Run Like Hell
"Run Like Hell" is a song from the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall.[1][2]
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[edit] Overview
The song is written from the point of view of anti-hero Pink during a hallucination in which he becomes a fascist dictator and turns a concert audience into an angry mob. He sends the mob out to raid nearby neighborhoods that are full of minorities.
The music was written by David Gilmour (one of the three songs on The Wall for which Gilmour wrote music), while the lyrics were written solely by Roger Waters. Waters provides the vocals (except for "Run, Run", in which Gilmour is lead singer). The song features the only keyboard solo on The Wall (although on live performances, "Young Lust" and "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" would also feature keyboard solos); after the last line of lyrics, a synthesiser apparently takes over Waters' singing. Also in the song are the sound of the mob's maniacal laughter, running footsteps, car tyres skidding, and a loud scream. The original single version and promotional EP both contain a clean guitar intro, without the live crowd effects.
[edit] Composition
The bass intro is in D major. This intro is very similar to the bass intro for Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1), while the verses are in E minor.[citation needed] The song's original form was much longer. However, it had to be cut due to time limitations of the vinyl record format.[citation needed] Although the lyrics "run like hell" appear several times in the liner notes, they are never actually heard in the song. Near the end, the same piercing shriek (performed by Waters) can be heard in an almost identical way to that heard at the end of The Happiest Days of Our Lives when segueing into Another Brick in the Wall (Part II).
[edit] Film version
Pink sends his followers to attack those he thinks "ought to be shot". He orders them to raid and destroy the homes of Jewish people and black people. One scene depicts a heterosexual interracial couple cuddling in the back seat of a car when a group of neo-Nazis accost them, beating him and raping her. The song's length is reduced once again, with the second verse being sung over the keyboard solo.
According to some accounts,[who?] The Wall director, Alan Parker, hired real skinheads for the scene and things very nearly went out of control during the scene where they demolish a diner, when they continued their destruction even after Parker called "cut". They also allegedly sexually harassed the actress playing their victim.[citation needed]
The movie version of the song is considerably shorter than the album version. The second guitar refrain between the first and second verses was taken out and replaced by Gilmour and Waters' chants of "Run." The chant now echoes back and forth between the left and right channels. Also, Richard Wright's synth solo was superimposed over the second verse, and the instrumental break between the end of the synth solo and Waters' scream was removed.
[edit] Live versions
[edit] The Wall concerts
During the previous song, "In the Flesh", a giant inflatable pig was released, which Waters refers to in a speech between both songs. The speech given varied slightly on each concert and therefore can be used to identify which show a recording came from. On Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81, the speech is a mix of the 15 June 1981 and 17 June 1981 speeches. It was sometimes introduced by Waters as "Run Like Fuck" and Waters and Gilmour sang different lines.
In Roger Waters' The Wall concert in Berlin in 1990, he made no speech and sang all the lines alone. During the concert in Berlin, Waters didn't play the bass guitar during the song, but during the 1980 tours he played the Gilmour bass line.
[edit] Later tours
Following Waters' departure from Pink Floyd, the song became a regular number in the band's concerts, usually ending the show and going over nine minutes long. One live version was used as the B-side to "On the Turning Away". The song also was the closing track on the live album Delicate Sound of Thunder. Gilmour generally played an extended guitar introduction, sharing vocals with touring bassist Guy Pratt, with Pratt singing Waters' lines. In the 1994 tour, Pratt sometimes sang the name of the city where they were playing instead of the word mother in the line "...they're going to send you back to mother in a cardboard box..." – in the P•U•L•S•E video (live at Earls Court, 1994), he clearly sings London. According to Phil Taylor, David Gilmour played Run Like Hell in a Fender Telecaster guitar tuned to a drop-D, in the 1994 tour.[3]
In addition to performing the song with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has also performed it himself on his 1984 solo tour in support of his About Face album. In Waters' absence, Gilmour would trade lines with bassist Mickey Feat. He also performed the song solo at the Colombian Volcano benefit concert in 1986, trading lines with house-band keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick.
[edit] Personnel
- Roger Waters — vocals, bass guitar, screaming and panting[4]
- David Gilmour — guitars, backwards cymbals, vocals (chorus)[4]
- Nick Mason — drums[4]
- Richard Wright — Prophet-5 synthesiser[4]
- James Guthrie — backwards cymbals, running and panting[4]
- Bobbye Hall — congas and bongos[4]
- Phil Taylor — tire screeching[4]
[edit] Cover versions
- In 2001, the Canadian all-woman heavy metal band Kittie, recorded a cover and was released on their full-length album Oracle. In this version, the singer actually does incorporate the title of the song within the lyrics. "You better run... like hell."
- The Disco Biscuits have covered "Run Like Hell" since 1997.
- Violinist Andrej Kurti and cellist Victor Uzur recorded an instrumental version for their album The Entertainers.[5]
[edit] Popular culture
The opening instrumental part of the song was used as the theme to the Scottish sports show Sportscene for most of the 1980s.
"Run Like Hell" was also used for the introductions of the Seattle SuperSonics during the 1990s and 2000s until their relocation to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Local on the 8s on The Weather Channel sometimes uses this track.
Following 9/11, this song was one of many (including another Pink Floyd song, "Mother") to be included in the Clear Channel memorandum of songs with "questionable lyrics" which were generally not aired by Clear Channel radio stations.
The New York Mets occasionally use this song after a Met steals a base successfully, specifically using the "Run, run, run" pre-verse sections of the song.
[edit] Further reading
- Fitch, Vernon. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition), 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8.
[edit] References
- ^ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
- ^ Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-4301-X.
- ^ Tolinski, Brad (September 1994). "Welcome to the Machines". Guitar World. http://www.pinkfloydfan.net/t11634-phil-taylor-welcome-machines-guitar.html. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb — A History of The Wall 1978–1981, 2006, p. 106.
- ^ Full albums: Pink Floyd's The Wall Pt. 2, Cover Me Songs, 2010.
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