Runaround Sue

Runaround Sue

Dion

Dion explains his emotional ride with a non-committal, non-monogamous woman, and subsequent advice he gives to anyone else that Runaround Sue crosses paths with.

The song was a US chart-topper in October 1961. IT also reached #1 in Canada and New Zealand and peaked at #2 in Australia. Rolling Stone named it one of their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The inspiration behind the song was a girl who lived near Dion who had a bad reputation:

It really is about a girl who was kind of loose in the neighborhood. The word Sue just fit for the song – you couldn’t use Roberta, or Alice, or whatever. I’m not going to mention who it’s really about, but between you and I, the girl called in to an interview show I was on about 20 years ago. She had married a rabbi, had six kids and sounded wonderful! And I thought how good it was to hear from her, you know. Chalk it up to being young and foolish, a lot of young people are, but she turned out wonderful.