Run Like Hell

"Run Like Hell"
"Run Like Hell"
Song
B-side	"Don't Leave Me Now" (Holland, Sweden and some US releases); "Comfortably Numb" (Later US releases)

"Run Like Hell" is a song on the Pink Floyd album The Wall. It is preceded by "In the Flesh" and is followed by "Waiting for the Worms". The song is from the point of view of anti-hero Pink during a hallucination, in which he becomes a Nazi-like figure and turns a concert audience into a hate 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 by Waters alone. On the record, Roger Waters provided the vocals, though it sounds as if two people are singing because different lines come from different speakers. 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 synthesizer apparently takes over Waters' singing. Also in the song are the sound of Pink's mob's maniacal laughter, running footsteps, car tires skidding and a loud scream. "Run Like Hell" is one of the most recognized and popular songs from The Wall.

This song was originally much longer, however it had to be cut because of the time limitations on the original vinyl record format. Although the lyrics "You better run like Hell" appear several times in the liner notes, they are never actually heard in the song. Near the end, the same eagle-like piercing shriek can be heard, almost identical to that heard during "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" when seguing into "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II," perhaps to share the common theme of protest and uproar, yet in this case an oppressive type.

References

Insofar as the satire of the Nazis portrayed in The Wall goes, Run Like Hell is Waters' skit on Joseph Goebbels statement in 1938. Following the events of Kristallnacht/Krystallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass), in which thousands of Jewish shops and so forth were smashed up (a mock-up of which is played out during the corresponding sequence in the film), Hitler made a public announcement along the lines of, "they said we could never have our Germany...and here we are; with a German press, a German people, and a German way of life..."; Goebbels (his propaganda minister) then violently barked (to any Jews listening, presumably): "You are not like us! You can never be like us! If you think you can, you'd better run!"

- Rob, Bristol, England, one of the comments on SongFacts

Film version

Pink sends his Nazi followers on poor, helpless people. Jewish and black people have their homes raided and their shops destroyed. One scene depicts a racially mixed (he is black, she is white) couple cuddling in the back seat of a car when a group of neo-Nazis accosts them. The man is dragged from the car and beaten while one of the neo-Nazis rips off the woman's clothes and rapes her. (This relates principally to the lyrical segment: "...'cause if they catch you in the backseat trying to pick her locks / they're going to send you back to mother in a cardboard box..."). The song length is reduced once again, with the second verse being sung over the keyboard solo.

Live versions

The Wall concerts

During the previous song, "In the Flesh", a giant inflatable pig was released, which Waters referred to in a speech between both songs. The speech between each concert varied slightly, so this is used to identify which show a recording came from. On Is There Anybody out There? The Wall: Live 1980-1981, the speech is a mix of the June 15, 1981 and June 17, 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 sung all the lines. During the concert in Berlin Waters didn't play the bass however during the 1980 tours he played the Gilmour bass line.

Later tours

Following Waters' departure from Pink Floyd, the song becames a regular number in the band's concerts, usually ending the show. Gilmour played an extended guitar introduction, and it was sung by him and touring bassist Guy Pratt, with Pratt singing Waters' lines. In the 1994 tour, Pratt sometimes sung the name of the city were Floyd was 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, he clearly sings London).

Covers and pop culture

The New York Mets play the "Run, run, run" refrain portion of this song whenever a Met player steals a base successfully.
Floater (band) from Portland, Oregon performs the song during their live acoustic shows.
The song was covered by the all girl alternative metal band Kittie on their 2001 album Oracle.
The Minnesota Swarm of Major League Lacrosse play the main guitar riff of the song during player introductions.
The Weather Channel used an instrumental version of this song in 2006 during the Local Forecasts.
The song was covered on the Echoes of Pink tribute album.
It was used as the theme music for Sportscene for most of the 80

Personnel

Roger Waters - bass guitar, vocals, screaming and panting
David Gilmour - guitars, backwards cymbals
Nick Mason — drums
Richard Wright — prophet-5 synthesizer

James Guthrie — backwards cymbals, running and panting
Bobbye Hall — congas and bongos
Phil Taylor — tire screeching

References

Fitch, Vernon. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition), 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8