Song ID? 1979-ish Eloping couple/father shoots girl

This is a longshot, but I occasionally remember liking this song when I was young and wish I could figure out what it was.

I have no idea on lyrics or even what style of music it was. I heard the song sometime around 1979-1980, but it might be older than that... a friend had it on a 45, and I'd never heard it on the radio at the time.

The song told a story about a young couple who fall in love, but the girl's father is over-protective and doesn't want her seeing the boy. When they try to elope, the father comes after them with a shotgun and tries to shoot the boy, but the girl throws herself in the way and is killed instead.

I don't suppose this rings any bells?

Run Joey Run (1975)
David Geddes

By the way if you don't mind me saying this was probably one of the most cringe-worthy songs of the 20th century

(Sorry for slow response. I forgot to check back here.)

LOL! Yeah, that was it.

In my defense on the suckiness of the song, I was only in about 3rd grade at the time and my musical experience up to that point had mostly been the likes of Anne Murray, Neil Diamond, and Captain & Tenille. My parents didn't have the best record collection ever. I was also very fond of the song "Sugar Shack" back then, which is another one that ranks high in the running for "worst songs of all time".

Excellent find, Sparkiwi !

Jen526,

You have my sympathies and condolences for your brutal childhood music experiences. I was subjected to some of the worst covers of mediocre C&W songs via a local TV station program my mom watched during breakfast every morning. As a teenager, I made a full therapeutic recovery by repeatedly listening to Black Sabbath’s "Paranoid" album.

atmaster