Run-Away
Encyclopedia
"Run-Away" is a song by Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...

 and the second single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 taken from their 2007 album, Hey Venus!
Hey Venus!
Hey Venus! is the eighth album by Welsh band Super Furry Animals. It was released on 27 August 2007 in the United Kingdom. Hey Venus! is the band's first full-length release on current label Rough Trade Records and, at just over 36 minutes, is also their shortest-running studio release...

. The song is an homage to the 'Wall of Sound
Wall of Sound
The Wall of Sound is a music production technique for pop and rock music recordings developed by record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California, during the early 1960s...

' production made famous by Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....

, particularly in his work with 1960's girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

s.

"Run-Away" received many positive reviews from critics who variously described it as "absolutely timeless stuff", "outstanding" and "up there with the most finely polished weapons in the SFA armoury". The track's Phil Spector-leanings were also commented on by numerous journalists. A "spooky", "tongue-in-cheek" video was produced for the song directed by Richard Ayoade
Richard Ayoade
Richard Ellef Ayoade is a British comedian, actor, writer and director best known for his role as Maurice Moss in The IT Crowd.Ayoade was born an only child to a Norwegian mother, Dagny , and a Nigerian father, Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade. Ayoade studied at St...

 and starring his Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace is a British dark comedy show made for Channel 4 by Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade. Following on from Garth Marenghi's Netherhead, which won the 2001 Perrier Awards, the show revolves around fictional horror author Garth Marenghi and his publisher Dean Learner...

 and The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six episode radio series, it has since spawned a total of twenty television episodes for BBC Three and two live tours of the UK, as well as two live shows in the...

 co-star Matt Berry
Matt Berry
Matthew Charles "Matt" Berry is an English actor, writer, comedian and musician. Berry is perhaps best known for his appearances in The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and The Mighty Boosh; he also had his own series, Snuff Box...

.

Origins and recording

In an interview with Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, as well as its mix tapes generator.-History:Originally called Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven and...

 in January 2008 Gruff Rhys
Gruff Rhys
Gruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...

 admitted that "Run-Away" owed much to Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....

-type 'Wall of Sound
Wall of Sound
The Wall of Sound is a music production technique for pop and rock music recordings developed by record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California, during the early 1960s...

' production: "The drumbeat is definitely a nod to that. We started collecting a lot of old 7-inch singles recently. Cian
Cian Ciaran
Cian Ciaran is the keyboard player in the band, Super Furry Animals.Ciaran is the brother of Dafydd Ieuan . He plays keyboards, electronics and occasional guitar, drums, steel drum and vocals...

 got heavy into doo-wop music
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

 and I was getting into late 60s girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

s. "Run-Away" came out of listening to "Be My Baby
Be My Baby
"Be My Baby" is a 1963 single written by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich, performed by The Ronettes and produced by Spector. When released as a single, the song reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles Chart and #4 on the UK's Record Retailer...

" too many times". Guto Pryce
Guto Pryce
Guto Dafydd Pryce is a bass guitar player in the band Super Furry Animals.The name Guto is pronounced in Welsh....

 echoed this sentiment in an interview with Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 website DCist
Gothamist
Gothamist LLC is the operator of eleven city-centric blogs worldwide that focus on news, events, food, culture, and other local coverage.-History:...

 stating that "on "Run Away" that was exactly what we were after, a fuzzy Phil Spector type thing. A dirty, grimy '60s pop song". The track was recorded at Miraval Studios, France along with the rest of Hey Venus!

Musical structure

"Run-Away" is 2 minutes 53 seconds long and is in the key of B major
B major
In music theory, B major is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps....

. The "hook laden" song begins with a spoken word introduction from Gruff ("This song is based on a true story... which would be fine if it wasn't autobiographical") over a B chord
Guitar chord
In music, a guitar chord is a chord, or collection of tones usually sounded together at once, played on a guitar. It can be composed of notes played on adjacent or separate strings or all the strings together...

 playing on the "familiar "dum-de-dum-dum" Phil Spector drum beat" provided by drummer
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 Dafydd Ieuan
Dafydd Ieuan
Dafydd Ieuan is the drummer with the band, Super Furry Animals and The Peth. He currently lives in Cardiff with his wife Debbie, and their two children Cai and Lleucu....

.

Lead guitar embellishments accompany the first verse before the track builds up to its first "falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...

 laden" chorus at 34 seconds. Another verse follows, with additional percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

 backing, during which Rhys mourns "we may have fought with teeth and nails, I still recall your banking details". A short breakdown
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....

 middle 8 leads to a double chorus (the second of which features a key change
Modulation (music)
In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...

 to C-sharp major) before the song breaks down again and ends with Rhys singing "There's nothing that I could have said but cry, a little, lie, a little, die, just a little" over sparse musical backing.

Critical response

"Run-Away" received much praise from reviewers with the Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...

claiming the track to be "absolutely timeless stuff", likening it to Gruff Rhys "swaggering up to the karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...

 and picking out his favourite Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...

 ballad" and the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

 stating that, "with a chorus as big as guitarist Huw Bunford's
Huw Bunford
Huw "Bunf" Bunford is the guitarist in the rock band, Super Furry Animals.-Biography:...

 new serial-killer beard, it's up there with the most finely polished weapons in the SFA armoury". Website Culture Deluxe claimed the track showed the band at "their pop-best" and proved they "could do no wrong" while the Independent on Sunday
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

called "Run-Away" "outstanding".

The Spector-like nature of the track was commented on in several reviews with British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 television station Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 describing "Run-Away" as "Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....

 pop", BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...

 describing the song as "a homage to gun-wielding production oddball Phil Spector", and Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...

 Music in the UK and Ireland stating that the single "welds a killer falsetto chorus to a latterday incarnation of the 'Wall of Sound
Wall of Sound
The Wall of Sound is a music production technique for pop and rock music recordings developed by record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California, during the early 1960s...

'".

Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, as well as its mix tapes generator.-History:Originally called Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven and...

 thought the "rousing and pleasant" song could have "found a home anywhere in or between Fuzzy Logic
Fuzzy Logic (album)
Fuzzy Logic is the debut album by the Super Furry Animals. It was listed in Q Magazine's Best British Albums Ever in July 2004, and in the same magazine's Top 10 Britpop Albums Ever in December 1996 and features in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die...

and 2005's Love Kraft
Love Kraft
Love Kraft is the seventh studio album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 22 August 2005 through Epic Records in the United Kingdom....

" while Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 thought the track's "ostensible real-life origins" would "render "Run-Away" one of the most heart-on-sleeve entries in a catalogue better known for left field classics like "Ice Hockey Hair
Ice Hockey Hair
Ice Hockey Hair is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 1998. The record contains four songs which the band felt did not fit in with either their previous album, 1997's Radiator, or its follow-up Guerrilla. The title track refers to an alternative name for the...

" and "The Man Don't Give a Fuck
The Man Don't Give a Fuck
"The Man Don't Give a Fuck" is a song by Super Furry Animals, twice released as a single by the group.It is based round a sample from the Steely Dan song "Show Biz Kids" - "You know they don't give a fuck about anybody else"...

"". B-sides, the "Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

-influenced" "These Bones" and the "pulsating" "That's What I'm Talking About", were also singled out for praise by the Manchester Evening News. The Chronicle
The Chronicle (Duke University)
The Chronicle is a daily student newspaper at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The Chronicle was first published as The Trinity Chronicle on December 19, 1905. The paper's name was changed to The Chronicle when Trinity College was renamed Duke University following a donation by James...

however, criticised "Run-Away" and previous single "Show Your Hand
Show Your Hand
"Show Your Hand" is a song by Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals and was the first single from their 2007 album, Hey Venus!. The single was made available for download on 16 July 2007 as an iTunes exclusive and was later released in physical formats on 13 August in the UK...

" for sounding "more like the generic pop songs one would find on the radio than those of a historically experimental band".

Accolades

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Iguana Music Spain Best singles 2007 2007 72
NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

United Kingdom Singles of 2007
NME single of the year
Every December, British music magazine NME compiles a list of what it considers the best single or track of the year. It was started in 1975. The list is usually published in one of the issues sold before Christmas – in 2006 it was published in the issue for December 9...

2007 21

Music video

The "tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...

", video for "Run-Away" was directed by Richard Ayoade
Richard Ayoade
Richard Ellef Ayoade is a British comedian, actor, writer and director best known for his role as Maurice Moss in The IT Crowd.Ayoade was born an only child to a Norwegian mother, Dagny , and a Nigerian father, Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade. Ayoade studied at St...

 and features his Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace is a British dark comedy show made for Channel 4 by Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade. Following on from Garth Marenghi's Netherhead, which won the 2001 Perrier Awards, the show revolves around fictional horror author Garth Marenghi and his publisher Dean Learner...

 and The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six episode radio series, it has since spawned a total of twenty television episodes for BBC Three and two live tours of the UK, as well as two live shows in the...

 co-star Matt Berry
Matt Berry
Matthew Charles "Matt" Berry is an English actor, writer, comedian and musician. Berry is perhaps best known for his appearances in The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and The Mighty Boosh; he also had his own series, Snuff Box...

. The video begins with close-ups of Berry driving a vintage car on a moonlit night intercut with shots of a woman in a white dress running through sparse woodland
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

. After 54 seconds Berry abruptly stops his car and the shot changes to show the women in white laid on the road in front of his vehicle. Berry leaves his car and walks over to the women who appears dazed. The next shot features the women resting her head on Berry's shoulder while he drives.

Towards the middle of the video we find the pair sat together at a house party while Berry discusses the women with his friends. Part of this conversation features subtitles, with Berry stating "She can't remember a thing". Immediately afterwards a man in a brown suit and bow tie
Bow tie
The bow tie is a type of men's necktie. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar in a symmetrical manner such that the two opposite ends form loops. Ready-tied bow ties are available, in which the distinctive bow is sewn into shape and the band around the neck incorporates a clip....

 enters, rubbing the back of his head and looking confused. He focuses on the women in the white dress and says "Maria?" to which Berry counters "Who the heck are you?" while 'Maria' bites her lip and looks on guiltily. When the man in the suit states "That's my wife!" Berry gets to his feet and the man promptly punches him in the face. We then cut to shots of Berry running through the same woodland as 'Maria' earlier in the video. After around 20 seconds he looks to his left and is blinded by a light. The next shot shows him laid on the road in front of a car as its driver, a woman in a red coat, rushes to check on him. As the song comes to an end we see the women in red driving her car with Berry resting his head on her shoulder.

Music website Stereogum
Stereogum
Stereogum was one of the first MP3 blogs. It was created by Scott Lapatine in January 2002 with a focus on independent and alternative music news, downloads, videos, and gossip. Stereogum has received several awards and citations, including the 2008 Plug Award for best music blog, Blender's...

 described the video as a "cheeky, soft-focused bit of '80s fun", while British alternative music radio station Xfm
Xfm
Xfm is a brand of two commercial radio stations focused on alternative music, primarily indie pop, and owned by Global Radio.-History:Xfm was created in London in 1992 by Sammy Jacob, who later co-founded NME Radio in 2008. Xfm subsequently expanded to a network of four stations; there are...

 included it in their top ten videos of 2007, calling it "spooky, very tongue-in-cheek and utterly hilarious".

Track listing

All songs by Super Furry Animals.
  • CD (RTRADSCD419)
    1. "Run-Away" – 2:53
    2. "These Bones" – 3:23
    3. "That's What I'm Talking About" – 5:41

  • 7" picture disc (RTRADS419)
    1. "Run-Away" – 2:53
    2. "These Bones" – 3:23

Personnel

  • Gruff Rhys
    Gruff Rhys
    Gruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...

    : Vocals
  • Huw Bunford
    Huw Bunford
    Huw "Bunf" Bunford is the guitarist in the rock band, Super Furry Animals.-Biography:...

    : Guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

  • Guto Pryce
    Guto Pryce
    Guto Dafydd Pryce is a bass guitar player in the band Super Furry Animals.The name Guto is pronounced in Welsh....

    : Bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

  • Cian Ciaran
    Cian Ciaran
    Cian Ciaran is the keyboard player in the band, Super Furry Animals.Ciaran is the brother of Dafydd Ieuan . He plays keyboards, electronics and occasional guitar, drums, steel drum and vocals...

    : keyboards
  • Dafydd Ieuan
    Dafydd Ieuan
    Dafydd Ieuan is the drummer with the band, Super Furry Animals and The Peth. He currently lives in Cardiff with his wife Debbie, and their two children Cai and Lleucu....

    : Drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

  • Kris Jenkins: Percussion
    Percussion instrument
    A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...


Singles chart positions

Chart Peak
position
UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

120

External links

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