Run Like Hell

Last updated
"Run Like Hell"
RunLikeHell.jpg
Single by Pink Floyd
from the album The Wall
B-side "Don't Leave Me Now"
ReleasedApril 1980
RecordedApril–November, 1979
Genre
Length4:20 (album version)
3:41 (7" single edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Pink Floyd singles chronology
"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"
(1979)		"Run Like Hell"
(1980)		"Comfortably Numb"
(1980)
Audio sample

"Run Like Hell" is a song by English progressive band Pink Floyd, written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters. It appears on the album The Wall . It was released as a single in 1980, [1] [2] reaching #15 in the Canadian singles chart and #18 in Sweden, but it only reached #53 in the U.S. A 12" single of "Run Like Hell," "Don't Leave Me Now" and "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" peaked at #57 on the Disco Top 100 chart in the U.S. [3] To date, it is the last original composition written by both Gilmour and Waters, the last of such under the Pink Floyd banner, and is the last composition ever recorded by all four members of the classic 70s-era Floyd lineup together, within their traditional instrumental roles of Waters on bass, Gilmour on guitars, Nick Mason on drums, and Richard Wright on keyboards, on the same song.

Contents

Concept

The song is written from the narrative point of view of antihero Pink, an alienated and bitter rock star, during a hallucination in which he becomes a fascist dictator and turns a concert audience into an angry mob.

Film adaptation

In the film adaptation, Pink directs his jackbooted thugs to attack the "riff-raff" mentioned in the previous song, in which he ordered them to raid and destroy the homes of queers, Jews, and black people. One scene depicts an interracial couple cuddling in the back seat of a car when a group of neo-Nazis accost them, beating the boy and raping the girl.

The Wall director Alan Parker hired the Tilbury Skins, a skinhead gang from Essex, for a scene in which Pink's "hammer guard" (in black, militaristic uniforms designed by the film's animator, Gerald Scarfe) smashes up a Pakistani diner; Parker recalled how the action "always seemed to continue long after I had yelled out 'Cut!'." [4]

History

The music was solely written by David Gilmour (one of three songs on The Wall for which Gilmour is credited as a co-writer), and the lyrics were written by Roger Waters. Waters provides the vocals (except for Gilmour's multitracked harmonies singing "Run, run, run, run,"). The first version of the song had music written by Waters (which appears on the Immersion box set of The Wall) with the lyrics as on the album but then Waters's music was scrapped in favour of Gilmour's music during the recording of the band demos (which too appears on the Immersion box set). The song features the only keyboard solo on The Wall by Richard Wright (although on live performances, "Young Lust" and "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" would also feature keyboard solos); after the last line of lyrics, a synthesizer solo is played over the verse sequence, in place of vocals. Following the solo, the arrangement "empties out" and becomes sparse, with the guitar only playing an ostinato with rhythmic echoes, and brief variations every other bar. Sound effects are used to create a sense of paranoia, with the sound of cruel laughter, running footsteps, car tyres skidding, and a loud scream. The original 7" single version and Pink Floyd The Wall -- Special Radio Construction promotional EP both contain a clean guitar intro, without the live crowd effects. The EP version also contains an extended, 32-beat intro and an extended 64-beat outro where David Gilmour's main guitar phrase repeats before the track ends. [5]

As with "Comfortably Numb", also from The Wall, the music to "Run Like Hell" has its roots in Gilmour's first solo album. "Short and Sweet" can be seen as this song's precursor. "Yes," Gilmour told Musician magazine, "it's a guitar with the bottom string tuned down to a D, and thrashing around on the chord shapes over a D root. Which is the same in both [songs]. [Smiling] It's part of my musical repertoire, yes." [6]

Composition

After the previous song, "In The Flesh", the crowd continues to chant, "Pink! Floyd! Pink! Floyd!" The guitar intro begins with the scratching of strings dampened with left-hand muting, before settling on an open D string dampened by palm muting. As heard earlier on the album in "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1", the muted D is treated with a specific delay setting, providing three to four loud but gradually decaying repeats, one dotted-eighth note apart, with the result that simply playing quarter notes (at 116 beats per minute) will produce a strict rhythm of one eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes, with rhythmic echoes overlapping. Over this pedal tone of D, Gilmour plays descending triads in D major (mostly D, A, and G), down to the open chord position (a quieter, second overdubbed guitar plays open chords only). Some of the guitar tracks are also treated with a heavy flanging effect.

The verses are in E minor, with pedal tones of the guitar's open E, B, and G strings (a full E minor triad) ringing out over a sequence of power chords, resulting in the chords E minor, Fmaj7sus2(♯11), C major seventh, and Bsus4(add♭6). Providing contrast, another guitar, equally treated with delay, plays a low-pitched riff on the roots and minor sevenths of each chord, although the E♭ (minor seventh of F) and B♭ (minor seventh of C) do not match the sustaining open E and B strings an octave above. [7] [8]

Aside from the added tones in each chord, the basic verse sequence of E minor, F major, E minor, C major, and B major is reprised later in "The Trial", the conceptual climax of The Wall. However, David Gilmour is not credited as a co-writer of "The Trial", which is credited to Waters and producer Bob Ezrin.

Before the final riff ends the song, a piercing shriek by Roger Waters can be heard, not unlike one heard between "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" and "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2". At the conclusion of the song, the crowd begins chanting, "Hammer! Hammer!" as the sound of soldiers marching is heard before segueing into the next song, "Waiting for the Worms".

Film version

The movie version of the song is considerably shorter than the album version, likely done for the sake of pacing. The second guitar refrain between the first and second verses was taken out, with the verse's last line, "You better run", leading directly to Gilmour's harmonized chant ("Run, run, run, run"), which now echoed back and forth between the left and right channels. Also, Richard Wright's synth solo was superimposed over the second verse, and the long instrumental break between the end of the synth solo and Waters' scream was removed.

Reception

Billboard felt that the lyrics were not as "biting" as Pink Floyd's previous single "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2," but stated that "it's the driving, dance-oriented, percussion-filled rhythm which makes the song come alive." [9] In 2017, they ranked the song number two on their list of the 50 greatest Pink Floyd songs. [10] Cash Box said that "David Gilmour’s hard bitten guitar and Roger Water's incessant bass beat set the perfect instrumental mood for the lyrical paranoia." [11] Record World said that "a barrage of guitar/keyboard waves pound the dance-oriented rock" in this example of "brilliance from The Wall." [12] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Michael Gallucci rated it as the 7th best Roger Waters song with Pink Floyd, calling it "a paranoid and drug-fueled riff on the dangers of stardom and its parallels with fascism." [13]

Live performances

Pink Floyd

The Wall Tour

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 alternating lines in the verses, while the vocal quartet of Stan Farber, Jim Haas, Joe Chemay, and John Joyce sang the choruses.

During the song, the "surrogate band" (also referred to, in Nick Mason's book, as the "shadow band") are onstage with the Pink Floyd members and their quartet of singers. Both Andy Bown and Roger Waters play bass on this song. Bown plays the bass exactly as it was recorded—four quarter notes per bar, playing only roots, using the lowest possible root in drop D tuning. Waters, meanwhile, plays variations at key moments, plays whole notes while singing, and, during the "emptied out" section on D following the synth solo, Waters sometimes improvised high-pitched riffs above Bown's low D. [14]

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 Pulse video (live at Earls Court, 1994), he clearly sings London. According to Phil Taylor, David Gilmour played Run Like Hell on a Fender Telecaster guitar tuned to a drop-D on the 1994 tour. [15]

Roger Waters

In Roger Waters' The Wall concert in Berlin in 1990, he made no speech and sang all the lines alone. He didn't play the bass guitar for this live version.

For Waters' worldwide 2010–2013 Wall tour, the song was transposed one whole step down, from D to C. [16] This is commonly done in live performances when a singer has difficulty reaching the highest notes in the song's original key. During the intro of the song, Waters clapped to the beat and in some cases shouted, exhorting the audience to clap along and "have a good time, enjoy yourselves", which might be considered ironic, given the paranoid tone of the actual lyrics. Again, he did not play bass guitar, instead gesturing with a prop submachine gun at various points throughout the song.

David Gilmour

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 bass guitarist 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 (who would later play on Waters' solo album, Amused to Death ) and again during his 2015-2016 Rattle That Lock Tour, trading lines with Guy Pratt. Gilmour also performed the song in 2016 in Live At Pompeii. [17]

Personnel

with:

Personnel per Fitch and Mahon. [18]

Hired-gun guitarist Lee Ritenour was also brought in "to beef up the sound" by producer Bob Ezrin. [19]

Charts

Chart (1980)Peak
position
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [20] 15
West Germany (Official German Charts) [21] 46
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [22] 30
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [23] 18
US Billboard Hot 100 [24] 53

Cover versions

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shine On You Crazy Diamond</span> 1975 composition by Pink Floyd

"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a nine-part Pink Floyd composition written by David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright, which was first performed on Pink Floyd's 1974 French tour and appeared in Pink Floyd's 1975 concept album Wish You Were Here. The song is written about and dedicated to founder member Syd Barrett, who departed from the band in 1968 after dealing with mental problems and substance abuse.

"Echoes" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, and the sixth and last track on their 1971 album Meddle. It is 23+1⁄2 minutes long and takes up the entire second side of the original LP. The track evolved from a variety of different musical themes and ideas, including instrumental passages and studio effects, resulting in the side-long piece. The music, credited to all the band, was mainly written by Richard Wright and David Gilmour, while Roger Waters' lyrics addressed themes of human communication and empathy, which he returned to in later work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comfortably Numb</span> 1980 single by Pink Floyd

"Comfortably Numb" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on their eleventh studio album, The Wall (1979). It was released as a single in 1980, with "Hey You" as the B-side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Money (Pink Floyd song)</span> Song by Pink Floyd

"Money" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd from their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon. Written by Roger Waters, it opened side two of the original album. Released as a single, it became the band's first hit in the United States, reaching number 10 in Cash Box magazine and number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time (Pink Floyd song)</span> 1973 song by Pink Floyd

"Time" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd. It is included as the fourth track on their eighth album The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) and was released as a single in the United States. With lyrics written by bassist Roger Waters, guitarist David Gilmour shares lead vocals with keyboardist Richard Wright.

"The Trial" is a track from Pink Floyd's 1979 rock opera/concept album The Wall. Written by Roger Waters and Bob Ezrin, it marks the climax of the album and film.

"In the Flesh?" and "In the Flesh" are two songs by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on their 1979 album, The Wall. "In the Flesh?" is the opening track, and introduces the story concept of the album. "In the Flesh" is the twenty-first song of the album, and is a reprise of the first with a choir, different verses and more extended instrumentation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pigs (Three Different Ones)</span> 1977 promotional single by Pink Floyd

"Pigs (Three Different Ones)" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals. In the album's three parts, "Dogs", "Pigs" and "Sheep", pigs represent the people whom Roger Waters considers to be at the top of the social ladder, the ones with wealth and power; they also manipulate the rest of society and encourage them to be viciously competitive and cut-throat, so the pigs can remain powerful.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welcome to the Machine</span> Song by Pink Floyd

"Welcome to the Machine" is the second song on Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here. It features heavily processed vocals, layers of synthesizers, acoustic guitars as well as a wide range of tape effects. Both the music and lyrics were written by bassist Roger Waters.

"The Thin Ice" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd. it is the second track on their 1979 album The Wall.

"Mother" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd. It appeared on their 1979 album The Wall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don't Leave Me Now (Pink Floyd song)</span> 1979 single by Pink Floyd

"Don't Leave Me Now" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd. It appears on The Wall album (1979) and was released as a B-side on the single of "Run Like Hell". A 12" single of "Run Like Hell," "Don't Leave Me Now" and "Another Brick in the Wall " peaked at #57 on the Disco Top 100 chart in the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hey You (Pink Floyd song)</span> 1979 single by Pink Floyd

"Hey You" is a power ballad by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on their 1979 double album The Wall. It also appeared as the B-side to the "Comfortably Numb" single in 1980. The song, along with "The Show Must Go On", was edited out of Pink Floyd – The Wall to prevent the film from running too long; however, a rough version is available as an extra on the 25th Anniversary Edition DVD of The Wall.

"Waiting for the Worms" is a song from the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. It is preceded by "Run Like Hell" and followed by "Stop".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dogs (Pink Floyd song)</span> 1977 song by Pink Floyd

"Dogs" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on the album Animals in 1977. This song was one of several to be considered for the band's 2001 compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Us and Them (song)</span> 1974 single by Pink Floyd

"Us and Them" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd, from their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon. The music was written by Richard Wright and Roger Waters with lyrics also by Waters. It is sung by David Gilmour, with harmonies by Wright. The song is 7 minutes and 49 seconds, the longest on the album.

"Breathe" (sometimes called "Breathe (In the Air)") is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd. It appears on their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon.

"The Show Must Go On" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, from their 1979 album The Wall. It was written by Roger Waters and sung by David Gilmour.

"Astronomy Domine" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd. The song, written and composed by the original vocalist/guitarist Syd Barrett, is the opening track on their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). The lead vocal was sung by Barrett and the keyboard player Richard Wright. Its working title was "Astronomy Dominé ". Domine is a word frequently used in Gregorian chants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Wall Live (2010–2013)</span> 2010–13 concert tour by Roger Waters

The Wall Live was a worldwide concert tour by Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd. The tour is the first time the Pink Floyd album The Wall has been performed in its entirety by the band or any of its former members since Waters performed the album live in Berlin 21 July 1990. The first leg of the tour grossed in North America over $89.5 million from 56 concerts. It was the second-highest-grossing concert tour in North America in 2010 and the third-highest-grossing concert tour worldwide as of 2013. In 2013, the tour held the record for being the highest-grossing tour for a solo musician, surpassing the previous record holder, Madonna. It is currently the 7th highest-grossing tour of all-time.

References

  1. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN   1-84195-551-5.
  2. ↑ Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN   0-7119-4301-X.
  3. ↑ "Disco Top 100". Billboard . Vol. 92, no. 27. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1980-07-05. p. 60. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  4. ↑ Schaffner, Nicholas (1991). Saucerful of Secrets (First ed.). Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN   978-0-283-06127-1.
  5. ↑ Yawnick, Marty (2016-04-10). "Rebuilding "Run Like Hell - Finding the Missing Minute". The Wall Complete. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  6. ↑ Resnicoff, Matt (August 1992). "Careful With That Axe". Musician . pp. 54–62. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  7. ↑ Guitar World magazine, Volume 20, Number 3, March 2000
  8. ↑ Floyd, Pink (February 2011). Guitar tab anthology (Authentic guitar tab ed.). Van Nuys, CA: Alfred Music Pub. Co. ISBN   978-0739076835.
  9. ↑ "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. May 3, 1980. p. 55. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  10. ↑ Unterberger, Andrew (August 4, 2017). "The 50 Greatest Pink Floyd Songs: Critic's Picks". Billboard . Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  11. ↑ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. May 3, 1980. p. 20. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  12. ↑ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. May 3, 1980. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
  13. ↑ Gallucci, Michael (6 September 2015). "Top 10 Pink Floyd Roger Waters songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  14. ↑ Video on YouTube [ dead link ]
  15. ↑ Tolinski, Brad (September 1994). "Welcome to the Machines". Guitar World. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  16. ↑ roger waters the wall in the flesh & run like hell live Paris 2013 France on YouTube
  17. ↑ David Gilmour (2017-09-29), David Gilmour - Run Like Hell (Live at Pompeii 2016) , retrieved 2018-02-25[ dead YouTube link ]
  18. ↑ Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, Comfortably Numb — A History of The Wall 1978–1981, 2006, p. 106.
  19. ↑ Blake, Mark (2008). Comfortably numb : the inside story of Pink Floyd. Cambridge, MA: Thunder's Mouth. ISBN   978-1-56858-383-9. OCLC   154699292.
  20. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 7835a." RPM . Library and Archives Canada.
  21. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Pink Floyd – Run Like Hell" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  22. ↑ "Pink Floyd – Run Like Hell". Top 40 Singles.
  23. ↑ "Pink Floyd – Run Like Hell". Singles Top 100.
  24. ↑ "Pink Floyd Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  25. ↑ "Mastercastle Last Desire". Lion Music Records. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
  26. ↑ "Metallica: Rob and Kirk's Doodle (Kansas City, MO - March 6, 2019)". YouTube . 7 March 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 9 Jul 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.