in me.
But for that unmistakable tune, the world might never have known Del Shannon.
Del Runaway Shannon. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ In 1961, Runaway catapulted Del Shannon to instant stardom and an ensuing string of [C#] hits.
Here she comes, here she comes, that little [A#m] town bird.
Shannon wowed [D#] him with Little Town Flirt.
_ [B]
Pass off to Larry, [D#m] he broke your heart.
_ [E] Pass off to Larry and a litany of other chart busters assured Shannon a spot in the rock and roll history [A#m] books.
Here's a man who sold over 12 million records the world over. _
Let's run away with Del.
As I walk along.
_ [G#] _ _ Shannon became a regular on [F#] Dick Clark's American Bandstand.
He [F] seemed to be happy, obviously he wasn't. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A#] _ _ _ _ Why did this happen? Why?
_ Why, why, why?
[Gm] _
Why indeed [N] did Del Shannon run away?
Why did he sit down in his brand new L.A. home last month and put a bullet through his head?
I love him and I'm angry at the person who killed him.
It's the same guy.
Dan Burgoyes was Del Shannon's longtime agent and best friend.
Perhaps he just wanted to get out.
Perhaps he just _ _ decided that his time was up and to throw in the towel and off he went.
When he was [G#] into his bout with alcoholism, I always lived in fear of him being very suicidal.
Shirley Westover was Shannon's wife of 30 years.
She saw him battle and conquer alcoholism.
But there were other fears, other weaknesses.
_ Insecurities, he was very, very insecure.
He _ never thought that he was worthy of his own [F] success.
He never thought he deserved [A] it. _ _
[F#m] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [F#m] _
_ _ [A] Del Shannon's [F#] success was measured largely in one night stands,
oldies reviews where the crowd went wild [Gm] over the 60s [A] hits.
_ [N] He was one of those oldies performers that was still out there working,
keeping busy with well over 100 jobs a year for good money.
Now here's [D] my story that's sad and true.
But Del Shannon wanted more.
He was a writer, a composer, and felt he had something to offer beyond bebop and Bobby Sox.
[D] You know, you've got that same voice, that same charisma, whatever got you over once.
And it must be very frustrating not to feel that anyone is going to accept that now.
_ _ Ah, ah, [G] _ _ [C] _
ah, ah, ah, ah.
[E] Danny and the Juniors, another 60s mega group that now works the oldies circuit,
they worked it with Del Shannon and know the frustration of not being able to break out of the past.
We keep trying and I know Del did.
He kept cutting those records and, you know, we're all trying.
[B] But the record companies aren't helping us, you know.
And all those good things and TV and it's not open to us,
so it makes it hard, it really does.
[A] Do you remember [C#] _ when we met?
[Dm]
Del Shannon [B] showed a glimmer of a comeback in [A] 1981
with his single, Sea of Love,
but the album, despite [G] being produced by superstar Tom Petty
and despite critical acclaim, was a bomb commercially.
I was [D] alright, _ _ oh, I, _ _ I just smiled for her.
_ [G] Del Shannon would continue to perform,
cranking out [N] those oldies but goodies the crowd just had to hear.
And when he ended his life, he left no note, no clue.
I would just hope that people remember him for his music,
for, for his creative talent, for his big, wonderful heart,
and what a good person he was, as opposed to _ somebody
who couldn't make it through the last day of his life.
[E] _
Ain't no [F#m] way I _ can't [D] help it if it hurt you [E] when I say goodbye. _
_ Don't know [F#] why _ [D] it has to be the way [E] it is, I cried and I cried. _
This was one of [G] the last songs Del [D] Shannon wrote.
He performed it only once, and it's [C#m] never been released.
A song that may have been prophetic.
A song titled simply, I've Got to Walk Away.
_ _ [E] Walk away, _
_ _ _ [D] _ walk away, _ _ _ [E] walk _ away, _ I've [D] got to walk away, _ _ _ [E] walk away. _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G#] _ _ Oh, [N] I was so talented, it's a shame.
Del Shannon often visited kids in drug rehab programs and counseled them to hang in there.
He was also a volunteer at LA's Alcoholics Anonymous program.
One of Del's friends says he gave so much, maybe he just didn't save enough for himself.