Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 12 October 1965
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 3 December 1965 (UK), 6 December 1965 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Paul McCartney: harmony vocals, bass
George Harrison: harmony vocals, lead guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine
Available on:
Rubber Soul
The song with which The Beatles began the Rubber Soul sessions, John Lennon's Run For Your Life was based around a line from an Elvis Presley song.
Baby, Let's Play House, recorded by Presley in 1955, had been written the previous year by a 28-year-old songwriter called Arthur Gunter. It was loosely based upon I Want To Play House With You, a 1951 country and western hit for Eddy Arnold, written by Cy Coben.
Now listen to me baby
Try to understand
I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
Now babyCome back, baby, come
Come back, baby come
Come back, baby
I wanna play house with you
Arthur Gunter
Gunter's song was a fairly straightforward statement of desire. Lennon, meanwhile, took the words and turned them into a menacing threat full of possessiveness and jealousy.
I never liked Run For Your Life, because it was a song I just knocked off. It was inspired from – this is a very vague connection – from Baby Let's Play House. There was a line on it – I used to like specific lines from songs – 'I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man' – so I wrote it around that but I didn't think it was that important.
Rolling Stone, 1970
Lennon later expressed his dislike of the song, saying he "always hated" Run For Your Life. In 1973 he described it as his "least favourite Beatles song", although he did claim that it was one of George Harrison's favourites.
Just a sort of throwaway song of mine that I never thought much of, but it was always a favourite of George's.It has a line from an old Presley song: "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man" is a line from an old blues song that Presley did once.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
The lyrics recall Lennon's previous excursions into misogyny, I'll Cry Instead and You Can't Do That, both from A Hard Day's Night.
John was always on the run, running for his life. He was married; whereas none of my songs would have 'catch you with another man'. It was never a concern of mine, at all, because I had a girlfriend and I would go with other girls; it was a perfectly open relationship so I wasn't as worried about that as John was. A bit of a macho song.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
In the studio
Run For Your Life was recorded on 12 October 1965, the first session for the Rubber Soul album. After four incomplete attempts they recorded the backing track on the fifth take.
Onto this they overdubbed tambourine, acoustic guitar, electric guitars and backing vocals. The session took four and a half hours from start to finish.
Basic Track:
1) acoustic guitar (John), electric guitar (George), bass (Paul),
snare drum and tambourine (Ringo)
Overdubs:
2) lead vocal by John, harmony vocals by Paul and George
3) additional backing vocals by John, Paul and George
4) electric guitars (George, lead for breaks and first ending; John, rhythm; both play on the duet and coda)
Hey, I don’t think you’re totally correct here. John didn’t play any electric guitar. They did a straight take with John on the acoustic, and George did all of the overdubs.
Also, did Ringo just hit the snare? I find that hard to believe that he wasn’t on the high-hat or bass drum at all. The drums are just so low in the mix that it sounds only like the snare is being played.
The content of this song may be pretty nasty, but it’s pretty well recorded and features some great guitar work and vocals. Interestingly, George has the high harmony and falsetto.
A little note Martin must have liked it.under his production he believed in starting an album with a strong song and ending with something hard to follow.its a fact he was quoted in sessions.ie a day I. A life
For once, I agree with John’s criticism of his own work. If not for this song, “Rubber Soul” would be a perfect album. The previous song, “Wait,” which (IMO) was the second weakest song on the album, is twice as good as this song…
I agree. Not of my favorites either. I tolerate. Such an odd song at the tail of such a groundbreaking album. I guess what “Run For Your Life” does is kind of lighten up a rather introspective album. It’s there, we’re Beatles fans, and we just learn to live with it! =)
I would have thought that George Martin could have convinced John that this bit of misogyny was not a particularly good thing to broadcast to the world.
“Run For Your Life” I really dig, maybe it’s the tambourine and guitar solo but it somehow really hits me home.
“Wait” I like for its harmonies and maracas. The tambourine just makes it better. I also like the way George uses a volume pedal on it, much like on Yes It Is or I Need You. I don’t know how anyone could dislike it.
To me, Rubber Soul doesn’t have any bad songs. Maybe You Won’t See Me, but I really like Paul’s vocals and the harmonies. And the bassline.
What Goes On isn’t that great but George has some nice Perkins licks on it so I dig it anyways. The harmonies are great too.
I feel like once in a while John would just come up with a song to see what he could get away with…and his voice is so good on this song that they definately get away with the rather malicious lyrics. Is this a weak song? Absolutely not, but compared with the rest of Rubber Soul? I guess it’s not the worst thing to be the “worst” song on the tightest sounding album of all time.
Oh but that is the pure beauty of their music. They, especially John, would just throw whatever they could out in the studio. Prime examples; Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/ The End – Wild Honey Pie – Benefit of Mr. Kite – Dig It – there’s too many to name.
I find myself playing some of their songs to realize they aren’t really even “songs” in the traditional sense.
They had something really special that no one else has ever been able to replicate, and why would you?
Such a creepy song. The lyrics always make me think of old blues songs, but even more overt and aggressive.
enjoyed Johns singing, song writting ect but would not for anything in the world have wanted to be married to the man. i think this song hit a little to close to home and maybe that is why he hated it later on.
I heard a rumor at a record fair that this song and Norwegian Wood were part of a group of 5 or 6 songs in the same vein that were either never recorded or just not released. They all got cut except Run for Your Life and Norwegian Wood, which made it onto Rubber Soul. People were saying it was a whole weird series of songs by John that had really possessive lyrics, mostly about his wife. Also, supposedly John didn’t want these songs on Rubber Soul, but George really pushed for them, because he really liked the way they turned out. Does anyone have any more info on this, like song titles, or where I could find copies of these songs or any information at all? I love Norwegian Wood and Run for Your Life and would like to hear more like them. Thanks!!!
For anyone that’s interested, I found part of an answer. On the German import of the Live at the BBC recordings the songs ‘Set Free’ and ‘The Good Doctor’ are two of the songs that were supposedly to be on the unreleased album that was scrapped. They’re listed as ‘previously unreleased,’ along with ‘I Got to Find my Baby’ and ‘Honey Don’t.’ I’m dying to hear these songs, but the record is a little out of my price range. Does anyone know where I can LEGALLY download this BBC import version as mp3s? I’m not interested in any shady websites, but I don’t see them listed on iTunes. Help! Otherwise, I’ll just keep searching record fairs and Ebay.
Horrible song. I tolerated it until I realised that Lennon probably would have done this to Cynthia if she cheated
People often cite “Tomorrow Never Knows” as the song that The Beatles used to fully cut ties with their ‘jelly babies’ songs of Beatlemania and it was just that. But just as that was the last track of ‘Revolver’ and left listeners in awe, “Run For Your Life” served up the same level of shock to fans eight months earlier. If you juxtapose songs like “All My Loving”, “And I Love Her”, or “I Should Have Known Better” against this song – the difference is clearly night and day. 1963 – “Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you” 1965 – “Baby I’m determined and I’d rather see you dead” Equally as jaw-dropping at the time as the final piano chord of “A Day In The Life” many months later.
From the opening chord on AHDN to the ending piano cord on ADITL the progression is amazing.
I like that connection.
This is one of my favorites. It’s underrated – get over the lyrics as poetry and enjoy the song as a great piece of folk-rock Beatles music!
I agree with Matt. An underrated song. I lot of people dislike it because John, in one of his passive moods, said he hated it. He liked it well enough at one point to deliver one of his finest vocals. Many rock songs have the same sentiment. You never hear anyone complain about “Hey Joe” where the guy actually killed the girl. If you asked John at another time he probably would have said it was his favorite song on Rubber Soul.
The music is great and the lyrics are awesome. I don´t want to be misogyn, but sometimes women hurt us so much, and it was John´s case and my case too, so I don´t understand why you hate the song. Very underrated in my opinion
I’m trying to think about if listening to this song in the wake of my 2.5 years relationship ending and her now dating someone 13 years younger than her is cathartic or am I tapping into something that I shouldn’t be messing with? I listen to it over and over in my truck, turning it up each time. When I was a little boy, I LOVED this song for the beat and the vocals. Now, that I’m heartbroken that she is choosing not to marry me and take up with a Brazilian guy, I’m hurting. Let’s just say that. John you were wrong, this is a great song.
I’m amazed at the amount of people disliking the song (or even hating it) for its lyrical subject.
I think it’s a great song, the lyrics perfectly match the mind of a jealous man (and I well know this).
It reminds me very much of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer in that you’re singing along to it and all of a sudden you listen to the words and you’re like, “Whaaaa..?” I don’t think it’s necessarily a malicious song — but I was thinking maybe it was written by someone like Johnny Cash and the Beatles reworked it into a an entirely different tempo/interpretation. Perhaps Johnny Cash did his own version?
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer was about a serial killer…
Am I the only one who hears a homosexual meaning in this song: “I would rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man….
Yes William, I think you are alone.
Actually, JR, I’m with William. It is grammatically flawed, and actually says that, given a choice between being “with another man” and seeing “her dead,” he’d prefer the latter. For the likely intended meaning, it should be “I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to SEE YOU with another man.”
The songs don’t all have to be noble and elevated. This song is good because its honest. Although John, or the character whom John is speaking through in this song, would most likely NOT kill his love interest, the words are effective because it blatantly states whats going through his mind, rather than censoring it to be more reasonable.
John captures the frantic, jealous, passion the speaker feels by giving an honest stream of consciousness.
I believe that John always kind of considered this song somewhat of a throwaway. I think that the reason why he said he “hated” it is because of 2 reasons; 1–He lifted a line from “Baby Let’s Play House” for the lyrics, and 2–The arrangement is very much in a rockabilly-type vein, which they were very well-versed in, being admirers if Carl Perkins. Not that that’s a bad thing, but the music was not a stretch for them circa late-1965, it was old hat by then, not too ground breaking. That being said, I’ve still always liked the song. I’ve always felt that it would’ve sounded more at home on “Beatles For Sale”.
Kate… No, Johnny Cash never did a version of this song, although it would be right up his alley (I’m a huge Cash fan/collector also). Cash once stated that he always thought “I’m A Loser” sounded like a Johnny Cash song…
Agree. This song is insanely underrated. I’m not sure how someone couldn’t like this song. It’s definitely not the worst song on Rubber Soul, which is Michelle.
Michelle is the worst song on Rubber Soul? You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but you may be very much alone in it. My guess is that you don’t speak French or play guitar. Or sing. Or love.
I would say that What Goes On is by far the worst. Ringo’s songs always aren’t that great. His best song is With A Little Help From My Friends
I think I agree with many of the seemingly incompatible opinions previously expressed:
1. It is a bit creepy
2. It seems retro compared to the rest of RS. More in tune with “You Can’t Do That” and “I’ll Cry Instead” both lyrically and musically.
Yet I really like it. I like especially the line “that’s the end-duh” in the choruses.
IMO RS is one of the Beatles’ very best albums and this song doesn’t spoil it for me. It’s sort of like being hit with a bucket full of cold water after a bunch of more comfortable stuff.
I’d like to correct on the info regarding the writer of “Baby, Let’s Playhouse”. The writer of the song was Arthur Gunter not Richard Gunther. Thanks.
Thanks Paul. I’ve corrected it now.
James Farrell,are you sure that the line is “that’s the end-uh little girl? my brother and I have had dozens of discussions on this topic.after carefully listening numerous times,we are of the opinion that the line is actually “catch you with another man, that’s the end OF little girl”. we both love this songand place it on our unofficial list of stalker anthems, just above The Police’s ” Every Breath You Take”. It is also lots of fun to sing 🙂
I never thought of that possibility…
It’s “end-uh.”
I’m in complete agreeement with John about “Run For Your Life”. It might be the least adventurous and most formulaic song that Lennon ever wrote. It’s pretty easy to see why George liked the song – it’s rock-a-billy Carl Perkins-style and George really liked that kind of stuff. But lyrically and musically, the song is very ordinary. A commenter above suggested that the song is better suited to the “Beatles For Sale” album. It might even have worked on “Help”. But on Rubber Soul, “Run For Your Life” is sorely out of place. It kinda reminds me of “Tight A$” from the Mind Games album too, which seemed as if Lennon and the session musicians had a lot of fun recording. I don’t get that impression of “Run For Your Life” at all, despite the many similarities between the two songs.
Just one more little note…I used to write songs sometimes. My songs can’t even begin to compare with the Lennon/McCartney catalog, but I have written three or four that are fairly good. One of them, a song called “No Explanation” would have been a perfect fit on the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band record. But Lennon didn’t write it – I did. I’ve also written some very mediocre songs and a couple of really bad ones too. So I can appreciate John’s lack of pride in “RFYL”. It’s one of the weakest songs he ever wrote.
I’ve been listening to both RS and Revolver a lot over the last year, and have recently come to the conclusion that RS is an alcohol album, and Revolver is a pot album. So the misogynistic and violent tone of ‘Run’ fits in perfectly with the behavior of an alcoholic. It really shouldn’t be on the album at all, but it is, and it does fit in a bizarre way.
Rubber Soul: pot and alcohol
Revolver: acid, pot, and alcohol
Both: genius and imagination
Ever since the mids 80’s me and my friends have called “pot” Rubber Soul because that’s when we thought The Beatles started smoking pot. I always figured Revolver as a Pot and Acid album. But they were not always on drugs I bet.
I can live with the lyrics. My bigger concern is that Lennon ripped off a line from a young songwriter who died in his late 40s. And the songwriter Arthur Gunter lived until the late 1970s.
Why the hate? It’s a rocking little song, the “end-uh” is brilliant, the guitar-work is to die for. You can’t help but love hearing John Lennon describe himself as “a wicked guy”. “Hide your head in the sand” is textbook signature Beatles absurdism. “Let this be a sermon”: signature Beatles religious-themes-hidden-beneath-the-surface. Judge the Beatles by what they did, not necessarily what they said, and what they DID is, they purposely chose this as the outro to their amazing Rubber Soul album. John Lennon says he hated it? Yeah, and I know a certain girl in the sky who toootally had nothing to do with drugs!
As for the negative content of the lyrics: I’d say this song is less negative than the same album’s “If I Needed Someone”. “Run for your life” doesn’t hide anything, it comes right out with the threatening lyrics, which in some sense makes it harmless. “If I Needed Someone”, by contrast, oozes with hidden passive aggression beneath a positive-looking mask. The latter is by far the more ‘hurtful’ song. “Run for your life” is ‘negative’ in the sense of friends punching each other playfully on the arm.
“Run For Your Life” is on my list of unsung Beatles songs. I agree with the comments praising the vocal harmonies and driving folk-rock (or even rockabilly) arrangement. The dark lyrics, dealing with possessive and potentially homicidal jealousy, seem to foreshadow similar songs that Elvis Costello would write in the late ‘seventies. While the words are disturbing, they have artistic merit. This is a cautionary tale, told in the first person, of they type of monster that insane jealousy can create.
We usually associate The Beatles with love songs and positive feelings. But what’s wrong with a little anger? And which Beatle better able to convey that emotion than John. Better to sing about it than actually do it.
And that is George doing that high falsetto? Really? Listen to how high pitched “catch you with another man and that’s the end, little girl” goes. Wow.
The guitar licks are pretty darn good, too.
Sandie Shaw put out a single called “Run” in 1966. The lyrics could easily be interpreted as the same story as “Run For Your Life” from the girl’s point of view:
As the winds blows through the trees,
it sometimes seems to whispers he is calling me
Then when the rain drops falls on the ground it seems it’s him following me
I don’t stop to see if he’s behind me
I just keep on going he must never find me
He thinks I still belong to him
So I must run
Why assume that the first-person singular in the lyric means that this is a direct transmission to the listener of John Lennon’s own stance towards the women in his life? It seems to me that he’s “in character” here, portraying the kind of man that far too many women fall in love with and then have good cause to regret it. Perhaps he himself *was* that kind of man when he was younger (he seems to have thought he was), but he must have been recollecting this here from the viewpoint of greater emotional maturity if not exactly tranquillity.
The fact that his characterisation is delivered with powerful conviction is simply evidence that Lennon was a fine vocalist (as, for example, Frank Sinatra was) rather than someone who, in his private life, wholeheartedly identified with the explicit message of the song. (Sinatra was actually a good deal less tender in real life than he seems to be in song.)
Lennon probably had to dissociate himself from the song later on, lest he should incur Yoko’s feminist displeasure. It is quite likely that she would have made a facile equation between the surface sentiments of the lyric and the deeper attitudes and dispositions of its singer.
This song, to me, was the last stand of the old moptop Beatles. Everything after this was the more mature, evolving, experimental Beatles.
The John haters up Macca’s backside just drag an example like this out to pile on…THEY TAKE THEMSELVES SO ‘EFFING SERIOUSLY(!) (One-of) the most tangible elements of John’s kinetic instinctiveness and uniqueness as an artist was: HE PUT EVERY RAW EMOTION OF WHAT HE FELT INTO WHAT HE WROTE.
THAT *is* the MOST HONEST way an artist can be. Yeah, there probably was an undertone to Run For Your Life related to John’s (now) well-documented turbulent marriage to Cynthia (combined-with: 1965 being his self-loathing, “Fat Elvis Period”)…HOWEVER: listen closely to stuff all the way back through to, for instance, YOU CAN’T DO THAT and — his SAME kind of snide (BRILLIANTLY ENGLISH) sarcasm is THERE TOO! Another example on RS, though more inocuous, is the line from GIRL: “Will she still believe it when he’s dead?” (after describing the plight of a guy earning all the money…WHILE HIS WIFE ENJOYS LIVING IN THE LAP OF LUXURY YET HENPICKS HIM FOR HIS IMPERFECTIONS). That’s pure “biography” of John taking aim at Cynthia over something they were fighting about at the time (Norwegian Wood, on the other hand, is the “guilt trip” of trying to apologize for it…just like the stuff as early as: When I Get Home; I’m a Loser; Anytime at All; etc. was).
I love the screaming, somewhat-phasey and sloppy guitar sound of Run For Your Life! It’s a rollicking “roadhouse”-type song. I DON’T hear Paul singing anywhere on it. The choruses sound like John and George into the same microphone (George’s thin, throaty voice CLEARLY is the one saying “little girl” at the end of each chorus).
I just love :^( how the sanctimonious do-gooders today (cheating and bullying EVERYONE for THEIR EGOS) get so anal about this song because THEY’RE AFRAID OF NOT BEING “PC”. Most of them play guitar in the basement of their mother’s house and are brain dead from sniffing glue!
…speaking of sanctimony…
What about the super-sly replacement of the word “I won’t know where I am” in the first verse with “YOU won’t know where I am” for the final verse? Totally spine-chilling and effective IMO.
Always enjoyed this at the end of Rubber Soul. A strong finish.
I’m curious why no one seems to call attention to the apparent homophobia (or grammatical faux pas) of this song’s first line: “I’d rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man.” It actually says that if he had to choose between having a gay sexual encounter (“be with another man”) and witnessing the death of his partner (“see you dead”), he’d prefer the latter. Sounds like some serious homophobia on John’s part (although it was really Arthur Gunter who penned that dreadful lyric originally).
He probably meant to say “I’d rather see you dead little girl than TO SEE you with another man,” but he didn’t.