Sunday, August 04, 2002

The song

Coopersville native Del Shannon had scored two big hits in 1961 with "Runaway," a No. 1 single, and "Hats Off to Larry," which hit No. 5 on the charts. "So Long Baby" didn't fare as well, peaking at No. 28 after its October release. The tune about a guy who vents after dumping his girlfriend was rerecorded last year by New York's Joe Glickman &the Zippity Doo Wop Band and is slated for inclusion on an upcoming Shannon tribute CD.

The moviemaker

Twenty-four-year-old Joe Glickman's love of '50s and '60s music can be traced, oddly enough, to the "Crime Story" TV series (1986-1988). He fell in love with Del Shannon's revised version of "Runaway," used as the theme song, along with the filmmaking process and "the nostalgia, the look" of that era. A guitarist/singer, Glickman considers himself first and foremost a filmmaker with a vision for turning "So Long Baby" into a music video. His credits include a documentary about the late '60s group, Classics IV.

The songwriter

Del Shannon, aka Charles Westover, was born in 1934 and graduated from Coopersville High School, quickly becoming a hometown hero after his meteoric rise in rock 'n' roll. He had nine Top 40 hits between 1961 and 1982. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1990 at age 55. Three years ago, Shannon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.