"Runaway Boys" is the debut single by American

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

band

Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in t ...

, released November 21, 1980, by

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

in the UK, where it peaked at No. 9 on the

Singles Chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

. Its biggest success was in Finland, where it reached number one. The song was later included on the band's 1981 self-titled debut album. Its first US release, by

EMI America EMI America Records was started in 1978 by EMI as a second US label next to Capitol Records. It absorbed Liberty Records in 1984. In the late 1980s, EMI America was consolidated with Manhattan Records to form EMI Manhattan Records, which later ...

, was on the June 1982 album '' Built for Speed''.

Cover versions

"Runaway Boys" was later covered by

Drake Bell Jared Drake Bell (born June 27, 1986) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and musician. Born in Newport Beach, California, he began his career as an actor in the early 1990s at the age of five with his first televised appearance on ''Hom ...

on his 2014 album '' Ready, Steady, Go!'', which was produced by

Brian Setzer Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with ...

Charts

Weekly Charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1980 songs 1980 debut singles Stray Cats songs Number-one singles in Finland Songs written by Brian Setzer Arista Records singles Ariola Records singles