The Kinks - Album by Album (song by song)

It's really interesting to me that I have tended to focus on Ray's lyrics, but he is generally a great lyricist.... not exclusively by any means, I'm a lyrics guy...

But what I noticed about this track, after doing the write up, which is why I did my little add on at the end, this isn't particularly a great lyric, but it's a great song.... I guess a sort of sum is greater than the parts scenario

 

Runaway From Time - This is fairly middling to my ears. Funny that he uses the Chrissie “ “time the avenger “ line and the Velvet’s “run, run, run” bit. Generic but I can’t fault Ray for a little filler.

 

Run Away From Time - I always liked the tune and vibe of this one enough to not catch on to the fact that the song itself is kind of meh. Ray's done better but he's also done worse.

 

Ditto!

 

You'd fall under Bobby's Keyes!

 

A nice change of pace and a decent if lesser song. This album is proving to be stronger than I remembered it.

 

Run Away From Time

It seems several of us are a bit undecided to run away or toward this one.
I do think it's actually growing on me but it is a slow process.
I perhaps prefer some of guitar tone and licks from the live version but feel either way Ray tried for a lot of mileage with these lyrics but was a tad short of gas.
As for people singing run, run etcetera in their songs i can think of The Who, Aerosmith and a very undistinguished Clapton cut i won't title.

 

Interesting split with the opinions today. What I consider one of the stand outs on the disc is seen by others as average at best. To each their own…and that is fine. Perhaps the simplicity of it all has led many to marginalize it…but I like simplicity. It’s why I prefer basic 12 bar 50’s rock with their non-challenging lyrics over 70’s art rock prog. “Run Away From Time” doesn’t channel 50’s rock, of course, but something more along the line of 60’s/70’s pop rock…which is when Ray did his best work, IMO. My god, what an ear worm of a song. Great melody. Those hummable hooks. Did I mention I consider it one of Other People’s Lives stand out moments?

 

Yea, I'm blaming me...
It's funny that when we started looking at the Kinks "songs", as we progressed I got more and more drawn into Ray's lyrics as I guess I never really considered what a great lyricist he was/is, and often I'm overlooking the song, to some degree....
This is a great song, with average lyrics

 

Run Away From Time

Yes, it’s a simple song, more filler than a centerpiece, but it’s so catchy and Ray is in fine vocal form to my ears. I liked it from the first time I heard it, and still do. It gets stuck in my head.

Though simple, there are some unexpected twists musically in here. The chorus is different the second time around (“Heyyyyyyy, let’s run away”). And then the way the abbreviated 3rd verse morphs into the bridge is a nice change up. The bridge itself reminds me of the bridge from Sweet Lady Genevieve (“rock you, hold you…”) with a bit of the Apeman bridge style (short lyric and guitar riff going back and forth).

Lyrically, Ray is not a stranger to simple lyrics. Look at the Kinks early run of 60s hits for example. This is right up that alley, as it seems Ray ran towards that time of his songwriting and style. 6 for 6.

 

Run Away From Time compels me to sing along, at full voice, and singing out loud is always joyful, a rare moment of self-abandonment in a complicated and anxious day - so mission accomplished as far as I'm concerned. I get a kick out of the simplicity of the lyrics in comparison to the previous two songs; what a contrast, with verses entirely consisting of short sentences like "Hey, girl".

In fact, something I noticed during my last listen through of Other People's Lives: with the exception of "All She Wrote", which is designed for one to focus on the lyrics, every one of the songs on the album compelled me to sing along at some point. That's probably why I am so fond of this album - if I'm singing along, that means I'm having fun and enjoying life in the moment, instead of boring myself with tedious analysis, justifications, comparisons and criticism.

 

And in one fell swoop a 1473 page thread is trimmed to 150 concise pages!

 

There's also this Nugget..

 

See if you can access today’s song here. Not one of my uploads but it has most of the album including today’s track. It’s still missing three songs for whatever reason like some of the streaming sites.

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Run Away From Time

I had this in my head throughout my cold but invigorating 27 degree three mile run this morning. That’s cold for us down here. OK snowbirds, stop laughing and heckling, I see you! Seriously, I feel great after doing this every morning no matter the weather.

Not a bad song, but a lesser light and probably one too many mid tempo tracks here in the middle of the album. Not a fan of the whole note Lowry organ sound, I prefer a Hammond, and the band here is strictly keeping time and not enlivening things much. Not a skip, nothing is ever a skip, but it passes unnoticed sometimes. But as I said, it stayed in my head all morning while I was actually running so maybe it’s more catchy than I’m giving it credit for. More listens later today after reading some more commentary.

 

I went out for an hour on the bike, and was singing this out loud as riding along. I'm still stuck with it going around in my head now. Yeah, it's a good one.

 

“Run Away From Time”: I’m in total agreement w/Avids Marty J and Luckless Pedestrian, like I’m their Hardy & Marge respectively. I liked this song from the first time I heard it back in the day. Very catchy tune and maybe the lyrics are a bit simple, but they don’t get in the way of the music (hmm, a Peter Paul and Mary song just got in my head….). Besides the references the other Avids have pointed out, how about “Got To Be Free”?

I like the “Run, Run…” songs from the VU, Who and the Third Rail.

Finally, w/the only connection being that Randy Newman can be as satirical as Ray, in the rebroadcast of American Top 40 w/Casey Kasem for January 23, 1978, “Short People” was #2. Can you imagine a song like that being a hit today?

 

Run Away from Time: I can get into Ray doing a relatively straightforward pop song like this more than his seemingly more heavy themes and melodies. I can reimagine this on Word of Mouth, with that production style, fitting in nicely with "Summer's Gone" both in terms of melody and lyrics. The first one that's snuck up on me years later with this album! Many of the others, well, they're still standing there, like distant relatives at a family event, and I don't quite know what to say to them.

These songs sound so much better live. Something was lost in the studio.

 

Run Away From Time

I’m with you on this one Marty. It’s borrowing from a great tradition. I never get tired of hearing some of the great Motown hits. I can almost hear a variation on the I Can’t Help Myself bass line in the bridge. I loved it in Lost and Found also, so no surprise that I like this song. I could hear the E Street Band having fun with this song. As far as the lyrics, there’s nothing wrong with good simple lyrics that are fun to sing along to, especially if they capture basic human feelings. Who doesn’t wish they could run away from, or hold back time, even though we know we can’t. I have to do paperwork for work this weekend, but just can’t escape from time. Gotta run, lol.

 

I like the words, I like the chorus and all the neither-a-verse-nor-a-chorus-nor-nompletely-a-bridge bits, but this is one I-V-vi-IV verse too far for me. It can still be a great progression with an imaginative melody and arrangement on top, but this is not the case here (I think it's already the second time on the album we get this progression but I don't have TIME to check).

Plus, it reminds me of 80s French pop agin, and since I owe one to @Fortuleo on this respect, TAKE THIS:

 

But that's what we're here for!

 

That reminds me of a nugget!

 

On the contrary, I enjoy reading everyone else's thoughts, it's only my own that I find tedious

 

They're definitely not!

 

Agreed.

I think everyone's posts form this weird organuc relationship, that paint a bigger picture