Teen Angel Mark Dinning Written by Jean Dinning and Red Surrey. This song is a teenage tragedy song written by Jean Dinning and her husband, Red Surrey, and performed by both Jean's brother, Mark Dinning, and Alex Murray in 1959. As a one-hit wonder for Dinning, it reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (February 1960) and number thirty-seven in the UK Singles Chart (even though it was banned from being played by the BBC). The song is about a girl who is out on a ride with her boyfriend. The car is stalled on a railroad track but he pulls her out to safety. But when she runs back, a train hits the car, killing her. When they find her body, the narrator's high school class ring is in her hand, apparently the reason that she ran back. Despite the gloomy subject matter, the song set off a string of pop tunes in which someone, usually a female teenage love interest, dies tragically. Moody River, which we feature in the JTHS Jukebox, comes to mind. "Tell Laura I Love Her", "Last Kiss," "Leader of the Pack," and "Ode to Billy Joe" are just a few successive songs of this genre.