For My Sunday Song #191, we are going to discuss the first of ten songs from Bon Jovi. We will start it off with the first single and first song off their debut album called “Runaway”. It was officially released in February 1984 and hit #39 on the Billboard charts. It was the first of many hits to come from this New Jersey band.
The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and George Karak and was first recorded by Jon back in his Power Station Demo time period around 1981. Then in 1982, he recorded it again as Jon Bon Jovi and The All Star Review. This band included Hugh McDonald on bass…hmm…where have we heard that name before? Oh yeah, he became the bass player for Bon Jovi in 1994 after original bass player Alec John Such left the band. The band also had Tim Pierce on guitar, Frankie LaRocka on drums (cool name) and Roy Bittan on keyboard. However, Mick Seeley actually wrote the keyboard intro for the song. I know Aldo Nova played a little on the album, but not sure exactly if he was on this song or not (BTW, I’m an Aldo fan so that any connection is cool to me).
If you haven’t figured it out, none of the original Bon Jovi band members are actually on this song. And this is the version you hear on the album and the radio. The band would be pieced together after the song started to become a hit on New Jersey radio and Jon needed a band. And the rest is history at that point.
Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Runaway” by Bon Jovi”
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