1986 Top Ten Songs: She’s a Runaway (#1)

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The book closes on the look back at the music from 1986. Wow, what an amazing year for music. It’s still one of my favorite years for music, and it’s hard to believe that it’s now 40 years back. Time marches on, but the music stays forever. Here’s a track from my favorite 1986 album. #1: She’s a Runaway - BoDeans If you read all that stuff I said in the 1976 discussion about Warren Zevon’s Excitable Boy changing my musical life forever, this is where it led me. The debut BoDeans album, also produced by T-Bone Burnett (like yesterday’s debut Peter Case release), knocked me upside the head. Unlike when the Zevon bug bit, though, I was 26 when this album came out and I could do something about it. What did I do? I traveled all over, seeing this band over 100 times between 1987 (when I saw them open for U2 in Indianapolis) and 1995. (And Robbie Fulks wanted to know where I got it from! ) And, of course, I bought all the albums. If there was a band that seemed doomed to fail no matter now poised for success they were, it was the BoDeans. Their original drummer, Guy Hoffman, left after the first tour in 1986. They had a falling out with their manager, to the point where it resulted in lawsuits. They couldn’t keep a drummer. After 20 years, bassist Bob Griffin left. Then there were allegations of misconduct against co-lead singer/songwriter Sam Lllanas by his bandmate, Kurt Neumann, and that was the end of that. The BoDeans technically still exists as a band, but Neumann is the only original member left. All of that hype and promise never came to fruition. That’s a shame. If you listen to this album in general, and this song in particular, you can hear the greatness. This tune, about a battered spouse who “got beat up one too many times” and shot the abuser then ran from the law (in the context it would be ruled justifiable, if you ask me), shows everything the band had to offer: terrific songwriting, great harmonies, and the very unique vocals of Llanas. If only the hype and the promise could have resulted in something other than one top 40 hit, and one of their worst songs at that (“Closer to Free,” used as the theme song to Party of Five). But that’s the way the music ball bounces. Regardless, I still think this was easily the best album of 1986 in a year loaded with “best albums.” Thanks for reading. She’s a Runaway Written by Sam Llanas and Kurt Neumann Recorded by the BoDeans From Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams, 1986 Everybody’s got a breaking point: