Run Like Hell
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- For the video game "RLH: Run Like Hell", see RLH
| "Run Like Hell" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Single by Pink Floyd | ||
| from the album The Wall | ||
| B-side(s) | Don't Leave Me Now (Holland, Sweden and some US releases) Comfortably Numb (Later US releases) | |
| Released | 1980 | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | April-November, 1979 | |
| Genre | Art rock/Progressive rock | |
| Length | 4:19 | |
| Label | Harvest Records (UK) Columbia Records (US)/Capitol Records (US) | |
| Writer(s) | Gilmour/Waters | |
| Producer(s) | Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour and Roger Waters | |
| Chart positions | ||
| ||
| Pink Floyd singles chronology | ||
| Comfortably Numb (1980) | Run Like Hell (1980) | When the Tigers Broke Free (1982) <tr><th style="background: #ffff00; text-align: center;" colspan="3">The Wall Track Listing</th></tr>
<tr><td style="valign: top; text-align: center;" width="33%">In the Flesh |
"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 fascist and turns a concert audience into a hate mob. He sends the mob out to raid nearby neighborhoods that are full of minorities.
The song was written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour (one of the three songs on The Wall for which Gilmour wrote music), and the lyrics were by Waters too. The song is sung by Waters, but it sounds as if two people are singing because different lines come from different speakers. In the concert version of The Wall, it was sometimes introduced by Waters as "Run Like Fuck!" and Waters and Gilmour sang the different lines (and following Waters' departure from Pink Floyd, was sung by Gilmour and touring bassist Guy Pratt.) The song features the only keyboard solo on The Wall; 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.
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[edit] Reference
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
[edit] Film version
Pink sends his Nazi followers on poor, helpless people. 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.
[edit] Concert version
Roger Waters introduced a giant inflated pig, that floated above the stage during the performance of the song. Also, in the 1990 Berlin staging, an even bigger pig stood on the top of the wall. Also, at the beginning of the song on the live Is There Anybody Out There? performances, Waters addresses the audience in a rather rude fashion, saying things like "Are there any weak people in the audience? Pathetic!".
[edit] Personnel
- David Gilmour — guitars, bass, percussion, backing vocals
- Nick Mason — drums
- Roger Waters — vocals
- Richard Wright — synthesizer
- James Guthrie — percussion
- Bobbye Hall — percussion
[edit] References
- Fitch, Vernon. The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (3rd edition), 2005. ISBN 1-894959-24-8
