I think one of the main reasons a big deal is made out of Run For Your Life is because of John's comments. Then it kind of has turned into this "John repented and so should we" kind of thing. When in actuality there are tons of songs that are arguably much worse that dont seem to get the same reaction of "I just cant stand that song, its so.." My god Joe killed his gf. What about that Delia Johnny Cash sang about? And Neil Young, what exactly did you do down by the river again? There was a thread about this topic awhile back. Or at least fairly related. I posted this: On Sep 27, 1984 at a concert in New Orleans Neil Young says... "I'd like to sing you a song about a guy who had a lot of trouble controlling himself. He let the dark side come thru a little too bright. One afternoon he took a little stroll down thru a field and thru a forest, 'til he could hear the water running along there. And he met his woman down there. And he told her she'd been cheatin' on him one too many times. And he reached down in his pocket and he pulled a little revolver out. Said "honey I hate to do this but you pushed me too far". By the time he got back to town he knew he had to answer to somebody pretty quick. He went back to his house and he sat down on his front porch. About two hours later the sheriff's car pulled up out front. It started sinkin' in on him what he'd done. The sheriff walked up the sidewalk, he said "come with me son, I want to ask you a few questions". As he heard the jail door shut behind him he sat down on a little wooden bench. And he looked out of the door - thru those bars - at this kind of wimpy looking sheriff out there. He started getting mad again and he realized what he had done. There wasn't nothing he could do about it now though. He just sat down and put his head down and he started thinking to himself "I'm all by myself here, there's nobody on my side....." But in 1970..he says this song was about "... blowing your thing with a chick. There is no violence in it." So which is it? Doesnt matter. I would wonder what the origins of the song is. Was he listening to old murder ballads? Im sure he heard a couple. This is a hippy murder ballad imo. Probably in 1970 he was more inclined not to sound all sexist in the middle of the sexual revolution and womens rights to the forefront. Perhaps. In 1984 the country was in a tone of religious conservatism. Plus he was a legend by then and could be more honest. Perhaps. I tend to believe its a murder ballad. That the detail he gives in '84 is exactly what the song is. Murder ballads are traditional. They evoke emotions and pause which tend to turn us inward to examine our own hearts. I dont see "Down By The River" any more sexist than "Tom Dooley" or "Delia". All warning songs and the very depths of evil a man or woman (yes there are women killers also in these songs) can do. Murder ballads dont take a political or social stand. They are narrative in nature. They tell a story. May not be a story one likes, but they dont even offer a moral stance. The songs simply remind and warn us about the nature of mankind. Placing ones ideology or social stance on these songs missed the entire point. Its the evil in mans heart taken to its ultimate level showing despair, confusion and the inner thoughts of a murderer. Its not a defense or in sympathy/empathy to the killer, but made to throw into our faces the depravity of mankind. With "Down By The River" the music is so sweeping and dreamlike nightmare hazey in nature we almost forget the content and get sweeped up in belting out the chorus with Neil. Thus becoming the killer ourselves in a sense. Its a helluva trick he pulled off to stand an entire audience in a killers shoes. And we sing it with glee, a smile on our faces and fists pumping. Though we may not think we are capable of such things, Neil takes us into the emotional subconscious experience about as far as one can go in song. Those that enjoy the song, that is. Its a great song. The best of murder ballads." Now of course its a stretch to call "Run For Your Life" a murder ballad, but still I think one can see that there is more than one way to take a song. And what it may symbolize. And what times and change do to our understanding of a song. One thing about Texas is that there are many colloqualisms. Stuff you say. And Im sure other parts of the world do also. If I were to place myself in the shoes of the guy in "Run For Your Life" it would be in a similar feel of if I were sitting down with a gf and we were talking about what would happen if one or the other cheated. She would probably say "Id chop your...off" lol...and maybe Id say "If I catch you there...youd better run for your life" ...Do I mean that? No. Id be hurt. But its a weird little way of saying "Dont do that to me. I love you so much it would tear me apart. Dont cheat on me" To me that is what the song feels like a bit of a aggressive humorous look from a bf to a gf.
Anyone remember "Baby, Let's Play House"? Surely I'm not the only one. It's an ode to Elvis and early rock of the Beatles youth.
That is a GREAT idea for AILH. I’ve always loved that single tracked vocal. It’s so much more intimate.
And there are some people who aren't going to like anything regardless. After five remixes, the majority of the time it's the same people who are doing the naysaying. It's getting old...
Sure; and at the time more people certainly got the reference. But the 50s were a different world from 1966, which was immediately on the horizon and which would soon spawn the summer of "love."
Human beings can do some really horrible things. This is not a revelation, surely. Run for Your Life reflects that. I'm sure lots of guys would get 'rage' if they caught their girl with another man and vice versa. You can read about it in the newspapers, everyday. I feel the song is a great album closer. Great vocal sound from John.
Not a revolver story but...... I had a friend over for T-giving dinner. He said he worked for capital records in the 1960s doing grunt work. He was working at the distribution center when the yesterday and today fiasco happened and shortly they received tens of thousands of unopened butcher albums back into the warehouse. His job was to slit open each one, pull the album out and put it in the new cover. Someone else would reseal. Then the old album covers were burnt. He said Capital had a lot of controls around the process and it was impossible to sneak out an old cover. Imagine getting a few hundred of those covers to safety. I asked if they pasted new covers on old covers and he said not in the warehouse he worked in.
Well said. This kind of material is in Shakespeare, the ancient Greek tragedians, even the Bible. And everywhere else for that matter. The old caveat applies: If you don't like it, don't read/watch/listen to it.
Rain (Take 5 – Slowed down for master tape) https://youtu.be/RhndH5-aWvY John's double-tracked vocals are panned to left and right separately on this. I think only one of them is used in the certain parts of the song in the official mixes. This is my breakdown, 1st verse: right channel vocal 2nd verse: right channel vocal 1st chorus: left channel vocal 3rd verse: left channel vocal 2nd chorus: left channel vocal 4th verse: left channel vocal I hope someone could check this.
Did Giles make that decision or did the AI decide to do that? Also why were the cymbal crashes lowered in the new mix?
If the slow number "In My Life" is the better closer as you have been trying to push for, George Martin and the Beatles themselves would have made it the closing track of the album. As we have mentioned many times already, the Beatles always The fact that George Martin and the Beatles themselves did not choose the slow number "In My Life" as the album closer is proof that it's not the kind of song they wanted to close the album.
I’m enjoying an LP rip of the remix. It sounds lovely on headphones. I’m looking forward to the Rubber Soul remix.
But there were many songs of a similar nature which came after Run For Your Life and they don't get the same sort of flack (someone already mentioned Hey Joe, although there are loads of them; rock and roll and other genres are full of such sentiments - it's par for the course).
Spliting the two lead guitars in stereo is up to the remixer. Why were the cymbals lowered in the remix? I have no clue. That's a question for Giles Martin.
I'm not familiar with Audacity. I use Samplitude and I can see it on its mixer's EQ section spectogram.
It’s an album that elicits strong emotions. Look at how you felt you had to announce that, all these many pages later, as if I was supposed to care. And, perversely, you accidentally reinforce my point in a conversation that had started about how hasty judgements are so very often misjudgements.
They made some somewhat strange choices in this regard. 'Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby' and ' Dizzy Miss Lizzy' are two more poor album closers.
Or countless Stones tunes: Midnight Rambler, Under My Thumb, Brown Sugar. I’m not sure why we expect the Beatles, a rock band, to be choirboys in their lyrics. I’m very progressive politically, but we’re just talking about songs here. And Maxwell fatally bludgeoned more people with his silver hammer than the protagonist of Run For Your Life ever threatened to kill.
On the question of ETTBMB, I'm with those who suggest that the better track listing for Beatles For Sale is to reverse sides one and two. It does provide a more enjoyable playing order.
John quoted a line from "Baby, Let's Play House" - built a song around it, really - and life went on. Four years later, he adapted a line from "You Can't Catch Me" and the legal repercussions reverberated for years. The band certainly struggled with album closers after "Twist and Shout." Maybe they figured the template had been set to end with a rocking cover (with the exception of "I'll Be Back," which I believe - with no supporting evidence - was chosen because "I'll Be Back" is something you might say on your way out the door). Closing Help! with "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," which slows before the final crash, inadvertently had the sonic effect of a door closing on the first era of the band. They'd never make a serious effort at recording a cover song again. (They noodled a number of oldies during the Get Back sessions while they were desperately short of new material, but those weren't dedicated attempts to lay down masters.)