Run to You (Bryan Adams song)

"Run to You" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. It was released in 1984 as the lead single from his fourth album, Reckless (1984). The track deals with the subject of infidelity, and is sung from the perspective of a man who declares that he will continue to "run to" his seductive mistress over his faithful partner; critic Ira Robbins for CMJ called it a "cheating classic".[1] In the accompanying music video, however, Adams portrays his guitar as the object of desire.[2]

"Run to You"
Single by Bryan Adams
from the album Reckless
B-side"I'm Ready"
Released18 October 1984
Recorded
Genre
Length3:53
LabelA&M
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Bryan Adams singles chronology
"This Time"
(1983)
"Run to You"
(1984)
"Somebody"
(1985)
Music video
"Run to You" on YouTube

The song topped the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart and peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has appeared on all of his compilation albums. The single was certified Gold in Canada in 1985. The song was also featured in the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the fictional in-game radio station "Flash FM".[3]

Writing and recording

After a tour in Asia, Adams started the recording for Reckless.[4] The recording for "Run to You" started on 27 March 1984 at Little Mountain Sound, Vancouver, Canada and continued through the summer.[4] It was mixed on 21 September 1984 in New York by Jim Vallance.[4] The song, written 10 January 1983, became the last song written for Reckless.[4] Adams and Vallance originally wrote the song for Blue Öyster Cult, but the group turned it down.[5]

Release and reception

"Run to You" was released worldwide on 18 October 1984 and became one of the most successful songs from Reckless on the American rock charts and arguably one of Bryan Adams's most recognizable and popular songs.[4] It was his first number one song on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart, a position it held for four weeks, and it spent an additional five weeks at number two (all behind Don Henley's "Boys of Summer"). It also reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.[6] "Run to You" reached the top twenty on the Canadian singles chart and remained there for seven weeks, peaking at number 4. It held the highest Canadian chart position Adams had attained at the time of release and became his third top twenty single in Canada.[7] It was nominated for a Juno award for song of the year in Canada. "Run to You" was released the following month in Ireland and peaked at number 8 and reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. It was his second single to chart in Europe.[8][9]

Stewart Mason from AllMusic said "Run to You" was the first of the album's six top 30 hits, and in retrospect, "one of the weakest of the lot. Although the song has a thundering chorus, the kind that sounds truly excellent blasting through FM speakers, there is quite literally not much else to the song: of the song's nearly four-minute length, over half of the song is devoted to repeats of the chorus and an unimaginative instrumental breakdown that leads into a seemingly endless vamp on the chorus to fade."[10] The long instrumental is indicative of the theme of the music video where the protagonist is serenading his guitar as the object of his affection.

In 1984 the song was promoted heavily in an episode of the NBC sitcom Double Trouble.

Music video

The music video was shot in London, England and later Los Angeles.[11] Directed by Steve Barron, it was nominated for the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards in five different categories: Best Direction, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography. While the song didn't win any of the awards, it has received more MTV Video Music Award nominations than any other of Adams's songs.[12] The English actress Lysette Anthony appears in the video.

Personnel

Chart positions

Chart (1984) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[13] 24
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[14] 19
Canada Top Singles (RPM) 4
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[15] 14
Ireland (IRMA)[16] 8
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[17] 14
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[18] 11
US Billboard Hot 100 6
US Billboard Top Rock Tracks 1
Year-end chart (1985)Rank
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[19] 66

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[20] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[21] Silver 200,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

Rage version

"Run to You"
Single by Rage
from the album Saviour
Released19 October 1992
Recorded1992
GenreDance
Length3:41
LabelIntercord
Songwriter(s)
  • Jim Vallance
  • Bryan Adams
Producer(s)
  • Barry Leng
  • Duncan Hannant
Rage singles chronology
"Run to You"
(1992)
"Why Don't You"
(1993)

The first notable cover recording was released as a single by English urban dance act Rage (known as En-Rage in some European countries) in 1992. This version did not meet with the same critical acclaim as Adams' version, but, after having failed to chart when released the first time in May 1992, the single gained an unexpected boost in popularity due to controversy in the UK music media about the band's name: they shared their name with a German heavy metal band who had been recording under the same since 1984. After changing their name to En-Rage in some European countries to avoid legal action from the German band, they re-released the single six months later, and this time it peaked at number 3 in the UK (eight places higher than the Bryan Adams version) in November 1992.[22]

Track listings

CD-maxi

  1. "Run to You" (7") – 3:41
  2. "Run to You" (Instrumental) – 3:57
  3. "Run to You (12") – 5:43
  4. "Ease the Pain" (Full) – 5:02

Charts

Cover versions and media appearances

"Run to You" has been covered by numerous artists. The second was an alternative rock version by Lou Barlow on the 1993 extended play album, Lou Barlow and Friends: Another Collection of Home Recordings. A German band named Novaspace covered "Run to You" on their 2003 album, Cubes which was heavily inspired by dance and pop music. The Japanese rock band Nil covered "Run to You" on their 2004 cover album The Covering Inferno. The Norwegian hard rock singer and songwriter Jørn Lande covered "Run to You" on his cover album Unlocking the Past on the Japanese edition of the album. In 2009 U.K. girl band Bananarama released their own version as a digital pre-order only to their album Viva. Finnish metal band Sonata Arctica covered the song on their 2016 album The Ninth Hour.

The song appears on Flash FM radio station in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

It has been mashed up with Metallica's "Enter Sandman" on YouTube.[39]

Canadian rock bands Arkells and The Reason covered the song together at both Edgefest and the Festival of Friends.

References

  1. Robbins, Ira (January 1999). "Bryan Adams". CMJ New Music Monthly. CMJ Holdings, Corp. (65): 58.
  2. Eddy, Chuck (September 17, 2014). "100 Best Singles of 1984". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  3. "CRIA Certifications". Canadian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  4. "Album notes for Anthology by Dave Marsh (CD booklet). A&M Records (A&M 5613)". 2005-10-18.
  5. Tunis, Walter (13 January 2009). "Around the world with Bryan Adams". Malaysia Star. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  6. "Artist Chart History (singles) - Bryan Adams". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  7. "Bryan Adams - Canadian Album Chart". RPM. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  8. "Bryan Adams". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  9. "Irish Album Chart". irish-charts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  10. "Run to You". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  11. "The Life Of Bryan" (in Danish). -skolarbete.nu. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  12. "Rock On The Net: Bryan Adams". Rock On The Net. 1986-09-05. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  13. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 12. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and 19 June 1988.
  14. "Ultratop.be – Bryan Adams – Run to You" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  15. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Bryan Adams" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  16. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Run to You". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  17. "Charts.nz – Bryan Adams – Run to You". Top 40 Singles.
  18. "Official Charts > Bryan Adams". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
  19. "1985 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 97 no. 52. December 28, 1985. p. T-21.
  20. "Canadian single certifications – Bryan Adams – Run to You". Music Canada.
  21. "British single certifications – Bryan Adams – Run To You". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Run To You in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  22. "Official Charts > Rage". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
  23. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  24. "Austriancharts.at – En-Rage – Run to You" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  25. "Ultratop.be – Rage [Dance] – Run to You" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  26. "Top RPM Dance/Urban: Issue 1766." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  27. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9 no. 47. 21 November 1992. p. 23. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  28. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  29. "Offiziellecharts.de – En-Rage – Run to You". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  30. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 52, 1992" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  31. "Dutchcharts.nl – Rage [Dance] – Run to You" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  32. "Swedishcharts.com – Rage [Dance] – Run to You". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  33. "Swisscharts.com – En-Rage – Run to You". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  34. "Rage Chart History (Bubbling Under Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  35. "Jaaroverzichten 1993" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  36. "The RPM Top 50 Dance Tracks of 1993". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  37. "1993 Year-End Sales Charts" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10 no. 51/52. 18 December 1993. p. 15. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  38. "Top 100 Singles–Jahrescharts 1993" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  39. "Enter You (Bryan Adams vs Metallica Mashup) by Wax Audio". Retrieved 18 April 2012.
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