Run Like Hell

For other uses, seeRun Like Hell (disambiguation).

"Run Like Hell"
SinglebyPink Floyd
from the albumThe Wall
B-side	"Don't Leave Me Now"
Released	April 1980
Recorded	April–November, 1979
Genre	Progressive rock hard rock
Length	4:20(album version) 3:41 (7 "single edit)
Label	Harvest(UK) Columbia(US)
Songwriter(s)	David Gilmour Roger Waters
Producer(s)	Bob Ezrin David Gilmour James Guthrie Roger Waters
Pink Floydsingles chronology
"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" (1979) "Run Like Hell" (1980) "Comfortably Numb" (1980)
Audio sample
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"Run Like Hell"onYouTube

"Run Like Hell"is a song by English progressive bandPink Floyd,written byDavid GilmourandRoger Waters.It appears on the albumThe Wall.It was released as a single in 1980,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 theDisco Top 100chart in the U.S.To date, it is the last original composition written by both Gilmour and Waters, the last of such under the Pink Floyd banner, and the last composition recorded by all four members of the 1970s-era Floyd lineup.

Concept

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

Film adaptation

In thefilm adaptation,Pink directs hisjackbooted thugsto attack the "riff-raff" mentioned in the previous song, in which he ordered them to raid and destroy the homes ofqueers,Jews,andblack people.One scene depicts an interracial couple cuddling in the back seat of a car when a group ofneo-Nazisaccost them, beating the boy andrapingthe girl.

The WalldirectorAlan Parkerhired theTilburySkins, askinheadgang fromEssex,for a scene in which Pink's "hammer guard" (in black, militaristic uniforms designed by the film's animator,Gerald Scarfe) smashes up aPakistani diner;Parker recalled how the action "always seemed to continue long after I had yelled out'Cut!'."

History

The music was written byDavid Gilmour(one of three songs onThe Wallfor which Gilmour is credited as a co-writer), and the lyrics were written byRoger 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 theImmersionbox set ofThe Wall) with the lyrics as on the album, but Waters's music was scrapped in favour of Gilmour's music during the recording of the band demos (which also appear on theImmersionbox set). The song features the only keyboard solo onThe WallbyRichard 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 anostinatowith 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 andPink Floyd The Wall -- Special Radio ConstructionpromotionalEPboth 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.

Gilmour said "Short and Sweet", from hisfirst solo album,was similar to "Run Like Hell", with both songs using drop-D tuning andchords based around a D root.

Composition

After the previous song, "In The Flesh",the crowd continues to chant," Pink! Floyd! Pink! Floyd! "The guitarintrobegins with the scratching of stringsdampenedwithleft-hand muting,before settling on an open D string dampened bypalm muting.As heard earlier on the album in "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1",the muted D is treated with a specificdelaysetting, providing three to four loud but gradually decaying repeats, onedotted-eighth noteapart, with the result that simply playingquarter notes(at 116beats per minute) will produce a strictrhythmof oneeighth notefollowed by twosixteenth notes,with rhythmic echoes overlapping. Over thispedal toneof D, Gilmour plays descendingtriadsinD major(mostly D, A, and G), down to theopen chordposition (a quieter, secondoverdubbedguitar plays open chords only). Some of the guitar tracks are also treated with a heavyflangingeffect.

The verses are inE minor,with pedal tones of the guitar's open E, B, and G strings (a full E minor triad) ringing out over a sequence ofpower chords,resulting in the chords E minor, Fmaj7sus2(♯11), Cmajor seventh,and Bsus4(add♭6). Providing contrast, another guitar, equally treated with delay, plays a low-pitched riff on the roots andminor seventhsof 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.

Aside from theadded tonesin 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 ofThe 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. 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

Billboardfelt 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."In 2017, they ranked the song number two on their list of the 50 greatest Pink Floyd songs.Cash Boxsaid that "David Gilmour’s hard bitten guitar and Roger Water's incessant bass beat set the perfect instrumental mood for the lyrical paranoia."Record Worldsaid that "a barrage of guitar/keyboard waves pound the dance-oriented rock" in this example of "brilliance fromThe Wall."Ultimate Classic Rockcritic 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."

Live performances

Pink Floyd

The Wall Tour

During the previous song, "In the Flesh",agiant inflatable pigwas released, which Waters refers to in a speech between both songs. The speech given varied slightly at each concert and therefore can be used to identify which show a recording came from. OnIs 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, while the vocal quartet of Stan Farber,Jim Haas,Joe Chemay, and John Joyce sang the choral part.

During the song, the "surrogate band" (also referred to, inNick 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 onlyroots,using the lowest possible root indrop D tuning.Waters, meanwhile, plays variations at key moments, playswhole noteswhile singing, and, during the "emptied out" section on D following the synth solo, Waters sometimes improvised high-pitched riffs above Bown's low D.

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 albumDelicate Sound of Thunder.Gilmour generally played an extended guitar introduction, sharing vocals with touring bassistGuy 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 thePulsevideo (live atEarls Court,1994), he sings "London". According to Phil Taylor, David Gilmour played "Run Like Hell" on aFender Telecasterguitar tuned to a drop-D on the 1994 tour.

Roger Waters

In Roger Waters'The Wallconcert inBerlinin 1990, he made no speech and sang all the lines alone. He did not play the bass guitar for this live version.

For Waters'worldwide 2010–2013Walltour,the song wastransposedonewhole stepdown, from D to C.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, Waters clapped to the beat and in some cases shouted, exhorting the audience to clap along and "have a good time, enjoy yourselves". Again, he did not play bass guitar, instead gesturing with a propsubmachine gunat various points.

David Gilmour

In addition to performing the song with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has performed it on his 1984 solo tour in support of hisAbout Facealbum. 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 keyboardistJohn "Rabbit" Bundrick(who later played on Waters' solo album,Amused to Death) and again during his 2015-2016Rattle That Lock Tour,trading lines withGuy Prattas documented on the 2016Live at Pompeiialbum and film,which was also released as the third single to promote the release.

Personnel

• Roger Waters– lead vocal, laughter, screaming, panting
• David Gilmour– guitars, bass guitar, backwards cymbals, backing vocals
• Nick Mason– drums
• Richard Wright–Prophet-5synthesiser

with:

• James Guthrie– backwards cymbals, running, panting
• Bobbye Hall–congas,bongos
• Phil Taylor – tire screeching

Personnel per Fitch and Mahon.

Hired-gun guitaristLee Ritenourwas also brought in "to beef up the sound" by producerBob Ezrin.

Charts

Chart (1980)	Peak position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)	15
West Germany (Official German Charts)	46
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)	30
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)	18
USBillboardHot 100	53

Cover versions

• In 2001, the Canadian all-femalemetalbandKittierecorded a cover which was released on their albumOracle.This version incorporates the title of the song within the lyrics.
• TheDisco Biscuitshave covered "Run Like Hell" live since 1997.
• In 2011, Italian metal bandMastercastlerecorded a cover that was released on their albumLast Desire.
• On 6 March 2019, American heavy metal bandMetallicabassistRobert Trujilloand guitaristKirk Hammettjammed on the song during a concert inKansas City, Missouri.The moment was recorded and uploaded to the band'sYouTubechannel the next day.

Further reading

• Fitch, Vernon; Hawkwind (2005).The Pink Floyd encyclopedia.Burlington, Ont.: Collector's Guide Publishing.ISBN1-894959-24-8.OCLC61717590.