Dion topped the charts with a song bemoaning a girl's inability to commit and followed it up with a song celebrating the same quality in a guy. Dion DiMucci wrote 'Runaround Sue' with Ernie Maresca and recorded in 1961 with vocal group The Del-Satins performing the backing hook. Dion says: "It came about by partying in a schoolyard. We were jamming, hitting tops of boxes. I gave everyone parts like the horn parts we'd hear in the Apollo Theater and it became a jam that we kept up for forty five minutes. I came up with all kinds of stuff. But when I actually wrote the song and brought it into the studio to record it, well, her name wasn't actually Sue. It was about, you know, some girl who loved to be worshipped but as soon as you want a commitment and express your love for her, she's gone. So the song was a reaction to that kind of woman."
Here’s my story it’s sad but true
It’s about a girl that I once knew
She took my love then ran around
With every single guy in town.
Hep hep
Bumda hedy hedy, hep hep
Bumda hedy hedy, hep hep
Bumda hedy hep hep.
Ah, I should have known it from the very start,
This girl will leave me with a broken heart.
Now listen people what I'm telling you
A-keep away from-a Runaround Sue.
I miss her lips and the smile on her face,
The touch of her hair and this girl's warm embrace.
So if you don't wanna cry like I do
A-keep away from-a Runaround Sue.
Ah, she likes to travel around,
She'll love you but she'll put you down.
Now people let me put you wise,
Sue goes out with other guys.
Here's the moral and the story from the guy who knows,
I fell in love and my love still grows.
Ask any fool that she ever knew, they'll say
Keep away from-a Runaround Sue.
Ernie Maresca wrote 'The Wanderer' for Nino and the Ebbtides; but, when they passed on it, Dion was given the song as a B-side for his follow-up single, 'The Majestic'. It was recorded with The Del-Satins on vocals and Bobby Keys on saxophone. Disk Jockeys preferred the B-side and so did the public. It went to number ten in the UK, number two in the US, and number one in Australia. Dion says: "At its roots, it's more than meets the eye. 'The Wanderer' is black music filtered through an Italian neighborhood that comes out with an attitude. It's my perception of a lot of songs like 'I'm A Man' by Bo Diddley or 'Hoochie Coochie Man' by Muddy Waters. But you know, 'The Wanderer' is really a sad song. A lot of guys don't understand that. Bruce Springsteen was the only guy who accurately expressed what that song was about. It's "I roam from town to town and go through life without a care, I'm as happy as a clown with my two fists of iron, but I'm going nowhere." In the fifties, you didn't get that dark. It sounds like a lot of fun but it's about going nowhere. However, on Maresca's original demo of the song, the lyrics were 'with my two fists of iron and my bottle of beer', and the change to 'with my two fists of iron but I'm going nowhere' in fact seems to have been at the record company's insistence."
Oh well, I'm the type of guy who will never settle down
Where pretty girls are well, you know that I'm around
I kiss 'em and I love 'em 'cause to me they're all the same
I hug 'em and I squeeze 'em they don't even know my name
They call me the wanderer
Yeah, the wanderer
I roam around, around, around
Oh well, there's Flo on my left and there's Mary on my right
And Janie is the girl with that I'll be with tonight
And when she asks me, which one I love the best?
I tear open my shirt I got Rosie on my chest
'Cause I'm the wanderer
Yeah, the wanderer
I roam around, around, around
Oh well, I roam from town to town
I go through life without a care
And I'm as happy as a clown
I with my two fists of iron and I'm going nowhere
I'm the type of guy that likes to roam around
I'm never in one place, I roam from town to town
And when I find myself fallin' for some girl
I hop right into that car of mine and ride around the world
Yeah I'm the wanderer
Yeah, the wanderer
I roam around, around, around
Oh yeah, I'm the type of guy that likes to roam around
I'm never in one place, I roam from town to town
And when I find myself a-fallin' for some girl
I hop right into that car of mine and drive around the world
Yeah, 'cause I'm a wanderer
Yeah, a wanderer
I roam around, around, around
'Cause I'm a wanderer
Yeah, a wanderer
I roam around, around, around
'Cause I'm a wanderer
Yeah, a wanderer
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