Log In
Register
Read the original blog post
8.02pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline
Sorry if this is a repeat topic – I did a search on it first and found no others.
Since I found this site a few months ago, I haven't seen very much love for the song Run For Your Life . I've even seen posts referring to it as the weakest song on Rubber Soul .
As one who really likes this song, I was wondering why it is not very well liked. Don't get me wrong, if you don't like it, that's cool – we all have different tastes – just curious. Do the lyrics offend you? Do you not like the musical arrangements? Did your pet goldfish die at the precise moment this song was on the radio?
I would also like to hear from those who do like it and why. Can't wait to see the responses.
To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
8.07pm
26 June 2010
Offline I like the song alot and the song is just about 
being a jelous guy and also i like the song because the instuments are very well done and john singing was very good to
I've got a hole in my pocket!
8.26pm
1 May 2010
Offline
Well the lyrics fit perfectly to an abusive boyfriend if you think about it.
Do I hate it? No, I think the music is good. Does it give me the creeps? Not really. Maxwell's does. Would I like that my pet to dedicated it to me? Not at all, that would be the end of our relationship.
Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……
Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…
Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.
Beware of Darkness…
8.32pm
27 March 2010
Offline I like it! It's real-ish. 
Maybe the backup vocals during the chorus are a little too much for my taste, but it's a respectable song. It's not my favorite, but it's an okay song.
I'm in love, but I'm lazy.
10.10pm
14 December 2009
Offline
I don't hate “Run For Your Life “, even though it's my least favourite “Rubber Soul ” track – with the possible exception of “What Goes On ” (like I said on that thread that Zig alluded to!) It's got a nice husky vocal and some exquisite shimmering guitars (slide & acoustic). My only real beef is that it's not “Norwegian Wood ” or “If I Needed Someone ” or “In My Life ” or “Drive My Car ” or etc.; and that it was chosen to close the album, which just makes it all the more anticlimactic. “Twist And Shout “, “Tomorrow Never Knows “, “A Day In The Life “, “The End “: THAT'S how you close an album! Not with a song that Lennon himself called a total throwaway. (Which is pretty irrelevent, of course, considering how John was always disparaging his own songs, including ones that everyone else considered exceptional.) “Wait “, to me, feels like a more logical finish, even if only because “Wait ” itself has an actual ending – “I've…been…a-lone…” and those mournful volume-pedal swells – whereas “Run For Your Life ” just artificially and indifferently fades out. (Now that I think of it, I believe “Hard Day's Night” is the only other Beatles album to end with a fade. OK, “Pepper” has the chord-that-never-ends, but you know what I mean.)
And I think the lyrics are basically a non-issue, and I'm puzzled by how perturbed some people react to them – like there aren't already 8500 other songs about threatening (or committing!) murder-for-love. Maybe it's those lyrics in tandem with the lightheartedness of the music?
(Damn, I've been writing some longwinded-ass posts today! Good thing it's a slow day at work.)
The following people thank Von Bontee for this post:
Oudis, MarthaPaul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
10.12pm
27 February 2010
Offline RFYL is a good song, good arrangement and finely played, but the lyrics is too much violent.
I'd like to say "thank you" on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition.
John Lennon
10.28pm
9 June 2010
Offline 
Listening to it makes me want to vomit. Sorry, I'm just kind of sensitive in that way and don't like listening to songs about how the singer is going to kill his girlfriend out of jealousy. 
If I seem to act unkind, it's only me, it's not my mind that is confusing things.
10.34pm
1 May 2010
Offline I like the song alot, I think it is far better than Wait or If I Needed Someone . I just think that John was so good on Rubber Soul that he threw this one in just to see what he could get away with, and his voice is so good on this song that he does get away with the rather threatening lyrics. It's a good one, George liked it.
I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine
12.02am
4 September 2009
Offline Personally I like the song. But I do agree it was a weak way to finish a great LP
Look Up The Number
12.25am
4 April 2010
Offline If I ever sang that to my girlfriend she would slap me.
"The best band? The Beatles. The most overrated band? The Beatles."
12.30am
13 February 2010
Offline The song reminds me too much of my jealous ex-boyfriend.
So, yeah, I don't like it very much.
Thursday night your stockings needed mending.
12.32am
21 August 2009
Offline I personally like the Lennon-bite. 
His songs all have that, I suppose, “handmade” feel, and this song is no exception- it's definetely a John kind of song. People may find the lyrics a little disturbing, but as far as we know, it seems very true to character. We know he was a very Jealous Guy (see 1971) and he was prone to get into some tussles.
I don't know, I like the gruffness of the vocal and the musical arrangement. All's all right in my book.
Tongue, lose thy light. Moon, take thy flight… see ya, George!
1.51am
17 June 2010
Offline Well I think that it's a love hate relationship with me and that song. I dont like it because John
didnt like it. Then again George
did like it. And i think the musical arragement is actually pretty good. But then again I dont like the lyrics. I'm sooo conflicted 
Rap music is just computerized crap. - George Harrison
12.24pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline There are some very interesting takes on this song – thanks to all who responded so far.
I get the sense that those who oppose – even slightly – do so because of the lyrics. Maybe if it was titled Run to my Arms with more 'Beatley' lyrics it would have been more widely accepted. I don't blame anyone for being put off by the lyrics.
The debate over whether or not it should have closed the album is an interesting one (great point, Von and c64wood). Another possibility would have been to swap the order of the last 2 tracks. RFYL at 13 and If I Needed Someone at 14. Then again, who am I to argue with 
.
As far as John not liking the song or calling it a throwaway – there are tons of songs he claimed he did not like after the fact. If you want a laugh, type the word throwaway into the search engine at the top of this page – you will get 3 pages of results (not just John's songs, but others' as well)!!!
Another interesting tidbit from the album – there is another thread in the forum regarding John not being able to make up his mind (contradictions). How does one go from “In my life, I love you more” to “You better Run For Your Life “?
Ah, such is Lennon.
Thanks again, everyone. I really enjoy seeing the varied opinions.
To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
2.29am
9 June 2010
Offline But if “If I Needed Someone ” was track 14, I wouldn't be able to safely avoid the song I most despise with an LP. I'd have to turn the volume down and wait.
Maybe if it was in the third person, it would fit into the “Maxwell” category. 
If I seem to act unkind, it's only me, it's not my mind that is confusing things.
3.38am
1 May 2010
Offline Zig said:
There are some very interesting takes on this song – thanks to all who responded so far.
The debate over whether or not it should have closed the album is an interesting one (great point, Von and c64wood). Another possibility would have been to swap the order of the last 2 tracks. RFYL at 13 and If I Needed Someone at 14. Then again, who am I to argue with
.
After reading that's a poor choice for RFYLG closing the album I checked the other “closing” songs and yeah I agree with them. If I Needed Someone looks as a better choice.
Anyway I wonder if that song were release today, would the Beatles get away with it? I think they would.. after all nobody complained with Britney Spears and her “Baby hit me one more time”.
Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……
Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…
Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.
Beware of Darkness…
10.19am
1 April 2010
Offline I don't mean to sound daft but…why do I not have “Run For Your Life ?”
My album ends with “If I Needed Someone ,” but I distinctly remember my mum's original LP from the 60s ending with “Run For Your Life ” when I used to steal it to play for myself around 2003. I think that's when I bought the CD, which after being ripped to my Mac has a “[UK]” after it on iTunes. And to complicate matters further, I just looked into it a bit on Joe's site and my mum's original isn't the folky American junk it seems with “I've Just Seen A Face” on it. I'd imagine it's the import.
I'm confused.
Do what you want to do, and go where you're going to…
2.57pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline OK, I think I found a way to make everyone happy. This is by no means my favorite song (not even in the top 10) but I do like the music a lot. For those of you who like the music but don't like the lyrics, I've cheered them up somewhat. Ah one, ah two, ah one two three four!
Well I'd rather see (RAINBOWS!), little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know (FUZZY SOCKS!)
You better (BUTTERFLIES!) if you can, little girl
(UNICORNS!) in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the (KITTENS!) little girl
Well you know that I'm a (PUPPIES!) guy
And I was born with a (DAISIES!) mind
And I can't spend my whole life
Trying just to make you (BUBBLE BATH!)
You better (WALK ON THE BEACH!) if you can, little girl
(CHOCOLATE!) in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the (PONIES!) little girl
Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said
Baby, I'm determined
And I'd rather see you (IN A LOVING LONG TERM RELATIONSHIP!)
You better run for your (LAMBS!) if you can, little girl
(BABY CHICKS!) in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the (BUNNIES!) little girl
I'd rather see (PIGLETS!), little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know (SMILEY FACE!)
You better (ICE CREAM CONE!) if you can, little girl
(PANDA BEAR!) in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the (WARM TOAST!) little girl
Na, na, na
Na, na, na
Na, na, na
Na, na, na
The following people thank Zig for this post:
Oudis, meanmistermustard, Bulldog, Merch, MarthaTo the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
1 Guest(s)